Horace hears a ...
Now, this woman's new husband finds the symbol, and maybe, before the eyes of the husband Paul, the body that passed, rises Michael Fury like. No doubt, this is one way of reading this symbol, and maybe this accounts for the husband's behavior: that his love will always compete with His love, and that his love will always be incomplete love, and that, in some way, his wife's complete love will be withheld. But let me suggest another.
This symbol, while it did belong to the husband, moreover, belonged to the culture that made the statue, whose behind we saw in the opening. Maybe, if you look hard enough at the backside of the statue you can see it holding one in each hand. (The lostpedia transcript guesses that the statue held an ankh in each hand. http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/LaFleur_transcript) Possibly, the symbol not only symbolizes to Horace his wife's lost love, but also the culture to which they, the Di, are the latest ephemera, and which, in it's secretive absence, presents the Di with a rather pressing problem: that being "What did you know, how did you know it, and how can I get you to give your secret to me." For, one must think that the Di are drawn to the island, to the power the statue symbolically represents, and upon this source the Di conducts their work, their "silly experiments" (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/There%2 ... transcript), hoping to tap into it. Similar to how the symbol in reference to the wife's love symbolizes what the wife withholds, this untouchable essence which the ankh and the statue symbolize, which the Di dares to touch and maybe is trying to manufacture, will always be withheld. Horace will never completely identify with culture they build upon, always separate no matter how close. The Di are one level of strata resting upon another strata. The Di looking at the strata below them must know that they cannot exceed what lies below, and their fate lies in a future of ruins. Horace will always find himself at the beginning which no amount of work can ever feign to close. If the Di is reaching out, they will "always come back to the same point, pass again over the same paths, preserve in starting over what for him never starts, and that he belong to the shadow of events, not their reality, to the image, not the object, to what allows words themselves to become images, appearances--not signs, values, the power of truth." Blanchot, 24. The ankh symbolizes this, everlasting distance from sanctuary, and maybe Horace is doubly frustrated doubly emasculated.
How does Horace react upon discovery of this relic? He does what any husband would do: he gets loaded, grabs some dynamite and heads out to the perimeter to blow up some trees. This seems strange, but the next observation might be stranger. Almost every time the monster shows up, its appearance is marked by exploding trees. Every time: in "In This Place is Death" the monster appears in the explosion of a tree (transcript: Suddenly the monster rips up a nearby tree with a very loud roar" http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/This_Pl ... transcript); in "The 23rd Psalm" the monster appears to Charlie and Eko in a flurry of ground and trees; and in "Hearts and Minds" Boone and Shannon's conversation is interrupted by the uprooting of a tree. In the commentary to "Hearts and Minds" Boone, Javier and Carlton discuss this manifestation:
Javier: That's the most we've ever shown of the monster right back there, and I'm not gonna say what you saw, but that was a little hint as to what it might be.
Boone: Yeah, but even when you pause it, you don't really see the monster, its just the tree.
Carlton: You see the tree blow up.
The monster, blowing up trees; Horace, lobbing dynamite over the pylons, taking shots at the trees, moments after to finding the ankh. Is Horace engaging in some kind of pathetic, personal war with the smoke monster. After all we learn that the fence was not built to keep Richard out. Is Paul the smoke monster? Probably not. Is Horace the smoke monster? Probably none of the above, but I like the idea of Horace engaging in some personal war with the smoke monster, raging against something, again, which he can never hope to conquer.
Just to cap this post off, maybe its because of this failure that Horace goes to build a cabin. Seeking solitude, Horace picks up his ax, goes to build a cabin, "a little getaway for [h]e and the missus" because "sometimes you need a break from the D.I." http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Cabin_Fever_transcript. There they can pretend to live alone, free of Paul and free from the presence of the culture his people can never overcome, withdrawing together into solitude.
Going Underground
I was thinking some more about the fact that Horace responds to finding the Ankh in Amy's sock drawer by going out to blow up trees. So he unearths something that was buried--a symbol of eternal life--and specifically a symbol that Paul is still alive in Amy's memory.
So he would like to be rid of this memory of Paul and he responds by blowing up trees. And the Other's took Paul's body. And nothing on this island stays buried. And it seemed very important for flight 316 to land safely (it had a runway built for it, and a very capable pilot) perhaps so that the body it was carrying would remain intact.
So I'm thinking Paul's body is buried under a tree somewhere.
I can't follow out all the implications of that yet in terms of what Smokie is doing when it similarly blows up trees, but here are some of my usual random whacky thoughts:
The trees (or at least certain trees) seem to have protected people from Smokie in the past. That would seem to suggest that burying people under trees would again be a way to try to protect them. And maybe Smokie's countermove is try to explode them from underneath.
Does being buried beneath a tree have some connection to eternal life and if so is Smokie here the force countering that--returning things to what they should be (mortal).
Smokie has always reminded me of the monster in Forbidden Planet--which is a "Monster from the Id"--from the unconscious of the mind of the scientist whose mind (both conscious and unconsious) has been expanded by being hooked up to alien machinery.
