The fact that “survival is “insufficient”, an allusion to Star Trek, and a motif which is tattooed on Kirsten’s right arm, also highlights Jean Paul Sartre’s key idea – “hell is the absence of people you long for”.
Edward recounts the story of his wife, at the hands of the prophet’s gang. They are seeking to steal wives. “Their leader smiles at me and says, “We are the light” (273) “they’ve got some crazy theology; they’re armed and they take what they want. “ (273). The prophet is trading things for “guns and ammunition” (73) Edward is terrified because they have his five-year-old kid, “bound and gagged” (273). They exchange this boy for the guns but they take his wife, and reassure her that she will re-emerge in a few hours. “All the time, smiling so peaceful, like they’ve done nothing wrong”. Eventually, they find his wife – “shot on the roadside” (273). “She said the prophet wanted her to stay with them. … Go north with them and become a wife to one of his men, and she said no, so the prophet shot her. Not to kill her, obviously, at least not quickly. Just to cause her pain.” (273)
The “family” members seek to protect each other from disappearing. One such incident concerns the effort of the “clarinet” player to warn her “family” about the prophet’s planned ambush. She endangers her life in order to deliver the message that they must change their route 293 – the “conductor.. orders an immediate change of course in order to protect the group.) (Another example?)
In Year Twenty, Kirsten and August manage to free Sayid, who has been kidnapped by the Prophet, who informs them about Dieter’s death. (287) meet a group of the Prophet’s men along with Sayid. They provide support to Elinor even though it could endanger their own existence; Mandel contrasts their attitude to the “bride” with the prophet’s to show the attitudes of support
Mandel uses the superstitious references to the “three ravens” as a symbol of his simplistic and distorted vision. (125-126)
The young boy who is anonymous and typical… explains his guilt, fears and his sense of compulsion: “Remembering what we did, it just guts me.” (292) He also notes: “What choice do I have? … “This time we live in, you know how it forces a person to do things.” (292) He also explains that they are trained to move in silence – in stealth. “this is our training” (293) “We move silently and we attack from behind. They disarmed ten towns and took their weapons. He has been training “since I was five”. (293)
292 – he is one of those who was unaware of what life used to be like. He is not aware of other choices. “I’ve read books . Magazines, I even found a newspaper once. I know it all used to be different.” 292
The Clarinet was seized by the prophet’s men, (288). Her opening monologue of her own play, “remained a fragment”, “stuffed deep in her backpack until the day, eleven months later … The Symphony unearthed it in the hours after the clarinet was seized by the prophet’s men and wondered if they were looking at a suicide note.” (289). The clarinet had been filling water containers with Jackson; she turned; six men armed with large guns. They intend to trade her for the “bride”. They tell Sayid, “all of our activities, Sayid, you must understand this, all of your suffering, it’s all part of a greater plan”. (The archer captures two hostages.) “We must be the light. We are the light.” (291) She sees Dieter, “lying on his back a few yards away, unmoving” (290). (dead)
The Clarinet was the Symphony’s “best hunters”. She had survived alone in the forest for three years after the collapse; she was still able to vanish noiselessly. She stumbles onto the Symphony in order to warn them: “You must change the route”. The “conductor heard the message and ordered an immediate change of course”. Scouts were sent out to find Kirsten and August. The Symphony “veered inland into a new route, a circuitous combination of back roads that would take them eventually to the Severn City Airport”. The clarinet is slipping in and out of consciousness” (294).
As is evident on the image of the front cover of Dear V, Arthur is aware of his obsession with fame. “It’s still somehow embarrassing, all the attention. I tell people I don’t noticed the paparazzi anymore, but I do. I just can’t look at them” (170).
Memories; Jeevan Chaudhary and Frank – hope (contrasting with Old Frank)
- Jeevan and Frank: “This boy born into the new world, his mother resting indoors with the baby.” Little Frank helps with the bread in the oven. For a moment, Jeevan believes that he “looks like his namesake”, like Jeevan’s brother. “Always these memories, barely submerged”. (313)
- Frank reads the comments, the “immortal words of a philanthropist” (Arthur) who thinks about his legend and about “immortality” . “First we want to be seen .. .we want to be remembered” (187)
Charlie appears to be haunted by the “ghost” of the past when she visits a house near the “mouth of the St Clair River The room (a previous “nursery”) was eerily empty, but for a child-sized rocking chair. Despite the rocking chair and the porcelain tea set that still lay on the table, the house had been ransacked (several years prior – “more than once but not for years or maybe a decade”) and it has covered in dust. Kirsten wrapped the tiny plates and saucers into a pillowcase and then “stuffed the bundle into Charlie’s bag”. Charlie confesses that it was a “strange moment”, “in a lifetime of strange moments” (307).
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