The Ancient Child Chapter Summary & Analysis - Book 2, Chapter 9, He Is Capable of Violence Summary

Book 2, Chapter 9, He Is Capable of Violence Summary

Doctor Terriman tells Set stories taken from folklore, witchcraft and medical mythology. The doctor does not tell stories well, and this gets on Set's nerves. Set is being treated for a nervous breakdown after he is found unconscious in his studio, lying among trash, vomit and whiskey. After the doctor tells a particularly bad story about bear symbolism, Set smashes a flower vase into the doctor's face, and an entry is put into Set's record that he is capable of violence.

Before being discovered unconscious, Set opens the medicine blanket. The contents include a bear cub skin, a dried grizzly bear paw, tobacco, herbs, crystals, pipestone and a dried wolf penis.

Book 2, Chapter 9, He Is Capable of Violence Analysis

Set is capable of violence both literally in that he smashed the vase into the doctor's face and symbolically by the contents of the medicine blanket. The dried grizzly bear paw is a powerful and significant symbol. Unlike the...
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