{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/6672", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 6672, "subject": "The Eyeflash Miracles Part 2", "messages": 1, "voices": 1, "first": "2014-09-16T02:50:27+00:00", "last": "2014-09-16T02:50:27+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Marc Aramini", "address": "marcaramini at gmail.com" }, "date": "2014-09-16T02:50:27+00:00", "subject": "(urth) The Eyeflash Miracles Part 2", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "COMMENTARY:\n\nThe opening quote sets the ironic nature of the entire Judeo-Christian\nscheme of salvation — expecting a secular power to redeem the Jews in this\nworld, the Christ whom Christians believe in was very different — a humble\ncarpenter who scorned secular authority. In Anatole France’s “Procurator of\nJudea”, from which the opening quote comes, Pilate goes over the political\nmachinations of his career and its significance, but of course his name is\nonly remembered in history for his worldly authority over Christ. His name\nis known because of something (in France’s story) he has forgotten,\nsomething he never realized would have an impact on the world, even\nspreading and promulgating through Rome.\n\nThe United States has clearly been shaken up politically — with a capital\nin Niagara but extant cities throughout West Virginia, Georgia, and Texas\nstill probably under a moved central government, the only sign we have for\nwhat has happened is increasing mechanization and widespread unemployment.\nPeople must live off the “card” - a poor government stipend. There is no\ntrace of anything bad happening to Washington D.C., but it is absent from\nthe text.\n\nTib becomes a wonder worker though he has no real-world presence, called by\nMr. Parker a ghost, his identity destroyed because he has no social status\nor importance. Two basic mythic patterns can explain Tib — the primary\nquestion in the text is whether he has two sets of parents (as Silk\ndoes in *The\nBook of the Long Sun*) — is he truly one of the affluent and doomed gifted\nchildren produced experimentally, who are hunted to extinction (as children\nat the birth of Moses and Jesus were), or if he arose naturally through the\nhumble poor children used as controls in the experiment. In the later case,\nthere is only one father and mother figure, and that father is moved to\ntreachery by societal forces. One of these patterns follows the Hindu\norigin story of Krishna as an avatar of Vishnu, the other the Christian one\n— the humble birth of the Jewish carpenter into an oppressed people, whose\nmiraculous nature is both fully divine and fully human. The importance of\nthis distinction in the text lies in separating the father and mother\nimages in Tib’s visions.\n\nTib’s child’s perspective pictures the angels as fantasies, and though\nthere is no indication that he has ever read Baum’s Oz books, that\nconflation carries the syncretism of Dr. Prathivi to a new level: the\nmiraculous dream of Oz contextualizes divine power, perhaps even creating a\nkind of *Pilgrim’s Progress* as Tib performs miracles. It definitely seems\nthat the point at which the Oz visions clearly enter the waking world\nfollow Tib's baptism at the hands of Nitty, though before this point he\nstill performed miracles.\n\nLittle Tib’s quest for Sugarland, ironically, is for a real place in Texas\nin the Houston Area incorporated in 1959 and founded as a sugar plantation.\nEither chosen because of Sugarland’s pleasing name or because it is where\nhis family lived, his trip there is filled with all kinds of miraculous and\nvisionary events, and though he perceives it as a kind of paradise, it is\nlikely that it will be ordinary. People know who you are there, according\nto Tib — in the rest of society, people only know what their eyes tell them.\n\nThe fantastic slowly enters the waking world over the course of the\nnovella, and Little Tib is definitely awake by the time he dances over the\ncliff with the lion, whom he identifies as an angel. There is ultimately no\ndistinction between the spiritual and physical worlds by the end, and it is\nTib who pictures the spiritual realm of the angels as the magical world of\nOz. The charlatanry of Oz from the books becomes a symbol of genuine\nmiraculous spirituality throughout the story.\n\nBLINDNESS AND “EYEFLASH”:\n\nThe blindness of Tib highlights another one of the beautiful themes of the\nstory: black, white; rich, poor; young, old — these distinctions are\nirrelevant to Tib. Only touch, human interaction, and how people treat one\nanother matter. Physical boundaries and obstacles don’t matter — he can\ndance on air or squeeze through walls — the miraculous world slowly becomes\nthe real world for Tib when he is not deceived by his eyes.\n\nThe characters of Nitty and Mr. Parker play with this light and dark\nimagery, but it is Mr. Parker who forgets about his friend and custodian by\nthe end — and rather than express ire or displeasure, Nitty simply\ncontinues on, saying that often blacks and whites are both guilty of\nforgetting when they are helped by someone different than themselves. The\nstory makes a point to explicate that Nitty’s stereotyped dialect is a show\nassumed for the brain damaged Mr. Parker and society as a whole. Tib can\nnever see the external differences between Prathivi, Nitty, and Mr. Parker\n— blindness is actually an advantage to him in perceiving spiritual truths,\nthough it has deprived him of an identity in this society.