Babbiehorn?: Was: a sincere question mostly for roy

David Stockhoff · 17 Nov 2011, 03:56 · from 2011-November.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:56:07 -0500
Subject: (urth) Babbiehorn?: Was: a sincere question mostly for roy
In-Reply-To: <4EC42930.20907 at gmail.com>
References: <1321469429.15377.YahooMailClassic at web161801.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>
	<4EC4094C.3030108 at gmail.com> <4EC4217A.2080403 at verizon.net>
	<4EC42930.20907 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4EC485D7.9050701 at verizon.net>

On 11/16/2011 4:20 PM, James Wynn wrote:
>
>>>
>>>>> First of all, Babbie's spirit-travel body looks generally
>>>>> like a man's body,
>>>>> but not quite. His hands aren't really hands; his hands
>>>>> have only two big
>>>>> fingers, suggestive of his normal cloven hooves (RTTW,
>>>>> 354). And he wears
>>>>> glasses (346). Yet the spirit-traveler's body is supposed
>>>>> to be a
>>>>> manifestation of how that person perceives himself to be at
>>>>> his core, in his
>>>>> heart, if you will. Horn never wore glasses.
>>>
>>> Does anyone but Silk wear glasses in this story?
>>
>> Are you thinking Horn took a piece of Silk with him?
>
> No. I don't agree with Marc's explanation that Horn's spirit fled 
> wholesale into Babbie. I think it is certain that Babbie has some Silk 
> in him at the time we see him wearing glasses. He surely has some Horn 
> in him much of the time. He's a psychic creature. It might be that the 
> confabulation of identities between the Rajan-Narrator and Babbie 
> would not be possible if the Rajan were not a Neighbor. It is very 
> reasonable that Horn's identity has been absorbed into Babbie the way 
> Rose's was absorbed by her prosthetic hands. It might not have been 
> possible though if it were not for the time that Neighbor-Horn and 
> Babbie spent together. After Horn died on Green, Babbie might 
> represent the most genuine presence of Horn in the whole rest of the 
> story.
>
> Honestly, I think Horn's soul left when he died in the pit. His body 
> and mind were lost on Green. All that is left of Horn (except what is 
> in Babbie) is his mission that the Rajan is devoted to completing and 
> what the Rajan remembers from his memories. And as I have said: If the 
> Neighbors have perfect memories, that is enough.

The problem there, I'm sure you will agree, then is what to do with the 
end of OBW. There must be enough left of Horn's mind in the Rajan to die.

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