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Commentary around and/or in Oscar and Jeannie
The theme of Oscar and Jeannie by Douglas Ord is the and/or question. It may be summarized in the following quotation: "either a) that he and the landlord deserved one another; or b) that the entire building was unfit for human habitation, and a fire hazard, and that both of them would have to move." The "or" stream (whose origin is the sex organs) is represented by the angel or demon set of opposites. The "and" stream (whose origin is the base of the spine) is characterized by the seemingly conjoined "he and she". They are perceived as the two separate streams of consciousness which occasionally appear to merge. This is crisis faced by post-modern man who is paralyzed by indecisiveness through his perception of abstract Rockies or who erupts in decisiveness expressed as rage through his view of sharded Krakatoas and escapes in his travels to the Himalayas which he superficially sees as spiritual business.
Oscar's first name reflects his thought process. The ord is "O" and the end is "r". The letters are at opposite extremes and form the capitalized word "Or" as if to emphasize it.
The word "Oscar" has five letters. The author Ord may be implying that Oscar thinks of himself as a disassociated "other". That word "other" also has five letters with the first letter "O' and the last letter "r".
Ord explicitly compares Oscar with the archetypal Adam or arc Adam. Oscar's fall against the wall takes place ironically as he is going up the staircase. His going up indicates that the lowercase subject "i" is sandwiched between the "o" and "n" of the word "going". Refer to the poem called "I am old" (copyright) by D. Carlton Rossi where the theme is elaborated upon.
Oscar falls while straddling the third and second steps before the orange and purple painting. This landing is a composite of Melissa and Brenda or (the image of Eve) and Oscar as (the image of Adam). The steps are between landings that are also composites of their colors. His downfall represents the archetypal fall of Adam from the grace of God. Does it also represent his fall from the tree of knowledge?
"In the instant of his apparent union" or what might be called "un i on" he seems to be one with all. The double vowels "ee" are repeated in different forms as in deep, green, seemed, screen and sweet. However, in "sweet Christ" the vowels express a profanity. These double "ee"s are perhaps distorted images of the pair found in the implied word "Eve" and the word "semen" where they are actually divided rather than unified and only the first vowel is long.
In Genesis, Adam is created from the dust of the earth. What if the dust was a "speck" of dust or sphere? The dynamic sphere then becomes a static circle (image) which has a point. The circle has one point which is both odd and even. The circle is similar to the sphere, but not the same.
However, there is a second version of the myth wherein Eve is created from the rib of Adam. What if the rib represents a line? A part is taken out of the whole. The part becomes differentiated from the whole. The part or line has two points. The sphere of Adam's rib cage is dynamic while the removed rib is a static line.
The rib cage itself may also be construed as the ark. The word arc comes from the Hebrew word 'Aron'. This word can mean a chest or box. The Arc of the Covenant, Ellie Crystal, http://www.crystalinks.com/ark.html
Finite time begins in the second phase when "age" is taken out of the "cage". (Adam and Eve cease to live forever). Time is both infinite like the shape of the cage and finite like the beginning and end of a floating rib. Man is both infinite and mortal. There may be another set of analogies which are useful. Circular time is like a snake eating its tail "Ouroboros". Linear time is like a snake curled around a beehive "Omphalos".
There are three types of ribs; namely, the true ribs (heaven), floating ribs (earth) and false ribs (hell). There are seven pairs of true ribs that connect to the sternum. There are five pairs of false ribs that do not connect with the sternum. The upper two pairs of false ribs are called floating ribs. In a sense, the floating ribs provide a link between the true and false ribs. In total, there are 12 pairs of ribs.
Adam's rib is taken from one of the two upper pairs of floating ribs. The Hebrew word for Covenant is berith. In the Hebrew text the word for "making" a covenant is the Hebrew word for "cutting" a covenant, hearkening back to the ancient practice of the sacrificial "cutting" of a "blood covenant" Jesus the Better Minister in the New Covenant, James Fowler, 2001.
One may speculate that the removal of a rib might have been a kind of sacrificial offering However, it may have been a medical necessity. Did Adam literally fall out of the tree of knowledge? Was his rib cage broken? Perhaps a floating rib was removed as a medical necessity and then offered as a sacrifice.
The floating ribs do not have a ventral attachment (no anchor in front) and are called floating, fluctuating or vertebral ribs. Therefore, Adam's rib would have floated like an ark. The rib is arc-shaped.
In terms of number theory, let the taking out of the floating rib represent subtracting one hour per day. In a solar year there are 52 weeks. If one multiplies 7 hours per week times 52 weeks then one arrives at a total of 364 hours.
The number of days (rather than hours) in the solar year developed by the Essenes was 364. The number of days in their solar year may have been determined in a different manner; nevertheless, if that special number is divided by the approximate lunar month of 29.5 days then the result is 12.34.
By happenstance or as Ord might say "in the dense tapestry of intersections and synchronicities", the series of numbers 1234 may be seen here. These are the basic numbers of Pythagorean geometry. Coincidentally, the series of numbers 1234 may symbolize the subtraction of one hour per twenty-four hour day and/or of one hour from one of a pair of twelve hour periods. Within this series is found the number 24. There is also found the number 23. The number 1 is found. Finally, there is found the number 12 or half a day.
