Mind of My Mind

“On the floor lay the body that Doro had been wearing when he came in. It had been strong, healthy, in excellent physical condition. The one he had now was nothing beside it. He glanced at Rina in annoyance. Rina shrank back against the wall.”

When Doro changes bodies, he prefers to take young, healthy, strong bodies. When he has to take a weak and unhealthy one because of Rina’s actions, he grows annoyed, displaying his lack of care for other people. Doro values the lives of others so little that his only reaction to murdering a man is to be annoyed that his body is not better. The abrupt, declarative sentence structure mirrors Doro’s cold efficiency—there is no emotional pause, only a clinical inventory of bodies. This quote embodies The Ethical Complications of Oppressive Power.

“She began to fill her hands out, smooth them, straighten the long fingers until the hands were those of a young woman, attractive in themselves but incongruous on the ends of withered, ancient arms.”

Emma is a shapeshifter who prefers the body of an older woman unless she is with Doro. In this scene, she begins to change her body to please Doro, creating a moment of stark imagery that contrasts the different ages she can take. Emma’s hands are that of a young woman’s but are still attached to the arms of an old woman. This contrast represents the immortality that Emma possesses, allowing her to experience life through different identities. The striking juxtaposition of youthful hands and aged arms becomes a