\n\nAn eyeflash is actually an eye injury and irritation that occurs after\nbeing exposed to harsh UV and infrared light. The attempt to identify and\nneutralize Tib through retinal scanning results in his complete freedom\nfrom their rigid social structure and identification system.\n\nFEMALE AUTHORITY FIGURES:\n\nThe king of Oz is a woman that Tib recognizes as his mother, though she\ndoes not look like her. The giantess, also called his mother, will sweep\nhim away if he is not careful. The railway police are two women, and the\ndoctor is also a female. Save for the man in the white coat who denies\nknowledge of Tib and claims he is “nobody”, the only male with a prominent\nposition seems to be Tib’s father as an avatar of Indra, and even that is\nsomething akin to being a pawn working for others. The president of the\nUnited States mentioned in the text is male, however.\n\nLITERARY ALLUSIONS:\n\nThe copious Oz references are recounted in the summary above, though I\nrefer readers to William Ansley’s more specific postings on the Urth\nMailing List referenced below, linked by Matthew Groves. Most of those\nreferences are to the original Baum book — for the most part the characters\nserve as spiritual guides and aides to Tib.\n\nThe opening quote highlights the theme of the story: our secular\nunderstanding of events and people often misses their true relevance\nentirely, and Tib, Nitty, and Mr. Parker being cast out as irrelevant and\nextraneous members of society is distorted and invalid. Their true\nsignificance is something far more numinous and miraculous. Social status\ndoes not equate to value, but Tib’s ability to generate an income in this\nparticular society has been relegated to zero — he has no identity and no\nworth without his eyes.\n\nThe novella also shows a slow progression from realistic low mimesis\nfiction to fantasy as the two worlds interact and overlap. At first these\nare separated into dreaming and waking worlds, but soon the presence of the\nOz manifestations are definitely present when Tib is awake, influencing and\nhelping him.\n\nRELIGIOUS ALLUSIONS:\n\nTib is identified with both the boy Krishna and Jesus. Both are responsible\nfor extreme reforms in their respective religious systems. The play which\nDr. Prithivi hopes to enact is a pivotal scene in Hindu philosophy that\nmarks a turning away from a religion of appeasement and sacrifice to one\nbased more on karma and dharma, performing one's duties with regard to all\nlife. Krishna, the god Vishnu given flesh and born as a boy, convinces his\nvillage to stop sacrifice and worship to Indra, the god of the clouds,\nbecause it is the nearby natural mountain Govardhan that provides for their\nneeds. This angers Indra, and he brings a storm to punish them. Krishna\nlifts up the mountain to protect the village from the storm. The real play\nis interrupted by a storm here.\n\nBesides this scene, we must mention the birth of Krishna. King Kamsa was\ndisturbed by a prophecy that his sister Devaki's eighth child would kill\nhim, so he locked her away. After killing the first six children she\nconceived, Vishnu became involved and ordered the seventh child switched\nout of the womb with the eight handed goddess Yogmaya. After the\nmanifestation of that goddess to Kamsa, Vishnu entered Devaki's womb and\nbecame her eighth child, known as Krishna. The goddess put his guards to\nsleep and he escaped to be raised in a small village by cowherds, where\neventually he would philosophically defeat Indra and return to destroy King\nKamsa as well.\n\nChrist's story is one of God born in a manger into relative poverty,\nturning the concept of the secular Messiah on its head and healing the poor\nand the sick, providing spiritual balm. At his own birth, there are two\nfairly distinctive gospel accounts of Jesus' nativity. In Luke, Joseph and\nMary are traveling from Nazareth for the census and stop to give birth in a\nmanger in Bethlehem. In Matthew, King Herod has ordered the death of all\nchildren under the age of two in Bethlehem and Jesus' family flees to Egypt\nbefore later going to Nazareth. This is the story Tib thinks of when\nspeaking to Indra.\n\nThese multiple accounts of origin all apply to Little Tib. Under the first\nscenario, that of his identification with Krishna, he would have been born\nin the wealthier and affluent “experimental” group and then switched with a\npoor child. Under the Christian scenario, he would have been born of the\npoor family, as in a manger, and had only one set of parents.\n\nOne further religious element outside of the baptism can be seen in the\nsymbolism of the lion discussed above and the slaying of the demon\nHiranyakasipu by Vishnu on the side of Dr. Prithivi's bus. This is\nparalleled with the casting out the demon legion into pigs recounted in\nthree of the gospels. Through Hiranyakasipu's name's meaning, we see that\nhe is the gnome king as well as the computer, and his tale highlights the\nfutility of desiring power over others. Hiranyakasipu even tries to kill\nhis own son for his devotion to Vishnu, which also has expression in the\nWolfe novella. Tib feels that he is in front of the computer again when he\nfaces his father after the Indra masks comes off on Prithivi's stage, and\nin many ways George Tibb is possessed by Legion too, and is therefore\nsymbolically Hiranyakasipu as well as Indra (both overcome by Krishna).