# Prologue explained — The Jewels of Aptor

> Chapter companion for The Jewels of Aptor by Samuel R. Delany.

## What happens

A teacher shows a young girl a film of a horrific event involving a boy being tortured. He uses the lesson to discuss the nature of reason, history, and the duality of experience, referencing Cellini, the Mona Lisa, and the Great Fire. The girl struggles with the horror but begins to consider understanding the reasons behind such acts.

## Themes in this chapter

### Knowledge and Understanding

The teacher uses the film and historical examples to push the girl toward understanding the reasons behind evil acts.

### Duality and Ambiguity

The yin-yang symbol and the Cellini anecdote highlight the coexistence of pain and memory, good and evil.

### Memory and Trauma

The girl is haunted by the vivid image of the tortured boy, and the teacher discusses how pain anchors memory.

## Character check-ins

### Cellini

Referenced in the teacher's story about remembering the Salamander through pain.

### Sis

The young girl being taught by the man in the dark robe.

## Key lines

> I think it was awful. I think it was pretty terrible. Why did you show it to me? He was just a little boy. What reason could they have possibly had for doing that to him?

The girl expresses horror and confusion about the film, questioning the purpose of showing such cruelty.

_Sets up the central inquiry into the nature of evil and reason._

> But to remind themselves that there was no pure force, no purely unique reason, they put a spot of white paint in the black half and a spot of black paint in the white.

The teacher explains the yin-yang symbol as a reminder that nothing is purely good or evil.

_Introduces the theme of duality and ambiguity._

> I think it's time for us to go back now.

The teacher ends the lesson and they return from the beach.

_Closes the prologue's teaching scene._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_jewels_of_aptor_se/chapters/prologue
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_jewels_of_aptor_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_jewels_of_aptor_se/chapters