Problem with Filif

[zenfrodo]

While I loved WH, I had a huge problem with how Filif was handled.

Darine & her father are concerned about Filif's reaction to their eating vegetables. And Filif has a panic attack over the revelation.

It's not realistic. Humans don't panic at the thought of someone eating other forms of meat. Filif, as a tree, is an entirely separate species from vegetables; he himself eats rotted plant matter (soil & compost). Filif having an issue over that is unbelievable. I could maybe see him having an issue with fruit, but that's it.

However -- WHY doesn't Filif have a major fit over all the use of wood in Darine's home and world?

Look around your house and see all the stuff made of wood. Doors. Tables. Cabinet doors. Floors. Door & window moulding. Furniture. Unless Darine's house is made completely of plastic & metal & formica, he should've been freaking the moment he walked into the kitchen and saw a door. Or a table. Or anything in the living room.

Imagine walking into a house made of human bones. It'd be the same for Filif.

[dorotheia]

Ah, but he didn't know what wood was. He had to be told about the vegetables. I suppose he could've found out if he'd have listened, but even wizards aren't omnipotent. The way wood is used and manipulated, it is not immediately apparent that it has any connection at all to a tree (to an alien). So Filif, the alien, doesn't question it. Too many other weird things out there to think about. (I wonder what Kit and Nita weren't told about on Alaalu...)

Like the spaghetti. It's made of tomatoes, but it's a nice innocuous sauce, so Dairine hoped the guests could eat it without any qualms. Just don't tell Filif about what really happens to the Christmas trees.

Also, these trees, vegetables, etc. are on a different planet from Filif's. In a sense, they and Filif are distantly related, being plant-type creatures. However, we humans eat plenty of animal-type creatures!

So why did Filif freak out at all? Could be cultural on Filif's planet. Or simply (as was implied) a concept alien to their makeup. Filif is a "tree," so he takes sunlight and roots in soil and makes food. The concept of eating other creatures is completely alien. Doubly so if one identifies with the food in any way (which he did, for an instant, anyway). Filif got over it; it was just a shock. His view of the universe shifted, and he had to put it back in perspective. (I think he mentioned talking to the trees or the vegetables or something.) That's all.

[zenfrodo]

He's a tree. He's MADE of wood -- and remember, Dairine didn't take Filif to the food court in the mall, knowing that he would see the salad bar & freak. So obviously Filif would know vegetables on sight, in their raw form.

The "he's an alien" bit doesn't fly; there's commonality of life across the universe, and patterns tend to repeat (rocks are rocks are rocks, no matter what planet I'm on). I may not see my own bones, but I know what bone looks like and feels like and IS, when it's close to its raw form, even when I see it in other animal carcasses -- I may not BE those other animals, but I know what bones are. I know what ivory is. Something over-processed, like Jell-O, would pass, unless I was told what it was made of.

[Frivs]

For the wood thing, I have to agree with dorotheia. If you think back to when you were a very small child, did you know what a bone was instinctively? Or did someone have to show you what bones look like? I really don't believe that anyone instinctively can pick out bones until we are given that knowledge.

It's the same concept for Filif. On Filif's planet, the concept of using wood is completely and utterly foreign. He'd have no way of knowing that this material is made out of it. It appears so differently from a living tree that he could have easily not noticed it. Now if they had had the rustic logs and such in their home, I'm guessing he probably would have noticed.

Plants on the other hand, obviously look somewhat similar on both planets because Filif appears similar to one of our trees. So it would be easy to identify leafy greens or fruits as plants.

On a side note, some humans do take issue to us eating other animals -- vegetarians There's an entire movement of humans who believe we shouldn't be harming/eating animals. So relating back to Filif, I suppose he would be the vegetarian of his planet XD More likely though, the concept of eating other similar species doesn't exist there...they're all vegetarians.

Maybe to Filif's culture, once a plant degrades into soil it is no longer considered "wrong" to eat it. It would be different than killing and eating a "raw" creature. You can't apply the cultural norms of our planet to an alien one.

[anotherBob]

Filif could have easily talked to the other trees or listened to the wind to find out all he needed to know about the world. When Nita first talked with Liused, it stated that long ago, the trees understood what their place would be when humans came around and that they accepted it themselves. And shouldn't this kind of information been in the exchange precis to begin with?

Bob

[dorotheia]

When Nita first talked with Liused, it stated that long ago, the trees understood what their place would be when humans came around and that they accepted it themselves.

If Filif ever got around to asking (which he might have) I think that would have eased his mind a little.