The Land of Painted Caves (Earth's Children 6)

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I've tried a spear-thrower a few times, Joharran. I don't have one of my own, and I'm not very good at it," Thefona said, "but I can throw a spear without one." Auel hints at another adversary early on with the reintroduction of Jondalar’s conniving ex, Marona, yet we don’t hear from her again until the end of the second act, which is where Auel shifts gears and the action begins. Manipulative Bitch: Though she never really bothers with her children, she's not above using them to guilt-trip people into helping her for the sake of her "poor, hungry children". Gut Feeling: She says she sensed she would never see Thonolan again when he left on his Journey, because when they said goodbye she instinctively told him “Good Journey” (the farewell the Zelandonii tend to use when they don’t expect to see someone again for a long time). It doesn’t hurt any less when she finds out he’s dead, though.

This would be a good time to use spear-throwers so we can hunt from a safer distance. Several hunters here have been practicing," Jondalar said. It was for just this sort of thing that he had wanted to come home and show everyone the weapon he had developed. "We may not even have to kill one, just injure a couple to teach them to stay away." The Clan's reluctance to change is depicted by Auel as a function of their cognition; they are presented as dependent upon their racial- genetic memory. The average Clan child needs only be 'reminded' of a thing to know it permanently, though skilled tasks still require repetitive practice. Furthermore, the need to encode everything into a child's brain has increased the average Neanderthal head size to the point that, by the time of the first novel, women of the Clan are having trouble giving birth to their large-headed babies—a sign that their evolutionary strategy has run its course. Marona calls Zelandoni (Zolena) a "fat old woman". Zelandoni simply points out that she herself was once considered the most beautiful woman in the Ninth Cave and is living proof that no one stays young and beautiful forever. In the meanwhie, she's become the Zelandonii equivalent of The Pope and is respected by all, whereas most people agree that, aside from looking hot, Marona has few positive traits. The One That Got Away: For Bodoa. She was in love with him as a young woman, but he chose to mate Marthona over her and she never mated anyone else, throwing herself into her work instead.

Joconan

Clingy Jealous Girl: Towards Jondalar. When her friend Portula brings up that Jondalar was the man chosen for her First Rites, Marona gets visibly annoyed. She absolutely despises Ayla because she sees her as having taken her rightful place as Jondalar's mate. Inspirationally Disadvantaged: He is determined to become a hunter and provide for himself and his community despite having a crippled arm. Sudden Name Change: His name is spelt as Will omar for most of the series...then is suddenly changed to Will amar from The Shelters of Stone onwards for no apparent reason. This was just one of several things that irked some fans about the fifth book.

Green-Eyed Monster: Most of her antagonism towards Ayla is motivated by jealousy over Ayla's beauty and popularity, especially because Jondalar - whom Marona once expected to mate - is with her now. The Earth Children" is an overarching term; their primary allegiances are to their people and their caves. Each culture has a name for itself ( Zelandonii, for instance, means "Children of the Great Earth Mother who live in the Southwest") and may subdivide into smaller Caves or Camps (the Twenty-Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, the Lion Camp of the Mamutoi). Curiously, however, most Other culture names includes their word for Great Earth Mother: Doni in Zelandonii, Mut in Mamutoi ("Children of the Great Earth Mother who hunt Mammoths"), Gaea in Sungaea (translation unknown), etc. Their culture is far more egalitarian, with different twists and customs at every hand; Mamutoi Camps, for instance, are co-ruled by headmen and headwomen who are biological, or adoptive, siblings, and the Sharamudoi, a people that lives half-on and -off the Great Mother River, form complex co-mate systems between river couples (Ramudoi) and land couples (Shamudoi). Each entire people generally gathers for Summer Meetings every year, during which a number of important ceremonies, such as the Matrimonial, take place. Children of mixed spirits", as the Cro-Magnons call them, are mis-matched combinations of both Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal phenotypes physiologically as they are genetic hybrids, with some traits (like facial features) appearing blurred or distorted when compared side-by-side. Of the five mixed-race people depicted in the series, only one has had the restricted vocal range of the Clan (Rydag, from The Mammoth Hunters), and all but one has been seen using Clan sign language, the sole exception being the difficult and disconsolate self-loathing Brukeval (who is in clear psychological denial about his ancestry), in The Shelters of Stone. The vocal range of one of the mixed-race persons is as of yet unknown because she was only a baby when we meet her in The Clan of the Cave Bear. Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: It turns out in the last book that because she and Laramar haven't slept together (according to him) since their eldest child was born, then it's extremely unlikely that any of the kids beside Bologan are biologically his. A member of the Ninth Cave, who is strongly implied to be part Clan and thus got bullied as a child. He now has some serious self-esteem problems and develops an unhealthy obsession with Ayla.

