(urth) Junie Moon (Again)

["Fernando Q. Gouvêa"]

Lafferty's story is "You Can't Go Back", in which the White Cow Moon 
appears. In that story, the White Cow Moon doesn't actually orbit the 
earth, it just floats around, so part of what Wolfe is doing here is to 
give a little more physical reality to Lafferty's story. Also worth 
pointing out is that the Lafferty story is about loss: the White Cow 
Moon was a magical boy to the main characters when they were children, 
but when they go back to it when they are adults they find that it is 
"dingy", smelly, not at all what they remembered.

Wolfe's story being about loss fits the theme. I agree that Junie is 
probably Juno, and that "Sam Jr" is probably Samson. Indians are 
connected to the White Cow Moon in the Lafferty story as well.

Just some added fuel for the fire...

Fernando

JBarach at aol.com wrote:
> Urthers --
>  
> Last night, I read "Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon?" for the first time.  
> It's in Starwater Strains and, to my surprise, is being reprinted in the 
> new Best Of, which implies that someone at least thinks it's one of 
> Wolfe's best -- and that implies that someone thinks he understands the 
> story.  Or perhaps whoever chose those stories (and I suspect Wolfe 
> wasn't really involved, or "From the Cradle" would be in there) thinks 
> that it's a story that demonstrates Wolfe's trickiness and repays study.
>  
> I have to admit that most of the story baffles me.  The basic outline is 
> fairly clear: It is narrated by an extremely strong man who works for a 
> circus and who has been hired/managed by someone named June Moon to look 
> for something called the White Cow Moon, which circles the earth at an 
> extremely low orbit and which has to be moving extremely fast in order 
> to do so.  She has disappeared, and the strong man is looking for her.  
> So much for the basics.  Almost everything else in the story is, for me 
> at least, mysterious.
>  
> The narrator is often called Hercules, and he thinks Junie Moon's real 
> name is probably "June."  I suspect he's wrong and that whoever pointed 
> this out on the list earlier is correct: Her real name is Juno.  Those 
> names put us in the sphere of Greek mythology, with Juno sending 
> Hercules out on some missions.
>  
> But I suspect that approach is also misleading.  Hercules is only the 
> narrator's stage name.  His real name is Sam.  Short for what?  SAMSON, 
> the strong man in the Bible. 
>  
> He is actually "Sam Jr." he says, which makes him the son of Samson.  He 
> isn't Samson himself, but he's the son of Samson.  And, in fact, I 
> suspect that "Sam Jr." is something of a joke on Wolfe's part, a joke 
> which hints at what I'm saying: The narrator is Sam Jr, which means he 
> is the son of Sam or "Sam's son."  Get it?
>  
> Incidentally, the name "Samson" is derived from the Hebrew word 
> "shemesh," sun, which is something an internet search easily turns up 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson).  Given that Junie is a Moon, 
> perhaps that's significant.
>  
> There may be other allusions to Samson, too, including the tearing open 
> of the gate (Samson uproots the gates of Gaza) and the line at the end: 
> "If all of us get mad at once maybe we will bring the whole thing 
> crashing down."  And if those allusions are really allusions, then there 
> may be some parallel between "the feds" and the Philistines.
>  
> But even if this is correct, I still don't understand the story.  That 
> there's an allusion to a Lafferty story about a tiny moon orbiting the 
> world, I understand, and I think I follow the physics (the Moon would 
> have to be travelling considerably faster than a bullet in order to 
> maintain an orbit at such a low altitude). 
>  
> But ...
>  
> * What's the significance of Junie's last name, Moon?  She is herself 
> short and fat and therefore moon-like, but beyond that...?
>  
> * What's with the King Arthur, Merlin's cave stuff, and who are the 
> people they see? 
>  
> * What is the area in which Sam thinks Junie has disappeared? 
>  
> * Who are the feds and why are they after Sam & Junie?
>  
> * Why was Sam's dad killed? 
>  
> * Beyond being an allusion to Lafferty's name, what's the significance 
> of Roy T. Laffer and what does the discussion of the "T" in his name 
> (like "Honest tea is the best policy") mean?
>  
> * What did happen to Junie Moon?
>  
> The story begins, of course, with a reference to Indians who tell you a 
> story but all the time are laughing at you.  So was Roy T. Laffer, we're 
> told.  And so, I think, is Sam.  But I don't get the joke.
>  
> Thoughts?
>  
> John

-- 
=============================================================
Fernando Q. Gouvea
Carter Professor of Mathematics
Colby College                     Editor, MAA FOCUS
5836 Mayflower Hill               Editor, MAA Reviews
Waterville, ME 04901              http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/19/
http://www.colby.edu/~fqgouvea

There are those who claim that magic is like the tide; that it swells 
and fades over the surface of the earth, collecting in concentrated 
pools here and there, almost disappearing from other spots, leaving them 
parched for wonder. There are also those who believe that if you stick 
your fingers up your nose and blow, it will increase your intelligence.
   -- The Teachings of Ebenezum, Volume VII