Animorphs Re-Read #3

[frameacloud]

Animorphs #3 - The Encounter

Summary

One of the Animorphs, Tobias, has been trapped in hawk morph. Facing the possibility that he may be a hawk for the rest of his life, he soon begins to lose his grip on his inner humanity. He and the Animorphs still have many battles to fight, but he can’t morph like they do anymore. He wonders if maybe he should just give it up, live like a hawk, and forget everything else…

Prompt

I’m sorry, I can’t think of anything. ^_^;;

Questions

- Later in the series, we learn that the Andalites usually treat their nothlit (morph-trapped) warriors as casualties, as if they were already dead. Why do you suppose this is? Does it make sense in some ways? What do you suppose it’s like for other nothlits? How could their situations be improved?

- A hawk isn’t such a bad morph to be trapped in. If you had to be trapped in a morph, which would you like most, and which would you like least?

Rules

- Common sense: be nice, be literate, be mature. If you can’t handle that, we’ll ask you to leave.

- Start on topic. If your conversation takes you into the land of ferrets and their evil quest to take over the world, run with it. But please at least start off talking about the book or subjects at hand.

- The questions and prompts are optional. Do not feel obliged to keep your comments only to what we have posted. They are a guide, a starting point, not a limitation.

- There is no time limit.

- Don’t delete your comments, unless it’s for the purpose of fixing typos.

- Keep your discussion to the current or previous books.

Comments

[frameacloud]

One of the most interesting psychological and interpersonal things going on in this book is the grieving process. All the Animorphs are going through it in response to Tobias's transformation. You can see it most in Tobias, Marco, and Rachel, each in a different way. Tobias, obviously, because this is his own self. Marco, because he fears becoming a nothlit, and he's uncertain about whether he wants to take the risk of morphing at all. Rachel, because she has feelings for Tobias. I wanted to pose that as a question in some way, since it's an interesting part to talk about, but I couldn't figure out how to do it.

Answering the questions that I posed... I think if I had to be trapped in a morph, lately I would say that being a dolphin or other cetacean would be best. They're the most like humans, since they're smart and communicative, but they don't have the trappings of material culture. I'm awfully curious about what echolocation is like, too. In the past, I might have said a bird, since flying is awesome, but having good friends would be more important in the long run. Dolphins would be the nicest people to live around. The morph I would like least would be any small, vulnerable animal that's liable to be eaten really soon. That shrew that Rachel morphed in the previous book? That would be one of the worst.

As for the Andalites... in general, their lack of care for any of their people who become handicapped is one of their more alarming and foreign traits. The only thing I can figure out to explain it might be overpopulation or something, since it's not like they're being held back by really poor medical technology. If they have a device that can rearrange your DNA, they could probably fix any fallen warrior if they cared to do so. It might be an antiquated attitude that they haven't realized that they can grow out of yet.

Morphing technology is still pretty new by the time the story takes place. It had just been invented when The Hork-Bajir Chronicles took place, and those were in the 1960s, right? Maybe in the early experiments with morphing, they saw some test nothlits go through a process of grief and disassociation, like Tobias did, and they came to a hasty conclusion that nothlits will lose their minds in a matter of weeks.

Or maybe it's just because Andalites have this arrogant attitude that they're the best of all species, so the horror of becoming something else isn't acceptable. After all, they mention that Andalite warriors almost never use the morphing technology, even though all the arisths (cadets) are given it and are trained in it. Aximili himself prefers to charge into battle as an Andalite instead of using a battle morph like the human Animorphs. Sure, an Andalite has a natural weapon and great reflexes, but a battle morph would give him the advantage of recovering from wounds after a battle. He'd rather take the risk of, say, permanently losing an arm. Or, worse, his tail!

[buffyangellvr23.livejournal.com]

But he could morph and then morph back to fix himself though, right?

[julygreen.livejournal.com]

I always thought that, too. Like how in #18 Ax narrates,

T.O. Harelin was bleeding profusely from his severed tail. But I knew he would rather die than live without a tail.

Er, if he hadn't had to go down with the ship, this shouldn't have been a problem. He morph to some creature, then remorphs to Andalite, problem solved.
In fact, this should solve any illness, unless the disability is psychological or development (or being a nothlit).

[koobine.livejournal.com]

As for the Andalites... in general, their lack of care for any of their people who become handicapped is one of their more alarming and foreign traits. The only thing I can figure out to explain it might be overpopulation or something, since it's not like they're being held back by really poor medical technology.

Well, the Andalites allegedly evolved as herd animals, and weak or injured individuals slow down the herd and attract predators. It's possible that their attitude towards the handicapped is a vestigal character trait that got warped by their culture, similar to the Taxxon's hunger instinct was transformed into an irrational eating disorder by their intelligence.

[starsong24.livejournal.com]

Ax is slightly different to most Andalite warriors, though. He frequently acquires and uses Earth morphs, although not as many as the others do. He clearly sees the point of morphing and is willing to use it, perhaps more than other Andalites do.

