Last time, I talked about how the book has a strong message about words and writing being like that of freedom. This time, I'll be talking about one character specifically. She is called Sister Aillenn, and I am not sure of the pronunciation. Throughout the book she appears in every other chapter, or in every 'Interruption'. She is described as being young and beautiful, though somewhat insane.
At one point, in this church filled with religious people, there is a dead infant that they have to bury. In each of the following Interruptions, it talks about how the grave of the baby has been messed with. The cross pulled out of the ground, the stones flung in random directions. Each time, Sister Aillenn increases her negativity to the main character, Gwynneve, to the point where she calls Gwynneve a demon and blames her for everything. At the same time, Gwynn is constantly seeing Sister Aillenn run around outside her tiny cell of a home naked, in the cold, with small wounds on her body.
Later on, the reader finds out about Aillenn's past. She had lived in a Pagan tribe, a tuath, but her father, the chieftan, had wanted her to be Christian. He treated her horribly, and murdered her beloved horse in front of her. She became ill with grief. Then, a group of monks came to the tuath and one of them fell in love with her. Of course, he wanted to stay pure, so instead of just not having sex with her, he had the blacksmith make an iron thing that they put around her private area. It gave her deep wounds. Then he left her. So she travels near and far to find him and finally, when she does find him, he commands her to stay away from him so that he can still be Godly.
So she went insane. After she tells Gwynn of this story, at a time when they'd been embracing each other, "She separated from me then and struck me hard across the face, and she said that I had seduced the story from her and was a demon myself."
Yes, I do believe that she's insane.
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