That we are our own number one enemy is also the message of Patrick McGoohan's TV series, The Prisoner. The titular character, imprisoned in a totalitarian seaside Village, where he is designated "Number Six," defeats several Number Twos who successively administer the Village on behalf of the unseen and unheard Number One. However, in the culminating episode, when the Prisoner finally confronts and unmasks Number One, he sees his own face.
Naysmith defeats the gang but knows that the real enemy is man himself. The Prisoner defeats the most formidable Number Two but realizes that Number One is himself. (Also, grammatically, the second person, "you," is another whereas the first person, "I," is the self. (1 = I.))
See also:
Ys And The Village
Ys And The Village II
Ys And The Village III
Back to "The Sensitive Man" tomorrow.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
To strike a lighter note, I was reminded of L. Sprague De Camp's Novarian series, of light and humorous fantasy, featuring Jorian, the unbeheaded ex-king of Xylar. That city state's form of gov't featured kings who reigned for five years before they were beheaded. So, every five years the king would be beheaded and his head with the crowned strapped on tossed to a crowd of men, with whoever caught the head becoming king for that term of years. Unsurprisingly, Jorian was not keen on losing his head!
So, while Kings of Ys had to fight any who challenged them for the crown, a fair number of them could still hope to live longer than five years. And did, including Gratillonius, the last King of Ys.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
That's a lighter note?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
As baldly summarized by me? Not at all, I admit! But L. Spragud De Camp did KNOW how to write funny stories. And, of course, he and Poul Anderson knew each other and the latter could also be funny, when Anderson wanted to be.
Ad astra! Sean
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