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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">I’m so glad to see this discussion returning to the works of Gene Wolfe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Rick Norwood<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> Urth [mailto:urth-bounces@lists.urth.net]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Robert Pirkola<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, October 08, 2014 10:28 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> urth@urth.net<br>
<b>Subject:</b> (urth) Short Story 8: Volksweapon<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Marc Aramini wrote on October 7, 2014: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">"Off topic, your input on volksweapon from a few months ago .. It is very<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">suspicious that the hero wants to leave the dead girl alone, and the<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">alleged killer wants to stay with her body or bring it. I feel that as a<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">nonrealistic meta mystery your solution would work ... But with any degree<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">of realism, the proper authorities would have the "hero" if he were at all<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">related to the dead girl or her husband. He wouldn't get away with it as<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">his motive would be obvious to authorities. "Oh wait... You are her<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">husband?"<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">However, the image of blinding the deer with a flashlight also seems as if<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">it could describe the murder of the girl if the person who presents our<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">solution is not trustworthy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">I don't know. Maybe it should be revisited."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Yeah, I am pretty sure you are right that Smythe can't have been the husband. It was an hypothesis too far, especially<br>
given that the third-person narrator specifically identifies him as, "game warden", which I think we have to trust. However, <br>
if you forget that ill-considered bit of speculation and make a different assumption (that does have plausible<br>
textual support) it remains narratively sound. Assume that Smythe was the person <br>
the moon-faced boy claims initially confronted he and Judy, and that his name is indeed an indication of<br>
his character. I generally associate smiting with Old Testament-style justice from on high and if Smythe<br>
knew that Judy was married and was committing adultery, he may have taken justice into his own hands<br>
and killed her for the transgression. Leviticus 20:10 “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, <br>
both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death." This would also help explain why he<br>
disposes of the old hunter's derringer rather than allowing the judicial process to proceed. It is an example of<br>
justice like that exhibited by Solomon, though thankfully no babies were harmed in the making of that reference.<br>
<br>
This of course fails to explain two ambiguous statements from Smythe:<br>
The last line of the story, "I wish I could have given it to her"<br>
and <br>
“I suppose she and that fellow were driving out to one of the summer<br>
cottages on the lake – maybe not for the reasons you would think.”<br>
<br>
Yeah, I want to believe the jacklighting bit is relevant beyond implicating the hunters, but I can't seem to<br>
make it fit the narrative. Smythe couldn't have used the technique to kill the girl as the MFB would have mentioned<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">something about a bright light coming out of nowhere. The description of
<br>
jacklighting given by Smythe on pg. 49:<br>
<br>
"The jacklighter shines a lamp or the headlights of a car into the woods and kind of hypnotizes the deer. Since the deer's<br>
eyes reflect the light, your poacher has a perfect target; the range is short and the deer's not moving. Usually your jacklighter<br>
uses a car and you can stop him on the road with the carcass in his trunk."<br>
<br>
Any ideas?<br>
<br>
For those interested, the discussion of this story started with Marc's post on March 29, 2012. <a href="http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/2012-March/026740.html" target="_blank">http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/2012-March/026740.html</a><br>
My follow-up was on July 2, 2014. <a href="http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/2014-July/054877.html" target="_blank">http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/2014-July/054877.html</a><br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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