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the actions of the other characters, particularly in his conversations with Pelorat, whose major function in the novel is to act as confidante for Trevise (the business about Earth, though it provides substance for a sequel, here seems more like an excuse for Pelorat's presence, and the possible existence of Earth is presented too dramatically to lead only to Gaia, and Trevise does not need Pelorat to lead him there). Pelorat, though he is better characterized and plays a more substantial role, is Trevise's "Bigman" Jones. |
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The motivation-behind-motivation method is appropriate to the subject of the novel. When psychological control of people's actions and even of people's thoughts occurs, the hiding and questioning of motivation is natural. Moreover, Foundation's Edge operates both as a novel of intrigue and as a mystery. The various political intrigues that are at work in the First Foundation's councils on Terminus and that are found on Sayshell and, by implication, on every other planet in the Galaxy, thrive on actions taken ostensibly for one reason but actually for another. |
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More significantly, the novel functions, in typical Asimovian fashion, as a mystery that begins with the apparent goal of locating the Second Foundation (the mystery that sustained the last half of the Trilogy) and then is diverted to locating the power that has kept galactic events impossibly close to Seldon's Plan, with subsidiary mysteries along the way, such as why information about Earth has disappeared from the Second Foundation's (computer) library, why Gaia is feared on Sayshell and why it is not recorded in Foundation files, etc. As a mystery the major question of the novel is who (or what) done it? Various characters are presented as suspects: Pelorat, Compor, Kodell, Branno, and Sura Novi, the peasant woman from Trantor who aspires to be a Scowler (scholar) and, having attached herself to Gendibal, is taken along to the confrontation with Trevise, near Gaia. And, indeed, more than one turns out to be something other than what he or she seems. |
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Some reviews noted the increased role given to women, but the women of Foundation's Edge are not significantly female. The leader of the First Foundation, Mayor Branno, is a woman, but she is cast in the same mold as Salvor Hardin and Hober Mallow. Though she makes a critical error in judgment, it would be a mistake to categorize this as a feminine mistake; it is motivated by ambition, and the other characters, mostly male, make similar mistakes. Novi, though more complex than she appears, has a public persona much like that of Valona March of The Currents of Space. Bliss, the Gaian young woman with the fast quip and the erotic outlook, is a bit different from most Asimov characters, but |
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