\n\nOne final allusion that cements Tib's association with Christ is the awful\nfeeling he gets sitting in the wooden chair with its wooden arms, so\nreminiscent of a crucifix. This would seem to be the best argument (as well\nas the thought of the new baby which looks so very old which Prithivi's\nflue music invokes) that when the Wizard says that Tip wound up being “the\nruler of us all”, he is literally referring to Tib's identity and destiny\nas the divine come again.\n\nMR. JEFFERSON VS. GEORGE TIBBS\n\nIn the final scenes of the novella, the character who provides the most\nexposition is the man who wears the mask of Indra. The primary question is\nwhether Little Tib is the natural son of George Tibbs or if he is indeed\none of the children from the experimental group, the only affluent one who\nescaped destruction. Is the father who comes for him behind the mask of\nIndra a wealthy man who exercises real power or a brainwashed and\nconditioned poor man?\n\nIt seems both versions of Tib's paternity could possibly be true, for the\nWizard, when he finally appears, reverses time. While both visitors to the\nschool for the blind are identified as Tib's father, one gives his name as\nMr. Jefferson and Tib knows that he will have a “nice” car. The other is\nGeorge Tibbs, who gets into the Biogenetic Engineering Program through its\nagricultural program. He is definitely the poor father of Tib's “old” home,\nthe one where the mother would swat at a rat with a broom. In the final\noutcome, it seems that Tib was indeed always one of the poor children, and\nthe story of Christ the model rather than that of Krishna.\n\nThe presence of the engineered children is a false secular explanation —\ncontrary to what Indra claims, sometimes Gods really are born in cowsheds.\n\nNAMES AND TIBB'S EVE\n\nWhile it might be a coincidence, there is a modern holiday known as Tibb's\nEve (and also Tipp's Eve) which is held at the end of the Advent season,\nDecember 23rd, during which it is appropriate to drink. The timing of this\nis fortuitous for our novella, and perhaps its promise of celebration is\nmore appropriate as an allusion than its reputation for the consumption of\nalcohol.\n\nGeorge means “earth worker.” Tibb can be derived from Theobold, which\nimplies “bold people”.\n\nParker's last name simply means “keeper of the park.”\n\nPrithivi is the Sanskrit name for “earth” and can also imply “that which\nholds everything.”\n\n\n UNANSWERED QUESTIONS:\n\nWhy are spiritual visitations and powers manifested as the figures of Oz to\nTib, beyond the aforementioned “sense of wonder” of a young boy, where the\nstories of religion and fantasy are both full of awe?\n\nIs Little Tib a Christ figure or more like a wonder-worker favored by\nangelic forces? The feeling of dread associated with the wooden arms of the\nchair suggest that he is indeed somehow Christ, as does the opening quote\nfrom Anatole France's story.\n\nDoes the Wizard actually completely change reality in the final scenes of\nthe novel, altering the story of Tib's paternity, or was Mr. Jefferson a\ncover for George Tibbs and only the cover identity erased? Tibbs did fancy\nthat he was related to important people or presidents, and this perhaps\nsuggest that Mr. Jefferson is simply a pseudonym and false identity. (Does\nLittle Tib only have one set of parents, or two?) I lean towards the one\nset, which aligns more with the Christian metaphor and Jesus' relative\nobscurity (highlighted in the opening quote from Anatole France) rather\nthan the story of Krishna.\n\nCONNECTION WITH OTHER WORKS\n\nDespite the bleak future of poverty and the increasing scorn for menial\nworkers and educators inherent in an automated future, the small betrayal\nof Parker, and the large betrayal of Little Tib’s father, this story offers\na fairly unambiguous ray of redemption and hope. The increasing\ninfiltration of fantasy and the spiritual as the narrative continues echoes\nanother of Wolfe’s examinations of the underlying reality of the spiritual\nworld — “Trip, Trap” — though our ending here is tinged with far less\nirony. “Westwind” was more overt in its exploration of the relationship\nbetween the Deity and his creations, but He was separate and distant,\nunable to interfere in the lives of his subjects, solely providing a\ncathartic reassurance in the form of metaphorical prayer. In “The Eyeflash\nMiracles”, we see spiritual assistance and interference from start to\nfinish. Nitty’s acceptance of being forgotten by Mr. Parker and the removal\nof the mask from Tib’s father are purely redemptive in nature. Though\nfilled with tears from start to finish, the novella is one of the few works\nin Wolfe’s output in the 1970s that has an unambiguously triumphant ending\n, though Little Tib has not arrived at his final destination. Sometimes it\nis the path that is important, paved with gold or not.\n\nRESOURCES:\n\nAnsley, William. “Ozflash Revised.” Urth.net Mailing List, Volume 24. 8\nMarch 1999. Web. 5 September 2014.\n<*http://www.urth.net/urth/archives/v0024/0046.shtml\n*>\n\nGroves, Matthew. “Eyeflash Miracles: WolfeWiki Content.” Urth.net mailing\nList. 20 July 2007. Web. 10 September 2014.\n<*http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/2007-July/033411.html\n*>" } ] } ] }