It's possible, though, that most Andalites don't have anything around to acquire? Spaceships and all...

And I have to agree that their attitude towards the handicapped kind of bugged me. It's like they thought that losing a limb also removed a large portion of your brain or something.

[mattiris.livejournal.com]

Your last paragraph - that's what I always thought, especially considering what happened in #40. Andalite society seems to want to immediately ostracize anything un-Andalite, which includes nothlits and those with disabilities.

[stretch.livejournal.com]

As far as being trapped in morph, I agree that I being a bird would be a great choice. Other than than I would probably chose to be trapped as something domestic - a dog or a cat maybe, so that I could remain well connected with the human world as much as possible.

[buffyangellvr23.livejournal.com]

If anyone saw the post about Mertl and Gafinlin,I didn't see the rule about current books, sorry.

I can answer the second question better than the first. Best would be for me either bird, like a bald eagle, or an orca. I'd also like right whale or tortoise, just because I'd live like 200 years or so. Worst would be insect of any kind...flies and fleas don't live long at all. And ants and termites....just, no way. I think we've gotten past the part about ants right? Marco hated it and no one wanted to morph them again.

[tygerwulfe.livejournal.com]

Ants are in book five. We aren't there yet. :P

[deslumbrar.livejournal.com]

I think the Andalites' treatment of nothlits primarily comes from their highly traditional culture. They have strict social codes and don't seem particularly open to change or new ideas - they've pretty much adopted an isolationist attitude and closed themselves off. Anything like civil rights would have to get started internally, and I don't think that would happen right away, seeing as how they're in the middle of a war and all.

One of the major points of their culture is the value of the group over the individual; it's the people you're serving, not yourself. It seems awfully easy to get yourself "disgraced," especially if you break from what's considered then norm, and what's further from normal than being trapped in a body that's not your own? In that same vein, the Andalites are extremely careful about their own image. They're very good at covering up their society's flaws. As horrible as it sounds, I think this includes ostracizing people who, for whatever reason, aren't considered useful anymore.

And again, they're in the middle of the war, so of course the warrior aspect of their society is going to come to the fore. If someone's trapped as a nothlit, I can see how they would be considered a casualty and just sort of quietly pushed aside. Understanding it doesn't make it any less disturbing, though.

[tygerwulfe.livejournal.com]

PROMPT: (suggestion) Write a day in the life of Tobias in between when he disappears at the end of Book 1 & when he resurfaces to tell Jake that he's been trapped. His first realizations of his Nothlit status.


OMG, to this day, this is my absolute favorite Animorphs book. It's what made me fall in love with Tobias. I've even been in what I believe to be the mall mentioned in this book, seen the area where they DO occasionally hold gymnastic competitions... and seen the skylight. South Coast Plaza mall, in SoCal, for anyone who's interested. :)

So much to think about in this one... There's Tobias' evolution from just a trapped boy in a hawk's body, to a pure hawk with the brain of a human. There's the last line of the book that still brings tears to my eyes, and I still hear any time I see a bird of prey soar.

There's his evolving relationship with Rachel. There's the AWESOME open scene with him releasing the female hawk, and Rachel stomping cars. There's Marco's excellent line regarding that, too:

"Don't say the word 'cage' around Tobias," Marco said. "He'll do some guerrilla-commando-Ninja-SWAT-team-hawk-from-hell attack on the Center. And he'll talk Rachel into stomping your house flat."

That was the first time I'd laughed out loud at the series. :)

God.. there's so much more... I love this book.

[julygreen.livejournal.com]

OMG, to this day, this is my absolute favorite Animorphs book. It's what made me fall in love with Tobias. I've even been in what I believe to be the mall mentioned in this book, seen the area where they DO occasionally hold gymnastic competitions... and seen the skylight. South Coast Plaza mall, in SoCal, for anyone who's interested. :)

Haha cool!
Was the Animorphs home area ever stated? We know that they're on the west coast of the US from a bunch of clues (eg. hitching a ride of the tanker bound for Singapore) but I haven't reread (most of) theseries in ages, so I can't remember if their location was ever narrowed down much.
I always saw them as Californians, though.

[tygerwulfe.livejournal.com]

I THINK it was stated that they were SoCal residents... Not in the books, but by K.A. at some point after the series. Considering it's the only area that fits everything described in the books, (which I can vouch for, since I live here), I think it works.

[julygreen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it definitely fits, since we know there are mountains and stuff nearby.
I have a friend that lives in Orange County, she's probably been to that mall!

[starsong24.livejournal.com]

If I had to get trapped in morph, I'd go for an eagle, a gyrfalcon, a leopard, or a tiger. You know, good senses, easy movement, reasonable life span.

Alternately, I'd acquire another human...

[silvante.livejournal.com]

If I was going to be trapped in a morph, it'd have to be a weasel.
They are small, delicate hidden creatures, but they can move and be viscious little buggers when they need to be.

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

For me, I would think that they would treat nothlits as dead for a completely selfish reason: so that they won't feel so horrible about it, and so that they can mourn without having to bother adjusting to their fellow Andalite's new form. Cold, yes, but as we know from experience, Andalites can be a little cold when it comes to things like this.

