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<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="center">
COMBER</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
“Comber” was published in <i>Postscripts </i>Spring 2005 issue
and has never been collected.</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
<br>
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
SUMMARY:</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
A nameless point of view character wakes up to the same news he
heard the previous night: the floating fragment of a continental
plate upon which he lives with his pregnant wife Mona has topped the
crest of the wave upon which it floats and is temporarily flat. He
looks at his wife's peaceful face and quietly prepares for work.
Driving his car to the tall buildings at city center, he passes
through a tollway. He thinks that the last crest had been before he
was born, on a different wave, and thinks of the possible damage
falling from the top of the wave might wreck on the city and its
spumecathers. At work, probably at an architectural firm, he sees
that the inclinometer he once bought is exactly at zero and notes a
memo that the new angle will soon grow steep, the opposite of the
accustomed angle (since they have spent his lifetime moving up the
wave, and are about to crash down). Everything is to be reinforced
with the new angle of descent in mind.</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
He activates his work device, and instead of getting to work opens
the designs for his dream house for Mona, “waiting there to be
tinkered with, as it would not have been if anyone in authority had
found it.” His friend Phil interrupts him, asking to look at his
inclinometer and commenting that it is the first time in his life the
plate has been flat. Phil asks if he wants to go up to the roof and
look, and our main character declines the offer, wondering what would
happen if the plate actually overturned during its descent:</p>
<p class="" style="margin-left:0.5in;margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
If the building did not break up when it hit the water, it would
point down and would be submerged. Water would short out the
electrical equipment, probably at once … rooms and corridors might
(or might not) hold some air for a few hours – most [of] it down on
what were now the lower floors. He might, perhaps, break a window
and so escape;if he lived long enough to rise to street level, the
end of the plate, and air, would be what? Thirty miles away? Forty?</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
He thinks it would be better to die at home with his wife and their
unborn child. As the week passes, he sees that the inclinometer
becomes much more extreme in its reading, but on Friday his next door
neighbor Edith Benson calls to tell him that she has driven his wife
to the hospital – her labor has begun. By the time he returns to
work after a brief vacation, the inclinometer is but a pencil's
breadth from the extreme end of its reading – a reading which,
according to the man who sold it to our protagonist, need not go
further, for there will be no one to read it if it does.
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
That night they discuss college and a career for their son Adrian,
and, looking in on him, kiss several times as they exchange
endearments, claiming that Adrian's future would be his own to choose
(“But would not their own attitudes, the training they gave him,
and their very table-talk, influence Adrian's choices?”).</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
The next day he combs his hair and thinks only of Adrian and the
plate, pondering that the taller buildings his firm was planning
could only be built if there was someone alive to build them. At
work, a group of coworkers are “marveling at the vastness of the
tossing green waters that stretched to the horizon in every
direction”. The CEO's secretary remarks that they will never be
able to see so far again, and never be so high. An executive vice
president tells him to look on and let it inspire him to “think
big”. “Yet he found himself looking at the people who looked, and
not at the boundless ocean.”</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
An elderly man named Parsons lets him peer through his telescope,
and he is able to make out another floating city far away, for an
instant even catching a glimpse of a cross atop a spire amidst
pigeons and gulls. In alarm, our protagonist considers that certainly
the city, which Parsons speculates might be <i>Les Sables-D'Olonne
</i><span style="font-style:normal">from research done on his
computer,</span> must move before they crash into it. Parsons knows
that it takes a long time to climb a wave, but that falling down was
an extremely rapid process.</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
They discuss the possibility that a collision will break up their
own plate, and the certainty that even a small bump would flatten all
of the large buildings of their home city. The geologist Parsons
consulted, Dr. Lantz, instructed him to refrain from speaking of it.
Parsons says that to him it doesn't matter, as his life is over, but
it will matter to our main character, still young.
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
He phones a geologist who lives nearby named Martin Sutton to ask a
few questions about the threat of the city in their path. Sutton,
after a reluctance to speak, reveals that it has been kept off of the
TV and news venues, and that the chances of missing the city are only
one in ten, but that yesterday they were calling it one in five.
Sutton also confides that they are considering breaking up the other
plate in advance, though he implores the main character to keep quiet
about it. The protagonist realizes that the reinforcement crews have
been acting at his office to prepare for just such a collision.
