On the opening page of this story, a simile followed by a two-sentence Homeric metaphor deserves attention as an example of Poul Anderson's rich written style. The viewpoint character, Jorun, has been arguing with the old peasant, Kormt:
"It had been like this for days now, weeks, and it was like trying to knock down a mountain. You beat on its rocky flanks till your hands were bloody, and still the mountain stood there, sunlight on its high snowfields and in the forests that rustled up its slopes, and it did not really notice you. You were a brief thin buzz between two long nights, but the mountain was forever." (p. 195)
Jorun, who represents the Galactic civilization, knows that nothing is forever but here we appreciate the power of his metaphor. He follows it with another. The millennia between him and the peasants are likened to a gulf that he cannot shout across.
Kormt, whose full designation is "...Kormt of Huerdar, Gerlaug's son, and Speaker for Solis Township...," (ibid.) also expresses himself colorfully:
"'Look around you, Jorun of Fulkhis. This is Earth. This is the old home of humankind. You cannot go off and forget it. Man cannot do so. It is in him, in his blood and bones and soul; he will carry Earth within him forever.'" (p. 196)
That we carry Earth within us has been noted already. See Earth, Sea And Blood. However, it does not follow from this that someone has to stay on Earth, as Kormt argues.
See also The Mountain.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I'm more inclined to symapthize with Kormt, not Jorun! I see no reason at all why mankind, given the premises of "The Chapter Ends," could not have kept at least Earth, of all the planets on the "fringes" of the galaxy.
Ad astra! Sean
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