Essay Questions

What is the significance of the Whitecloaks?

Whitecloaks are an interesting concept presented in the novel, and it clearly alludes to organized religion. Whitecloaks fight against the Darkfriends, but they are also against any form of magic, as shown in their contempt toward Aes Sedai. They walk in the light, but their actions show contradiction. Whitecloaks are similar to Darkfriends in their threatening presence and disregard for any form of thought and belief, other than their own. It is interesting how Elyas’s wolves sense that there is something wrong with Whitecloaks, but they can’t pinpoint exactly what, and, in the same way, Perrin’s observation of their strange and empty cruelty and determination.

How is time conceptualized in the novel?

Time in the novel is conceptualized through a wheel that constantly turns. Every turn of the wheel represents a new age, a new era, with the previous falling into legends of the past. Since it is a wheel that turns, every age is bound to intertwine, have similarities and touching points. Time is closely connected to fate and destiny, hence the repeated phrase throughout: “the wheel weaves as the wheel wills”, meaning that there is a set path already chosen by the wheel. Rand and the crew are the chosen ones who can change this path.

How are gender roles portrayed in the novel?

Despite the novel going in a direction that shows women as the more powerful and dominant, it still shows the heteronormative gender roles: women are nurturing and caring, responsible for housekeeping, while men are predominantly responsible for the heavy tasks. There is also the fact that despite women being the ones who can draw the one power from the true source, only a chosen man can actually save or destroy the world.