Going back to that Many Minds theory again, I wonder if the island is Mind with a capital "M" while humanity are all components of that mind--fragments of it. The dead are still living in the island's Mind as memories, visions, whispers. But if the island has access to the body, it can resurrect this physical fragment of itself. It can unearth buried memories--unless someone blows them to bits first.
Trees and other brain droppings...
Your comment about the plane needing a runway and it being John's flight 316 stirred a thought that its a loose metaphor for Palm Sunday when Jesus was welcomed into Jeruselum. The saviour has arrived.
Secondly, if a body is buried under a tree, wouldn't the tree's roots take in the body as part of the soil nutrients as the body decomposed? ie eternal life by way of tree? You become part of the island. A symbiosis. Not sure what that implies.
When Horace interrogated Sawyer in 1974, Horace did not/pretended not to know about the Black Rock. But in 1977, Horace had dynamite. I took that to mean Sawyer gave Horace the idea to go looking for the Black Rock and upon exploration, found the same dynamite Rousseau did. When are we going to find Magnus Hanso's body?
Also, Smokey travels above and below ground. The mechanical noise we always hear when Smokey is either chasing or dragging a victim indicate to me there is an underground rail system (or some version of a mechanical pathway). What if he hits tree roots and that's what causes the explosion?
Trees as protection. I've always held that circle of dense trees or bamboo is some sort of entry/exit port to/from the island and Smokey is like a frustrated dog tied to a leash that isn't quite long enough for him to reach his prey.
I saw Forbidden Planet and I absolutely agree with you - right down to the sonic pylons to keep him out. So that begs the next Q: why does SOUND work as an effective barrier?
Resurrecting Trees?
Someone on another board reminded me of the importance of Joshua Trees (there's a photo of Joshua Tree National Park in the Swan). And here's an interesting note about the symbolism of the name:
"Joshua Tree Because the name 'Joshua' in Hebrew translates to 'Jesus' in Greek, this can be interpreted as the 'Jesus Tree' and its sometime suggestive shape reminds some of the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross. In the Old Testament Joshua was leading the Hebrews in their follow-up victory at Ai, Judg8:29, and he hanged their king on a tree until sunset."
Ok then was looking up Banyan trees 'cause those are the trees they are hiding in on the island. I didn't realize that they are also known as Bodhi trees (as in Bodhisatva) or that they are associated with the tree of knowledge.
So do we have the tree of life (Joshua) and tree of knowledge (Banyan)?
Trees as portals
Roots
Yes, I had that same thought about becoming part of the island--why would the Others resist becoming part of the island that way then, and why make Paul part of the island? I don't know, but I think it's the right direction.
Again, what would cause the explosion?
Sonic fence--sound waves--vibrations?
Which might connect with your idea that the circles of trees are entry/exits from the island. The island as a hub of dimensions (in that post I made a little while ago--the Distractions and Theory Merge one)--so the trees would be like the pools in C.S. Lewis's wood between the worlds in the Narnia stories. And it might be that if Smokie is a being whose essence is tied to this hub--the fact that strings vibrating at different frequencies mark those ten dimensions in string theory--seems like a connection there.
Jainism
I was reading the Wiki entry on Karma and came upon this interesting entry under Jainism:
"In Jainism, karma is referred to as karmic dirt, as it consists of very subtle and microscopic particles i.e. pudgala that pervade the entire universe.[26] Karmas are attracted to the karmic field of a soul on account of vibrations created by activities of mind, speech, and body as well as on account of various mental dispositions. Hence the karmas are the subtle matter surrounding the consciousness of a soul. When these two components, i.e. consciousness and karma, interact, we experience the life we know at present.
Herman Kuhn quoting from Tattvarthasutra describes karmas as – a mechanism that makes us thoroughly experience the themes of our life until we gained optimal knowledge from them and until our emotional attachment to these themes falls off. [25]"
This sounds like a way that the writers can easily incorporate science with faith.
And then thinking more about the following speculations:
Smokie is a force of destiny (versus Richard as a force for change)
Nothing on the island stays buried
Horace blowing up trees
Smokie blowing up trees
The Other's burials at sea
The skeletons in the cave (Adam & Eve)
Christian appearing underground in the age of the Statue
Whispers and Visions of the dead on the island, and that Miles can hear the dead--he uses something like a dustbuster as a way to help them move on
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It seems to me that Smokie is a karmic force composed of souls that have not been able to move on. In fact this is the very idea Prof proposed last season--Miles and clues to the shows concept of death. (A board congratulatory "woo-hoo" inserted here :-)
I think it even explains the Whispers of people like Duckett who have never been on the island--karmic residue attached to Sawyer from the moment when Duckett died.
The Other's burials at sea--letting the soul move on to a higher plane as opposed to being kept in the loop of Karma. Whereas those buried on the island "don't stay buried"--they become part of Smokie. Does that explain why Eko was killed? Yemi's karma is part of Smokie--Smokie used that to appear and guide Eko until he was no longer needed and then the anger that Yemi felt toward his brother--for not regretting any of his past choices--emerged and killed him.
The island is "Mind" and it is drawing to itself all the minds/souls that have not yet moved on.