Refer to the poem called FOUR (copyright) by D. Carlton Rossi that is published in the gallery of the following website: http://www.webspawner.com/users/sundawuphilosopher/index.html
The number 1234 may have another significance in terms of time. If one divides the number 1234 by 52 then the result is 23.73. Coincidentally, this is approximately the number of hours in a solar day.
Pi is the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle. Let us take the ribs on one side of the body. These twelve ribs perhaps symbolize the first half of the day beginning at 6 p.m. in the evening. There would be 7 true ribs and five false ribs. If one false rib were removed then there would be four false ribs. In the second step, let us divide the number 7 by the number 4. The answer is 1.615. In the third step, we move the decimal point of the number 1.615 to the left and then add the number 3. Coincidentally, the answer is 3.1615 or the approximate value of pi.
The Jewish term yowm means a twenty-four hour day that lasts from one sunset to the next. It begins in the evening when it is impossible to distinguish between red or blue thread. It continues until dark of that day.
However, the same term also applies to the twelve-hour day beginning at sunrise of the morning. Therefore, the day refers to the whole and/or the part of the whole. It is the total of the evening twelve hours and the morning twelve hours and/or the morning twelve hours. Furthermore, the term yowm refers to an age.
The nature of time is both circular and linear. Linear time requires fractions expressed as decimals to ensure a semblance of accuracy. For example, the ancient Jewish lunar month is actually 29.5 days plus 793 parts or bars where each hour equals 1083 bars. The decimal points are always floating and usually express more precision by dividing the line into smaller parts. Therefore, calendars change over time. There have been many attempts at a definitive calendar, but these have been unsuccessful.
On one level, the cutting out of the rib (arc) may have been a means to bind. It allowed the binding of the solar and lunar calendars. Therefore, the definition of covenant may have to be expanded to mean cutting out and/or binding.
The covenant may be thought of in terms of subtraction and addition signs and/or their processes. Adam's rib is cut out (with a knife) or subtracted. The subtraction sign symbolizes the rib and/or the process of cutting out the rib. There is now one less rib.
The addition sign and/or its process represents the binding. The two sides of the incision wound are brought together. The two sides are added.
The relation of subtraction and addition is as follows. Subtraction is horizontal. Addition is vertical. The addition sign itself represents both the horizontal and the vertical aspects. It is also a cross. The word "suture" has several meanings. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, it has three main meanings. "a strand or fiber used to sew parts of the living body; also : a stitch made with a suture b : the act or process of sewing with sutures.
2 a : a uniting of parts b : the seam or seam-like line along which two things or parts are sewed or united.
3 a : the line of union in an immovable articulation"
There are two more arithmetic signs that represent the process of sewing, the uniting of parts and/or the line of union in an immovable articulation. The needle makes two holes on either side of the incision wound. This represents division. Division "or"s. In division, the points are removed from the line and placed above and below the line. Then, the suture loops around the wound a number of times. This represents multiplication. Multiplication "and"s. The multiplication sign is a stable cross resting on two points.
The goal of Oscar's desire is for him to be "in" the zone of perfection and to deposit his genetic protein in the zone. The number one is within the zone as the word "one" is within the word "zone". However, he and his protein manage only to be "on" the zone as part of the one, on the one and on the landing.
Oscar consciously views the other as the object or something that can be pointed to. He might say the following: "I am here." or "It is there.". "I" is not part of "It" as "here" is not part of there.
The "others" are idealized as a Pythagorean forms. "There were four of them: great, grey rectangles that rose to meet, uniformily, in four separate places...". . Oscar's own manhood is illusorily identified as one form. His short coming is a "four inch"
The landlord or lord is like the supreme form; although he may be insane. He hovers between the out-thrust piece of glass (Mt. Parnassus) and the immaculate landing (light white cloud) or at this stage the "or" and "or". As an image of the landlord, Oscar seems to hover as his sense of falling recedes.
However, there is a temporary role reversal. Oscar's self becomes the form of Apollo (god of rationality), but in frenzied terror--Dionysius or god of irrationality. The following example illustrates the other side of Apollo. Oscar may imagine that he is like a "vengeful" Apollo throwing a cosmic kerauos by means of an arrow. The name Oscar itself comes from the Old English word meaning "spear of the gods". The scene resembles a visually pyrotechnic Gotternammerung probably occasioned by an "or complex" through an association with his razor-sharp former--Melissa.
The reversal lasts momentarily; so, Oscar returns to his state of indecisiveness. He is frozen by the pounding that resonates through his brain. Cutlery crashes to the floor like the pound-sound of thunder. He starts to sound like his own echo.
During the phone call, Melissa's voice is tiny and tinny. It is mechanically demodulated and transmitted through a plastic ear piece. Plaintive squeaks ensue and then the sounds of silence.
The "or" of Oscar's voice transforms to a nihilistic "Nor" or simply "NO". For instance, "not beside his pillow. Nor was it on the bed... Nor was it on the table...".The words may have little meaning and must be repeated. "NO. NO. NO."
The "ors" continue to cascade in a series of three. Or with... Or with... Or maybe... He muffles, shuffles, wuffles between ors. Or, Or, Or.
arc of covenant, ark of covenant
Page Two (Oscar and Jeannie)
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