[kon-no-yume.livejournal.com]

If I had to be trapped in a morph, I would pick a dog. They're so happy, and I could stay close to humans. I could also get myself adopted and not have to worry about being killed by predators.

I'd least like to be stuck in an insect morph, especially one with a hive mind. *shivers*

Animorphs!

[(Anonymous)]

I've just created my very own Animorph Role playing site. So far there's a total of 7 members and we're all being very active. I'm currently on the lookout for new members. If any of you are interested feel free to check out my link :]

http://animorphsafter.proboards83.com/index.cgi

The plot takes place after the last book, and we assume that Tobias, Jake and Marco died on that basically-suicidal-mission they took on at the end of the books. So that leaves only Cassie. Crayak messes with the timeline a little because he was unhappy over losing, and guess what? The Yeerk are back, and the world looks like a nuclear holocaust again. Join in the fight, there's different factions of animorphs in the majors cities of Canada and the US.

Enjoy :]

Re: Animorphs!

[frameacloud]

Looks good. Thanks for letting us know about it. :)

[kooshinni.livejournal.com]

Ah, book 3! one of my favourites, especially because of the scene with the female redtail. It still brings a tear to my eye. I think it was this book that really sealed my love for the series, mainly because I loved the idea of a kid having a bird's body (despite the trauma that Tobias had to endure). There's one quote from this book which gets me everytime: "I was used to being alone. And I had the sky." This just sums up everything I love about flight...

As a species, I think Andalites have a great issue with pride, so it may be that nothlits are seen as casualties because there isn't anything visually Andalite about them. Technically they are now whatever species they're stuck as, so the 'Andalite' really is 'dead'. That is possibly why Andalites find the concept of Visser 3 so revolting - an Andalite that is still one in body but not in mind. The opposite of a nothlit, almost.

As for morphs... if I had to be stuck in one, I'd probably pick a bird of prey. Partly because I love them, and partly because of the idea of flight. A simple buzzard would do; I wouldn't be picky about species. Or maybe an owl. Concerning the most dreaded morph to be stuck in - definitely either an insect or a prey animal like a rodent. I'd go insane having to deal with my psychological stress as well as that of the poor animal.

Fanfiction Prompt

[arglefumph.livejournal.com]

No one's answered any of the fanfic prompts yet? Lame! Okay, here's my moment in between the Yeerk pool battle in Book One, and Tobias telling Jake that he's a nothlit. I didn't know how Tobias would react to realizing he's trapped as a hawk, soooo...I kinda side-stepped it!

---

My name is Tobias. I am not a fighter.

The others had all chosen dangerous battle morphs. Jake was a tiger. Marco was a gorilla. Rachel was an elephant. All of them could do some serious damage.

Except me. I was a red-tailed hawk. "What kind of a morph is that?" Marco had asked. "You think you can take a Taxxon down by turning into a pigeon?"

I didn't say anything. I'd learned by now that if someone gives you a hard time, the best thing to do is nothing. Wait, and eventually they'll leave you alone.

Maybe that's why I hid after the battle.

I fought in the battle. I took down a Hork-Bajir and saved Cassie from infestation. No one could say I was worthless.

Except when it was time to escape. Instead of escaping up the stairs with everyone else, I hid. Behind one of the sheds, where no one would think to look.

I knew I should have morphed back, but my brain wasn't working. The battle was fresh in my mind. We had fought. I had killed. Killed. And yet we still had lost. The other battles--and I knew there would be others--will be the same way. Killing and losing until we died. It was all I could think about.

I don't know how much time I spent there, but I know how long it took.

Too long.

Re: Fanfiction Prompt

[frameacloud]

Wow.

[julygreen.livejournal.com]

Later in the series, we learn that the Andalites usually treat their nothlit (morph-trapped) warriors as casualties, as if they were already dead. Why do you suppose this is? Does it make sense in some ways? What do you suppose it’s like for other nothlits? How could their situations be improved?

The Andalites sure were intolerant for such an 'evolved' species. It was one of the things that most irritated me about them.

Did anyone else draw a parallel between an Andalite losing a tail/tail blade and castration? That's not in this book, obviously, but the tail blade is so integral to being an Andalite that I couldn't help making the association.


Comments on this book ...

It's not my favourite. I really like Tobias as a character, but I like him best when I'm not reading his first-person narrative. He gets a bit emo and the writing can be heavy-handed. (Though it's better than I remembered in this regard).

Tobias and the lady hawk ... even as a kid I was a bit sketched out by this. Anyone else?

[acts_of_tekla]

I thought that Tobias' reaction to his first kill was superbly written.

This is kind of random, and really just proves that I'm a huge Marco fangirl, but something that made me :D after I'd processed the drama of Tobias' suicidal flight in the mall is the fact that Marco broke the skylight right in front of Tobias. Clearly he put all of his points into accuracy instead of vehicle control. And went to the mall despite Rachel's threat.

...

:D