Post A #7

This is quite possibly my last set of posts... so sad. Anyways, the cultural differences in Sword Song are as numerous and as well implicated as ever. Once again, there is a massive difference between 9th and 21st century Britain. Nowadays, Britain is very much like the United States culturally. We share a language, a measurement system, and we generally have a common taste in music. But at the time of this novel, Britain was little more than a rabble of barbarians with some struggling civilizations mixed in. Warfare was everywhere; from Vikings and welsh invaders' professional armies aimed at capturing and looting, to the Saxon and Mercian semi-organized troops attempting to defend their homelands. Now, Britain has been peaceful for a number of years with the only serious in-country conflict being the IRA in Ireland.

Peace, although significant, is not the only difference between 9th century Britain's culture and ours. Another difference is in human interaction. On page 283, Bernard Cornwell states mentions that, "Oda the Younger unsheathed his sword and cut the man's throat before spitting on him". This is obviously not how any conversations in our culture end, unless the aggressor has no fear of being either killed or sent to jail for the rest of his life. Human interaction in today's world is obviously two or more people on equal terms. Of course the wealthy and famous will always be thought of as better than a homeless man by most people, but they are both the same before the law and, when the former is not giving orders to the latter, they perhaps see each other as equal. In 9th century Britain however, if one does not bow down the king, they are either a king themselves or are killed. Social class rules were much stricter and far more separate.