Tell me a story

[drakkar]

Computers are one of my weaker sides - and I was thinking that an å will look like garble on - say - a normal UK or US computer. Is it so?

[StefL]

Computers are one of my weaker sides - and I was thinking that an å will look like garble on - say - a normal UK or US computer. Is it so?

Even if I'm a computer consultant myself character sets and their representation is not my area of expertise. However, my experience is that most "special characters" that are not included on for instance an American keyboard can still be shown correctly on most PC's since they are part of the 8 bit ASCII set of characters that the operating system knows. That can be seen for instance in any normal word processing program (such as Word) where it is possible to insert almost any character used in Swedish, German, Spanish etc if you use the Insert->Symbol menu.
If you're on a Unix computer using a 7 bit character representation you might run into problems though, but I figure that today most people use a Microsoft or similar operating system with 8 bit character representation and then it's normally not a problem.

[drakkar]

Covenant6452! Can you see this å ??

[covenant6452]

I see the a with the umlaut? yes... I am working on figuring these things out with my keyboard and will re-edit the things that need to be spelled properly a.s.a.p.. 16 hour shifts at work this week, when weekend comes, will be smart again.

[ked101]

(Book Spoilers)

I did find the cancer patient's actions strange, but I attributed it to Eli's vampire "influence," for lack of a better word. The woman behaved normally until she came into physical contact with Eli--I think they bumped elbows or something like that. And then she became utterly passive.

It didn't cross my mind that Eli was behaving like a mother to this woman, but I'm not suggesting the notion lacks merit. I viewed it more as a sudden opportunity for Eli to talk about herself to someone who was not going to pose any risk to him. I suspect he pretty much knew she was going to die, so what's the harm? It was probably nice for him to unload a little bit. What I did find very strange was how politely Eli answered the woman's questions as she was dying. I mean, Eli's just laid open her neck, her blood is pumping out of her, and Eli is responding to her questions like they are having a cup of tea together. That was surreal.

I think you are on the money about Oskar's attitude toward Eli. It was my thinking that his concern for Eli reflects what a good job his mom did in raising him. Oskar's mom had probably always been pretty "motherly" toward Oskar, and Oskar has absorbed that and understood it as a way to demonstrate a caring attitude toward others. The exciting thing about it (exciting in terms of the developing promise of a relationship between them) is that for the most part, Eli responds positively to Oskar's suggestions, remarking at various points that he could change for Oskar.


If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother. - Epictetus

yes this was surreal - and it was a safe setting for eli to disclose himself - the movie showed eli cry when Lacke died (conveys a respect for life). as did this scene i would say - I suspect if this was in the film it would have portrayed Eli becoming emotional and confused perhaps - I would expect Eli being confused having respect for this lady and yet knowing he has to feed.

[TheVoxHumanus]

Just my two cents...

I never thought anything other than "this person is suffering from some kind of dementia". Then I attributed it to her being doped-up on morphine after Eli passed out.

[crazychristina]

Old thread I know, but I haven't seen anything about this topic recently. I think Oskar had not been very well socialized as a boy. Hadn't learned to act masculine very well. Parents divorced when he was four, lived with his mother. Presumably most of his teachers were female. One act that surprised me as very atypical of a twelve year old boy was when he stroked Eli on the cheek as s/he was about to sink hir fangs into his neck. He appeared to be expressing a great deal of compassion for a person who didn't celebrate birthdays, never got presents, and didn't even have a mother. He thought she looked so very very sad. It was quite a stereotypically feminine act.

Also, about the story telling. Hakan went looking for someone to give money to, to save the life of, after he killed the first boy. An act of atonement. Perhaps Eli was 'atoning' for what s/he was about to do, offering a gift before taking a life. Sort of like a condemned persons last meal.

[N.R. Gasan]

I am working on figuring these things out with my keyboard and will re-edit the things that need to be spelled properly a.s.a.p...

For anyone using a P.C. with Windows, a good way to use special symbols is to find the Character Map. With my XP operating system, my Character Map is under Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Character Map. Once you call up the Character Map, you can find all sorts of really kewl stuff:
å...
or ¶ ...
or Ώ ...
or ۝ ...

Well, you get the idea. :)

[gattoparde59]

One act that surprised me as very atypical of a twelve year old boy was when he stroked Eli on the cheek as s/he was about to sink hir fangs into his neck.

I noticed that Eli does the same thing for Oskar later in the story. You find Eli stroking Oskar's face after the two have them have been wrestling and Oskar has fallen asleep.

[ZWD40]

Interesting thread

From the discussion here, you would think Oskar and Eli could live by themselves, playing mother, father, sibling to the other