The Others took Paul's body--perhaps their treaty involves taking the bodies of DI people involved in hostile confrontation--that way they feed Smokie with the karma of those they want to be rid of--use that against the living.
Horace is haunted by Paul and has some sense of what is going on. Attempting to blow up trees--to get rid of the body--to dispel the karmic force that's haunting him.
The caves--caves as portals to other worlds--are the bodies in the caves similarly trapped in the karmic loop or have they been released?
Oooo--here's what might be a big connection: How would being born on the island--or even more--being conceived and born on the island be affected by this karmic residue? Are people reincarnated into those born on the island (just one consciousness passed on--or several in one body?). Does that mean that the Losties are connected to the island not by literatlly having been born there--but by having parents who were there and carried some of that karmic residue with them--and their children placed into the same looping karmic impisonment. And then back to those skeletons--I'm thinking they are some of our current Losties and that perhaps this will be something at the end of the narrative that does show they've finally been released.
Killing parents--is that a way out of the loop or a continuation of it.
Christian appearing at the time of the statue--that his karma has been part of the island a very long time? Or that it time travelled with all the rest of them?
Re: Horace hears a...
Hey retro,
I really like your write up of the episode--you make a number of great connections--especially regarding trees and smokie. I have various thoughts in response. Not sure I can connect them all yet so I'll just put them here somewhat randomly and see what other people can make of them.
DI:
If the island is a place in which destiny can be changed or fixed (see my theory here)--you need dice, not di to play. The DI is incomplete (as you said just a shadow or ephemera) of the older civilization it is trying to replicate.
Only dice will get you eternal life. Di leads to dying.
Backs:
I was noticing this somewhere else as well--the back of the statue and the phrase "I've got your back"--by Juliet to Sawyer, previously by Kate to Jack. Kate's to Jack is, I think, false--the falseness reinforced by the fact that she has her back turned to Jack shortly after she says it and her face changes expression (2-faced & back-stabbing). Kate plays backgammon against herself.
Back-the game "backgammon"--you send your opponents "back" to loop around again if you land on a space in which one piece is alone (Live together/Die Alone or DI alone). If someone doesn't have your back--you are alone. A gammon is a win in which the losing side gets none of their players around the board. A "gammon bomb" is a type of hand grenade.
They have to go back. They've gone back to the island and back in time--looping. This is karma rather than dharma.
The line from "To His Coy Mistress"--in which Marvell, in the first part of the poem, imagines if his lover and he had "world enough and time" to express their love--her coyness would give him the opportunity to express his love in myriad, hyperbolic ways. But unfortunately "At my back I always hear/Time's winged chariot drawing near." It's time (mortality) behind you, not love.
Trees:
Blowing up trees reminded me of a section in "The Little Prince" (the children's story, not the episode). There's a chapter in which the Little Prince talks about the danger of bad plants on his planet that have to be uprooted early. One thing he's hoping is that the sheep which the narrator has drawn for him (the drawing is actually of a box with holes in it--but the narrator explains that the sheep is inside) will nibble at these bad plants when they are mere bushes. The plants are Baobab Trees and if allowed to grow would split the Little Prince's planet into pieces as illustrated in this drawing.
The drawing and the idea that it would split the planet makes me think of the buried hydrogen bomb.
The trees have also seemed to shelter people from Smokie at times.
Dynamite used by Horace to try to copy the Smoke Monster--Dynamite also thrown underground as a way to try to damage Smokie by Jack & Kate.
Building the shack:
Another way to kill off trees (maybe?). In the vision of Horace that Locke has, don't the trees resurrect? Prof asked why the Others always take over the buildings of others, and I was hypothesizing that you can't actually use the materials of the island to build with. Or if you do--maybe you wind up with something like a shack that moves around.
Birth/Life/Death--the cycle on the island is peculiar in many ways.
Paul Ankh(a):
OK I would never have thought of that if it hadn't been for someone having that user name on losties.net--or maybe I would have, but it would have taken longer :-)
The others taking Paul's body--did they bring him back in some way--or preserve the body so that some part of Paul remained to haunt Horace and Amy?
Pairs
Just one way I've thought of that connects some of those things:
Dice=2, Di=1
I have your back=people in pairs rather than alone
In Backgammon, a piece alone is vulnerable to being bumped back to the beginning; a piece with another piece is safe (sanctuary).
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Pairing is coming up a lot recently with the whole idea of needing to have the people on 316 paired to someone on 815. Thinking again about how the identities of the characters seem to shift--which was noticed a lot in posts about last season, particularly Jukin's "Trading Places."
Pairs of shoes
yin/yang, black/white, male/female...
...of socks...
:-)
OK a bit silly. But was thinking about the Ankh being in the sock drawer, and how often socks disappear leaving you with one of a pair--kinda like Amy without Paul. And now I think she's a mismatched set.
Blanchot
retro,
I haven't read Blanchot, but you got me thinking about Lacan (among others) and I'll try to tackle saying something about (maybe tomorrow--too sleepy and Lacan I find tough to understand myself)--in the meantime could you say a bit more about Blanchot?