3CS Book Club CDA discussion

Readers are noting that this Joan is quite different from the Joan of Arc previously pictured in legend and film.
Do you agree?
If so, in what way is she different?

I agree with you Genie. While this is the first book I’ve read about Joan of Arc, she was usually portrayed as saintly; from God. In this novel she is simply a girl. A girl with a huge heart, a girl with a deep sense of fairness, fealty and a large dose of courage, but not a girl who was overly concerned with piety. It is so interesting, the lore that surrounds her. What was it about her that inspired not only the soldiers, the villagers, the Dauphin and his court?

What was it about Joan that inspired the people of the French kingdom, the soldiers and the villagers, to believe in her.

Joan is from the peasant class, but she is also unusual for her size, over 6 feet and strength and must have been an arresting presence. She arrives at the gate of Orleans, it's under siege, with an army to free the city. The inspired people of the city welcomed her:
"She saw a man mouth the word "angel" into his daughter's ear. She saw they were hungry, that some were ill, and they were tired of living under siege with the English at their backs. They wanted something to believe in and were ready to believe in anything, even ancient prophecies from the wizard Merlin and the Venerable Bede. She saw they were ready to believe in her."
She was inspired by the belief the people and the Dauphin had in her. She had been singled out by his Mother In-law, Yolande, who mentored her to be a leader.

I hope you all enjoyed our meeting and discussion today. Are there any topics we didn't touch on that you would like to talk about? Or any comments you may have thought about after the meeting you would like bring up? I don't recall if we discussed, and this is a question from the Questions and Topics from the back of the book, "How does little Guillaume's death affect Joan throughout her life? And what does he come to symbolize for her?" Any thoughts on that?

I was talking to Genie and she brought to my attention there was quite a bit of foreshadowing in the book regarding fire. As I was further into the book I began to take notice. Page 302 Joan is thinking about artillery, cannons to be specific and she thinks "If you are singed once by fire, you know how to avoid the flames". Page 319 when they were removing Joan's belongings from her bedchamber in the castle at Chinon. Le Maçon watches as they pour black ink into the fire "so the the flames hissed and sputtered'. I wish I had more examples from earlier in the book. Did you notice this too?

How about Joan's relationship with the Dauphin? do you. think there was foreshadowing warning us of the change to come in their relationship?

Perhaps some foreshadowing. It was forewarning the change to come in Joan's relationship with the Dauphine, spoken by Yolande. (page 180) "Either a woman must be raised high, higher than the heads of men, otherwise she will be crushed beneath their feet....We must raise you to the height of the heavens themselves." And so the notable armor and banner were created—costume! Given this persona she was allowed by the King to raise siege. But~with her first failure, despite many victories, she fell from Heaven and we see what happened. She was completely crushed by the men who had befriended her.