(urth) Memorare

[Roy C. Lackey]

James B. Jordan wrote:
>I was struck by the fact that Wolfe makes himself the godplaying dead
>man. It would be easy to have the statue be that of "Richard Nixon"
>or "Hitler" or someone else, but Wolfe takes upon himself the role of
>god-playing tyrant. He seems to be saying that he's as potentially
>evil as anyone else. Salvation is only by grace, as the prayers and
>title indicate.

Seeing the statue of the "Founder" in a fake paradise as representing Wolfe
has an obvious appeal, but  . . . what about the larger part of the story,
the relationships among the four main characters? The memorials aren't built
by those they honor; they are built by the dead person's
relatives/followers. If Wolfe is the honored dead, who built the memorial --
and why?

>         Setting aside the Wolfe identification, I think we can see
>that the "heaven" that turns out to be fake and deadly is a symbol
>for socialism, fascism, and all the other anti-liberty things that
>Wolfe is against. One is told that everything is fine, and one keeps
>believing everything is fine, but the reality is that things are not
>fine at all. It is all one man, one dictator, controlling it all,
>including controlling the mind. The comments in the story about
>America no longer being a free country fit with this theme.
>         Freedom as Wolfe's large thematic interest is, in this
>story, linked with being realistic about life. Not living in a
>fantasy world (!). And it would seem that prayer and grace are ways
>of becoming realistic and being disabused of fantasy and fakery.
>         Just some more observations.

The fake paradise is shown to be foul and diseased by the neutral eye of the
camera. Only the glamour cast over the people who go there, the rose-colored
view, permits them to see that world as much better than it really is. If
Wolfe sees himself as the giant bronze lord of such a sorry realm, what is
he saying about his legacy? More to the point; what is he saying about you
and me and the rest of the faithful readers of his fantasies?

March thought that the statue of the Founder looked like his father. Penny
(Robin) thought it looked like her grandfather. If Wolfe was the Founder,
who are March and Sue/Robin/Penny?

-Roy