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
Sutton reveals that the plan is to attack with a strike force of
about a thousand men and drill explosives a hundred feet into the
other floating city, though it will clearly take them years to get
there with their current level of working technology. Sutton also
says that there won't be any young geologists for the task, as the
university has shut down the geology program entirely.</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
Later the nameless main character confides to his wife Mona,
indicating that there will be ten or fifteen years for each side to
prepare and expressing a lack of confidence in the plan. Mona offers
that the city in their path could break up their own plate, but the
main character indicates that their own government could also break
up the plate they live upon, and Mona responds, “How horrible! No,
of course they won't.”</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
Here he decides that someone must act to sunder their own plate and
avoid war and disaster, using the force of an explosion to move their
piece out of the path of the other city:</p>
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“Adrian would have a future. Don't you see, Mona? We wouldn't take
just this residential neighborhood, but a piece of the infrastructure
big enough to be economically viable. We could make things for
ourselves then, make things to trade, grow gardens, and fish. That
town the city's going to hit … people survive there. They even
prosper. I've bounced this off of a man over on the next street, a
geologist. He agrees it might be possible, and he's coming over to
talk about it.”
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
Mona thinks bumpers or bags of air might work instead. He says that
nothing could stop the mass of the plate, and even if it could, the
resulting wave would drown everyone. Mona's voice is barely audible
when he tells her that Sutton is coming over at eight that night.</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
An hour later Mona tells him to stop combing his hair with his
fingers and pacing up and down. She begs him to go outside so he can
see Sutton coming, and he agrees not to come back in until he his
friend arrives. He thinks of the details of the plan, and whether or
not they will need to employ a chemist, sitting on the stoop of his
house. Sutton arrives, claiming that the new angle has disoriented
him. The wind snatches his baseball cap, and he asks the main
character to help him find it. As they search, he believes he hears
sirens traveling from the east to the north.</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
“One by one, the sirens grew louder – and abruptly fell silent.
For almost the last time, he ran nervous fingers through his hair.”
He sprints towards his house to find that it is locked and
dead-bolted against him. “Once only, his shoulder struck the
unyielding wood. By that time the first police car had turned the
corner on two screaming wheels, and it was too late to hide.”</p>
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<br>
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
COMMENTARY:</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
In the introductory material to the story, Wolfe claims, “This
story grew from the realization that the continents are islands of
granite floating upon a sea of molten basalt- they drift and tend to
break up … that gave me the image of a city on a floating chip of
stone.” The title, “Comber”, denotes a long sea wave which
curls, generally considered to be synonymous with a breaker. (The
main character also keeps combing his hair, sometimes with his hands,
in his nervousness and in his thoughts for the future. Clearly this
character trait should serve as our mental designation for this
otherwise nameless character – one who is always considering the
small details of his dreams and goals.)
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
One of Wolfe's simpler tales, the gimmick of the floating cities and
a society based upon them with limited resources is perhaps the most
interesting concept on display here. There is definitely a
libertarian strain in some of Wolfe's later fiction, and while this
may or may not reflect his personal attitude, “Comber” shows a
notable paranoia towards both authority figures and even family
members. Those in power do not have the best interests of the people
at heart, and would definitely destroy others and start a war rather
than think of creative solutions or try to find a way to work with
anyone else. While the situation they are in certainly seems to be a
catastrophic one, with radio news and other artifacts of technology,
certainly it seems that open communication might be possible – yet
instead, the government favors concealment and covert hostility. Like
many citizens of society, Mona thinks that it is the other city which
should necessarily be broken up, but reacts in horror at the idea of
breaking up their own plate.
