(urth) 5HOC - no. 5, Marsch, Eastwind and Sandwalker

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes]

Ummm.

I've never believed the cat really did bite Marsch. I've always
assumed that was something VRT made up to explain his
handwriting.

On 5/9/07, Tony Ellis <tonyellis69 at btopenworld.com> wrote:
> Adam Stephanides wrote:
> >Rereading this passage, I noticed something odd... <snip>
>
> I take your point that the April 23 entry reads a lot like a normal
> Marsch entry. But the idea that the reader is supposed to infer VRT
> copied out an entry in someone else's bad handwriting in his *own* bad
> handwriting is a step too far for me - especially as it also requires
> us to infer that he cut out the original entry when Wolfe gives us no
> indication of any such mutilation to the journal. (And that's another
> thing: the officer notices when pages have been removed expertly, but
> not when it's done by hamfisted VRT?)
>
> Perhaps the cat bit Marsch and Wolfe doesn't think it's such a big
> coincidence that his altered handwriting looks like VRT's. After all,
> VRT's handwriting is what writing looks like when you hold the pen
> wrongly, and that's what Marsch would be doing.
>
> But I don't think so. For me, it's simply too much to swallow that
> just before Marsch's handwriting changes because he's been replaced by
> an alien that can't write properly, it changes *anyway* because he was
> bitten by a cat. I suppose it's just down to personal taste.
>
>
> Coming back to the April 23 journal entry... on balance I think VRT
> wrote it. The curious business of preceding the entry with an
> out-of-sequence note seems to indicate that something is up. And more
> importantly *why does Marsch wait until he has killed the ghoul-bear
> to tell us he killed the tire-tiger the day before?* The man loves
> shooting wildlife, and is hugely proud of his kills. If he was so
> excited about killing the tiger, as the entry says he was, why didn't
> he excitedly write about it in his journal at the time? His cat bite
> certainly wasn't a handicap.
>
> Also: "The boy had enticed [the cat] into his lap and was sitting - as
> he always used to when he wasn't cooking - with his back to the
> fire..."
>
> Why "as he always used to"? Why write as if that's something that used
> to happen, but doesn't now? Because the writer is VRT, and the
> expedition ended a month ago? That would be my guess.
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-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
-----
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer
http://www.danehyoakes.com
Soon, where Toon Town once stood will be a string of gas stations,
inexpensive motels, restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food. Tire
salons, automobile dealerships and wonderful, wonderful billboards
reaching as far as the eye can see. My God, it'll be beautiful.