Egwene in The Fires Of Heaven

[Saidar]

Why the hell is she being such a (sorry) bitch in tFoH?

 

Goddammit she's really annoying me with her behavior! She always thinks about Rand in the wrong way. And than he gets that belt of Aviendha, she thinks he acting ridiculous! She is freaking annoying me!!!

[Daedallus]

Its a running theme by RJ, women and men in Randland just do not understand each other. its amazeing that children are ever born, because every female believes that every man has 3 brain cells and chooses to do everything completly wrong, even when hes been told what to do by them, which they believe is thier right, in every case.

 

On the male side, no male in the entire storyline can figure out women, they may have some luck with them due to various reasons, but they all figure that all women want to do is run thier lives and interfere with things that have nothing to do with them.

 

The other obvious answer is that the rand/egwene split is a clunky plot device. As i've said in another thread i started here, The entire chain of events and many huge time sinks and miss steps could be avoided and overcome if the 5 origional Emond fielders would only talk to one another without pretending to be 300 year old Aes Sedai playing the game of houses.

 

Egwene: Hey mat, i want to use your army to fool these aes sedai into doing what they have to do.

Mat: sure thing egwene, i'll be over there with my men and a dice cup until you need me again.

 

Egwene: Hey Rand, i can dreamwalk and i know all sorts of things about what is going on in the far flung corners of the world. includeing the black ajah

Rand: oh my, well thats usefull, perhaps i can use that information to our advantage and maybe deal with the black ajah or provide some protection for you.

 

blah. it didn't irritate me us much my first read through the books, but its very apparant the second time through.

[DuDZiK]

Its a running theme by RJ, women and men in Randland just do not understand each other. its amazeing that children are ever born, because every female believes that every man has 3 brain cells and chooses to do everything completly wrong, even when hes been told what to do by them, which they believe is thier right, in every case.

 

On the male side, no male in the entire storyline can figure out women, they may have some luck with them due to various reasons, but they all figure that all women want to do is run thier lives and interfere with things that have nothing to do with them.

 

I think it's a cultural thing, which I think is a rather brilliant creation in terms of a literary motif on the part of RJ. As a result of historical and social innovations, such as the existence of the all-women Aes Sedai, Sea Folk channelers, and Wise Ones, there is what we would view as an abnormal interplay between women and men (abnormal to how society was like at the same level of civilization). However, this cultural custom or mindset between the women and the men is something that conflicts with their rationality, and though they hold these generalized and stereotypes against the other gender they at least subconsciously know that none of it is true... at least when they actually come to interact with members of the opposite gender they gain this realization. The problem is that all societies and cultures within Randland have segregated institutions between women and men: such as all the various female groups of channelers in various cultures. As a result the genders tend to isolate themselves from the opposite genders, and this breeds ignorance as well as competition. Through these two factors, stereotypes are made to raise one's group above the other gender's group, and when these filter into the masses and the ignorant it is allowed to spread. You will notice that those who tend to act infuriatingly sexist are those who were raised within a gender-specific institution: Egwene and Nynaeve had the women's cirlce and then being a Wisdom, and then the White Tower; Elayne had being a Queen and being an Aes Sedai at the same time; Aviendha has being a Maiden of the Spear and then being a Wise One.

 

You will also notice that there are some characters who are not so bull-headedly sexist; such as Min. These characters are ones who's life experiences are different, and allowed for greater interaction with the opposite gender. There are also those characters who have become married, and either just before or after they fell in love they were allowed to learn the truth of the opposite gender's characterizations.

 

Above all this, however, is the simple fact that this is all a literary creation on the part of Robert Jordan; he has these characters they way they are for a reason. We may not like it, and it may drive us crazy sometimes, but we are meant to feel that way.