Rainbow god circle

[Andrew Dinn]

Brian D. McCary writes:

> 	Not exactly.  Rainbbows don't exist so much as appear.  You
> can see round "rainbows" with the right light on a foggy night, and
> you are correct that the arc is basically circular, not parabolic.
> However, the reason you can't find the end of the rainbow is that
> they don't really exist: they are an optical phenomenon, not a
> physical one.  They are not located up in the sky.  If they can be
> said to be located anywhere at all, it is on the retina.

For goodness sake! Isn't the moon's pale fire also an optical
phenomenon not a physical one? Does this locate moonlight on yer
eyeball?  Rainbows do of course exist just as much as sunlight or the
the particular shade of red used on Prentice Hall computer science
texts (variant lighting conditions notwithstanding) or the concept of
optical phenomena or whatever else. Watch that baby, what with that
plug hole right next door.

> This is
> why I find them to be such an apt metaphore in the book: they are
> not quite material, not quite illusion, sort of the conspirisy that
> isn't.  Proving they aren't where they appear to be is extremely
> difficult, especially to the casual observer.

Actually, rainbows are exactly what they appear to be to the casual
observer and no more. The real problem is disabusing people of the
conspiratorial constructs their particular paranoia jerry-builds
behind the rainbow.

> The same questions
> come up about the rocket, and even many of the other structures
> which appear to Slothrop and Co. throughout the book.  Was the
> rocket real, or imagined?  Is he seeing a conspirisy, or just the
> fickle finger of fate?

Indeed they do.


Andrew Dinn
-----------
And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.