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
The authoritarian presence looming in the background, while
ostensibly having the best interests of its island city at heart, is
clearly set on a course which discourages both inquiry and any
innovative solutions besides the obvious destructive one. This is not
the first time that the university has been the target of some
satirical commentary from Wolfe – discontinuing an entire branch of
a practical science like geology, perhaps in fear, certainly reeks of
an agenda-driven education which is controlled by external forces. It
is clear from the second page of the story that our main character
already understands that those in authority are in the habit of
suppressing personal dreams and goals from the care he takes to
conceal his plans for a dream-house.</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
This dream house is associated with the most powerful imagery of the
story - the way the protagonist views his wife, Mona. All of his
dreams are geared towards their future happiness, and his pet project
at work is specifically for her and their children. One gets the
impression that his revolutionary actions are motivated primarily for
her continued safety and their child, and even when he leaves for
work at the start, his thoughts are on a way to get past her without
waking her from her happy slumber. Wolfe's love of irony is here on
full display: motivated by love of his wife, letting her in on his
plans has cost him his freedom and probably his life, judging from
the authoritarian attitude of their city. (Also, the statement that
he is combing his hands through his hair for almost the last time
bodes particularly ill for his immediate future). Mona has both
betrayed him and locked him out, perhaps indirectly guaranteeing a
long and protracted struggle that might doom both their home and the
city in their path. Just as with the design of his dream house, he
must surely realize that his plans will not come to fruition and
vanish if anyone in authority learns of them - and almost as tragic
as the realization that they are headed for another city is no doubt
his personal realization that the person he loves most has destroyed
his dreams of a better tomorrow for her and their child. Certainly
the observation our point of view character about the vegetation
applies to his own ignorance: “Those trees were wrongly slanted
now. Come morning, they would find themselves pointed away from the
sun. He chuckled softly. It could not be often that smug suburban
trees received such an unpleasant surprise.” His own compass and
goal has shifted, and no longer points in the same direction as that
of his wife. Much like the trees, he is in for an unpleasant
surprise.</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
Mona is one of the female characters which gives some credence to
the idea that Wolfe's portrayal of women can be problematic, as
clearly the dominant and controlling motivation for her betrayal is
fear. Given the self-sacrificing motives of the protagonist, her
betrayal is especially unsympathetic.</p>
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</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
NAMES</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
<br>
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
Interestingly, the main character, who decides on rebellion by
breaking up his own city and returning to a more simple manner of
living, is never given a name. He is referred to as “Honey”,
“Darling”, or “young man” by others.
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
His wife Mona's name has multiple possible meanings. Perhaps the
most apposite is that of the Greek word for monad, meaning “singular”
or “one”. Mona can also be a female derivative of Simon, which
can mean “God has heard.”</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
Adrian can imply “dark” or, in its Latin origin, “of the
Adriatic” - certainly appropriate given both the baby's fate and
the watery setting.</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left"><a name="__DdeLink__182_829538617"></a>
The opposing city, <i>Les Sables-D'Olonne</i>, is a real seaside
town in Western France on the Atlantic, and its meaning is “the
sands of Olonne”. This clearly sets the world as “ours”. It
does not seem possible to identify which (probably coastal) town our
point of view characters live upon, as it seems the portions of the
continent which have been broken apart and stayed afloat have been
doing so for generations.</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
A man named Parsons shows him the city in their path – and this
occupational surname indicates someone in a parson's household or a
close family member of a parson. The geologist he phoned, Dr. Lantz,
has a name which implies “land” or “territory”.</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
The friend of our narrator who also works as a geologist is
identified as Martin Sutton. Martin means “warring” or “warrior
of Mars” and Sutton can imply “southern town” or someone from
that town.
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
The woman who drives his wife to the hospital, Edith Benson, has a
first name which is derived from an Old English name meaning “wealth”
and “war”. Her last name can imply the son of Ben (which in turns
means “son of the south” or “son of the right hand”). Thus
we have two names meaning the same thing: war and the south. Clearly
this future is headed for a destructive war even if the two land
masses eventually collide.
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS:</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
Why have the continents been sundered, with small portions still
adrift? Are there any larger land masses? While it is clearly our
future, has a true catastrophe like nuclear war served to break apart
the continents into small, porous sections? Judging from the thematic
undercurrent of the story (that those in power would rather risk
absolute destruction than voluntarily give up an iota of control or
allow a concession) a technological weapon employed during war might
be a viable reason for the current state of the world.</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
<br>
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS:</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
<br>
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
Is there any way to determine which city our characters live upon?
They eat wieners and sauerkraut, but there is little reason to
believe that it is necessarily German or even European, though it was
perhaps originally a coastal city.</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
<br>
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
CONNECTION WITH OTHER WORKS</p>
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<br>
</p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:100%" align="left">
Certainly this bears a superficial resemblance to Wolfe's other
“floating city” story: “Civis Laputus Sum”. However, this
has more in common with the slightly more libertarian themes of his
later fiction, such as “Viewpoint” and even, more subtly,
“Bloodsport”. The infinite vastness of the ocean is on display
in many of Wolfe's important works. His treatment of the abyss of
space seems inimically more “parasitic” and transformative to
humans but has the same feel of isolation. Looking at parallels such
as “Silhouette”, “Alien Stones”, or “Leif in the Wind”
might be interesting.
</p>
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