Blog #3

I'm still reading the book, Brisinger by Christopher Paolini and I came across a part that I found very interesting. It's about this girl who was accidentally given the power to feel others pain, see what they are about to do, and know their insecurities and fears. Here is a quote from the book by Elva, the girl who was mistakenly given these powers, "I will do as I please, and woe unto those who oppose me, for I know all their fears and shall not hesitate to play upon them in order to fulfill my wishes." (pg. 268). I found it interesting because I started to wonder, if I or anyone else had these powers would I actually use them? I mean it's hard to have something and then not use it, even if you think it is morally wrong. But it is still so easy and natural to use, I imagine it would be hard to resist. Also I think there is a fine line between using your own talents to their full potential and then crossing that line their is abusing your own talents. But in the case of this particular talent, is it crossing the line to even use your talent or even think of using it? In this case Elva seems to want to abuse her given powers, just like when she tries to manipulate Eragon (the hero of the book) merely seconds after she says the above quote.
Another thing that happens concerning Elva and her powers is when the leader of the good side wishes for Elva to use her powers for the good side to fight the bad. Elva refuses. Before Elva agreed to help only because their was a large amount of pain that came with her powers and if she helped the good side the pain would lessen. But when Eragon took the pain away she refused to help even though she knew that the good side's cause was just and if the good side didn't win then they might all be killed. Yet she still refused to help and I think this was because even though Elva knew the good side was her chance at survival, she didn't want to help because she wasn't passionate about their cause. She understood it, but she didn't care all that much about it. I also think that there is a certain personality that makes up a martyr or a person fully devoted to a cause, like Eragon or Harry Potter for example, I think they have to be brave and care about all the lives around them, and Elva just doesn't seem to fit that mold very well.