Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

Think of it as plastic memory, this force within you which trends you and your
fellows toward tribal forms. This plastic memory seeks to return to its ancient
shape, the tribal society. It is all around you-the feudatory, the diocese, the
corporation, the platoon, the sports club, the dance troupes, the rebel cell,
the planning council, the prayer group . . . each with its master and servants,
its host and parasites. And the swarms of alienating devices (including these
very words!) tend eventually to be enlisted in the argument for a return to
"those better rimes." I despair of teaching you other ways. You have square
thoughts which resist circles.
-The Stolen Journals


Duncan begins climbing the near-sheer Sareer wall carrying a rope as long as the wall is tall. Nayla refused to give up her lasgun but agreed to go with them. Siona was thankfull they didn’t have to attempt to kill her due to her strength and quickness. Garun had told them how Leto had glided down from the top on his cart’s suspensors during his great-grandfathers time, the rest of his troop came down on ropes. Nayla sits at the bottom getting turned on watching Duncan climb, whishing she could have his baby. Duncan reaches the top and estimates it was at least 900 meters. The Royal Road there was at least 500 meters wide with man sized rock pillars along the sides. The road curved and sloped gently away and narrowed where it crossed a bridge with a river far below. As a military leader he thinks of the bridge as a trap. He returns to the edge and lowers down his rope. Upon seeing the rope Nayla has an orgasm.

best end to a chapter Herbert ever wrote

Weirdest end. I've never really understood that. I get that there is tension in Duncan's climb related to a risky undertaking. As in, will he/won't he suceed.

Nayla's reaction seems a little extreme though.

Haha it certainly is extreme but there's a lot of focus on her admiration for Duncan up to his climb and I liked the ridiculousness of her having an orgasm. Herbert must've known how funny it would read and I thought of it somewhat as a joke while emphasizing how impressive Duncan's feat was and how overly effective he was with women. By far though it was the most memorable ending of a chapter for me because I remember putting down the book and laughing at image of that scene in my head.

Revised

One of the weirdest chapters I have read so far. Duncan Idaho gets all the girls I guess. I still don't understand what happened on that climb.

stilgarr wrote: ↑27 Dec 2022 07:15 One of the weirdest chapters I have read so far. Duncan Idaho gets all the girls I guess. I still don't understand what happened on that climb.

I think it's disgusting