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Good Stepmother. Gender Flip. He has a loving relationship with his stepsons, though his relationship with Joharran is more one of friendship, due to the fact he was already an adult when Willomar mated Marthona. Freudian Excuse: Her mother was very neglectful and uninterested in raising her properly, basically letting her do whatever she wanted and never showing her affection.

Secret-Keeper: She's one of the few people who knows Ayla has a half-Clan son; she guesses that Ayla has given birth before and gets her to talk about her son to distract from labour pains. Zelandoni tells no one else about Durc, as she knows some people may shun Ayla for having a ‘mixed-spirit’ child. Auel] does paint a convincing portrait of ancient life. And readers who fell in love with little Ayla will no doubt revel in her prehistoric womanhood.”– PeopleMeaningful Name: Her name sounds a bit like Martha, which means "lady" or "mistress of the house", which is fitting for Marthona, a gracious and composed woman who was once a leader and still holds a prominent position in her society. Disabled Means Helpless: His mother acts as though he's helpless and is incredibly overprotective because he has a deformed arm, but Lanidar finds this frustrating and wants to be as independent as possible. Ayla and Jondalar persuade his mother to let him try hunting; they give Lanidar a spearthrower they invented that lets him get around the issues with his arm, allowing him to become just as good with a spear as other children his age. In book stores special matchboxes, featuring the book's cover, where handed out for free. Couples in caveman costumes handed out the boxes on the streats. First Girl Wins: To Joconan, who loved both her and her friend Bodoa, who had come to train with the zelandonia. However, it's downplayed as Joconan died only a few years into their marriage; Marthona was also very upset that her 'winning' Joconan ruined her close friendship with Bodoa. Theme Naming: The Zelandonii often have names with an "a" or "o" as the second letter, and/or ending with "a", "ar" or "an".

Well, there's you, and me, and Ayla, of course," Jondalar said, looking at the group. "Rushemar has been practicing a lot and is getting pretty good. Solaban's been busy making some ivory handles for tools for some of us and hasn't been working at it as much, but he's got the basics." Karma Houdini: Zig-zagged. She ends up moving away from the Ninth Cave and marrying some random guy she met at the Summer Meeting. But, it's implied she did this because she realises that no one in the Ninth Cave really likes her, and that Jondalar, even though he was willing to sleep with her, doesn't actually care about her and isn’t interested in rekindling their relationship.Commonality Connection: She and Ayla really start to hit it off when Zelandoni realizes Ayla is also a trained healer, with them swapping knowledge on medicines and treatments. A girl from the South Holding of the Twenty-ninth Cave. She gains some notoriety for not waiting until First Rites to start having sex and thus became pregnant. False Soulmate: To Jondalar. Their relationship was never ideal due to her being several years older and his donii-woman – her role was to introduce an adolescent Jondalar to the 'Gift of Pleasure', but nothing more. Having a serious relationship would be considered quite scandalous and could've gotten Zolena in trouble (Jondalar mentions that as the older woman, she would've received more blame). Despite this, Jondalar deeply loved her and was never interested in being with anyone else, while Zolena herself even considered breaking the taboo and mating him. The incident with Madroman, wherein Jondalar beat the crap out of him for publicly revealing their Secret Relationship, made Zolena realize it would never work out and she broke things off. Years later, Jondalar meets his Second Love Ayla and while they also face many challenges to their relationship, they're ultimately more compatible and end up Happily Married. Zelandoni herself greatly approves of Ayla and thinks it was destiny she and Jondalar didn't end up together, as otherwise, she would probably not have become Zelandoni Who is First. The release of Land of Painted Caves was heavily promoted. More than any previous book. In Australia billboards promoted the release. A low-ranking member of the Ninth Cave. She’s the mate of Laramar and mother of Bologan, Lanoga, Trelara, Lavogan, Ganamar and Lorala...though the term 'mother' is used rather loosely, given she lets her eldest daughter do most of the parenting.