Till We Have Faces has a keen focus on the dynamic of selfishness and selflessness in relationships, and Orual must go through a drastic character change from selfish to selfless throughout the novel. She is shown selflessness many times throughout, and one of these instances is when she has a conversation with the Fox after coming back down from the mountain. She wants to hide all of the harm she's done, but the Fox knows that she is hiding something and doesn't want to tell him. He says in response to this:
"Well. You have a secret from me," he said in the end. "No, don't turn away from me. Did you think I would try to press or conjure it out of you? Never that. Friends must be free. My tormenting you to find it would build a worse barrier between us than your hiding it. Someday - but you must obey the god within you, not the god within me. There, do not weep. I shall not cease to love you if you have a hundred secrets."
The Fox acts selflessly in this situation, and it is a selflessness that isn't often written about - a selflessness that may not result in him getting anything out of their relationship. Instead of trying to exert control, he relinquishes control to her and demonstrates a trust in that Orual will eventually find the truth she hasn't yet found, and he does not have to shove it down her throat or have knowledge of her every move. I think this is how God is with us when we have unconfessed sin - His Spirit convicts, and continues to convict, and He knows everything that we have done and what has been done to us, but He still waits and invites us to bring these things to His throne rather than dragging us there by force.
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