clearly Xander is on his own "journey" now, one that's kind of in parallel with Spike's journey that we've already seen. So the descent motif applies not only to the plot, but to Xander's personal growth.
Oh, hooray! That makes me very, very happy. I mean, I kind of assumed that this was the case, but then Toys got me all worried with his remark that Xander's descent wasn't part of the original plan.
It also has certain thematic resonance, which I'm not sure I should fully explain at this point, only to point what I said above about Xander and Spike being in parallel.
{shiver} I liked Xander being confronted with what it really means to go up in flames. And I was going to add 'I hope he doesn't get too empathetic about Spike 'cos I like it when he's horrible about him' and then I realised I was falling into exactly the trap I hate about WIPs, that feeling that I can magically influence what will happen by virtue of what I think I want. I have slapped my own wrists and will firmly resist the temptation to epxress any kind of preference, because I want to read YOUR story. And I left that example in as an illustration, not as a request. Augh, closed texts, give me closed texts!
Ahem. I'm off to bed now (just as well, given the waffle I'm producing), but will just add that I really did enjoy the story and can't wait for the European leg of the journey to be completed so I can read that as well.
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Date: 2004-06-02 08:31 pm (UTC)Oh, hooray! That makes me very, very happy. I mean, I kind of assumed that this was the case, but then Toys got me all worried with his remark that Xander's descent wasn't part of the original plan.
It also has certain thematic resonance, which I'm not sure I should fully explain at this point, only to point what I said above about Xander and Spike being in parallel.
{shiver} I liked Xander being confronted with what it really means to go up in flames. And I was going to add 'I hope he doesn't get too empathetic about Spike 'cos I like it when he's horrible about him' and then I realised I was falling into exactly the trap I hate about WIPs, that feeling that I can magically influence what will happen by virtue of what I think I want. I have slapped my own wrists and will firmly resist the temptation to epxress any kind of preference, because I want to read YOUR story. And I left that example in as an illustration, not as a request. Augh, closed texts, give me closed texts!
Ahem. I'm off to bed now (just as well, given the waffle I'm producing), but will just add that I really did enjoy the story and can't wait for the European leg of the journey to be completed so I can read that as well.