Memorare

Roy C. Lackey · 05 Apr 2007, 21:39 · from 2007-April.txt.gz

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From: rclackey at stic.net (Roy C. Lackey)
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 16:39:33 -0500
Subject: (urth) Memorare
Message-ID: <000c01c777ca$e9aa4de0$54ca5a42 at rclackey.stic.net>

James B. Jordan wrote:
>         BTW:
>                 Sue, from Susan - Susannah = Hebrew lily vegetable
>                 Robin = bird animal
>                 Penny = mineral
>Something's going on there. I can see Penny as the name she has in a
>realm ruled over by a metal man. Susannah was falsely accused of
>adultery and defended by Daniel -- I gather Sue was really guilty,
>she wanted reconciliation.
>         FWIW.

Sue was admittedly guilty, which brings up another point. Male-female
relationships, more specifically, marriage, have a lot to do with this
story. I mean, March, out in the boondocks, is unexpectedly visited by both
his girlfriend and his ex-wife. They are soon followed by his ex-wife's
estranged second husband, seeking to get her back. The girlfriend and second
husband get killed and March, after the main action of the story, goes back
for Robin (breaking a promise made to God in doing so [48]) and marries her
again; but this time she takes March's name.

Ms. Applefield, on one of the non-lethal memorials, had admonished Kit that
her relationship with March as "close enough" to marriage wasn't good
enough (23). Only marriage would do. Wife-beater Jim died nobly defending
his woman, but hadn't been above getting naked with Kit. March kept asking
Kit to marry him but she refused; he would hinder her career. Kim, the new
girl back on Earth who had never even met March, started coming on to him
for no good reason that I can see. Neither do I understand why March
remarried Robin.

That's a lot to put in one story on one subject. How is it related to the
double meaning of the title? How does the misremembered, incorrect
conclusion March supplied to the title prayer (76) relate to the correct
conclusion?

-Roy

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