XII explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Religion and Mythology

  Jordde's religious fanaticism and the manipulation of his faith by the priestesses of Argo are central to his actions.

• Duality and Ambiguity

  Geo explains the reconciliation of chaos and order as the core of the transformative beach experience.

• Transformation and Change

  Geo discusses personal growth through reconciling opposing forces, and the painful changes he undergoes.

Characters to notice

• Geo

  Explains Jordde's motivations to Iimmi, confronts Snake about the jewels, and is attacked by Jordde on the gangplank.

• Iimmi

  Listens to Geo's explanation and questions him about the beach experience.

• Snake

  Reveals Urson's betrayal and final thoughts, and is attacked by Jordde on the gangplank.

• Jordde

  Attacks Snake and Geo with an electric whip on the gangplank, driven by his religious fanaticism.

• Urson

  Revealed to have switched the jewels for gold coins; his final thoughts of hate and love are shared by Snake.

• Argo

  Greets Geo on deck and offers to show him something; later joins Geo and Iimmi at the riverbank.

Key passages

• “Now, Jordde was a novice in the not too liberal religion of Argo. Jordde and Snake had been through nearly as much on Aptor as we had. And they survived. And they also emerged from that jungle of horror onto that great arcing rhythm of waves and sand.”

  Jordde, a novice in Argo's strict religion, survived the horrors of Aptor with Snake and experienced the same transformative beach scene as Geo and the others.

  Geo explains the shared experience that led to Jordde's fanaticism.

• “In other words, right in the middle of this religious, or mystic, or whatever you want to call it, experience, a voice materialized out of thin air that claimed to the voice of The Goddess. Have you any idea what this did to his mind?”

  During Jordde's mystical experience, a voice claiming to be the Goddess appeared, which profoundly destabilized his mind.

  Geo describes how the priestesses' intervention warped Jordde's perception.

• “Because Jordde had by now managed to do what a static mind always does. The situation, the beach, the whole thing suddenly meant for him the revelation of a concrete God.”

  Jordde's rigid mind interpreted the beach experience as a literal revelation of God, leading to his extreme actions.

  Geo analyzes Jordde's psychological state.

• “On the raft, on the boat, he religiously tried to 'convert' Snake, till at last, in evangelical fury, he cut the boy's tongue out with the electric generator and the hot wire which the blind priestesses had given him before he left.”

  Jordde repeatedly tried to convert Snake, and in a fit of religious rage, used a device from the priestesses to cut out Snake's tongue.

  Geo reveals the brutal act that silenced Snake.

• “Man, and his constantly diametric motivations, is always trying to reconcile opposites. In fact, you can say that an action is a reconciliation of the duality of his motivation.”

  Human actions are attempts to reconcile conflicting motivations, a process of integrating opposites.

  Geo explains his theory of duality and growth.

• “If you can do it, something happens to you: you grow. You become a bigger person, able to understand, or reconcile, more.”

  Successfully reconciling chaos and order leads to personal growth and greater understanding.

  Geo describes the transformative effect of the beach experience.