Sea Voyages & Insanity

[r j palcho]

At 07:55 PM 9/12/01 -0500, argirios zias wrote:
>JP
>
>"And on another note...the Revd's knowledge that his name is not his own 
>(his name, that is, rather than a body part) drives him to insanity. 
>Insanity "cured" by a cruise.
>


  May I suggest that W.C. is "insane only as it pleased ev'ryone to style
(him)" Lying with the rats and vermin he has had a mystical experience,a
satori,such as experienced by Hindoos and Chinamen--a moment of knowing,of
loss of self. He then sets sail "in the hope that Eastward yet might dwell
something of Peace and Godhead,which British Civilization, in venturing
Westward,had left behind"

  And 25 years later,he ends up at his sisters' home in Phila. for an
unintended stay,finding that "he cannot detach"  hauntin the dead
Mason,"expecting him to HELP HIM WITH SOMETHING", the something being the
"supernatural Guidance" he sought "from the Lamas old as time" but never
made it to the East to experience.

  The story of M&D is the spiritual/religious odyssey of Mason and
Cherrycoke to rise above the mechanical oppressions of life, "to sail those
East Indian lanes" Not sure this will hold up, but it's the approach I'm
taking this time through.

best
r.j.p.