MDDM Ch. 70 Scalping Lord Lepton

[jbor]

I think, to add to my impression of a counterpoise, or dialectic, in the
text, one which operates beyond the simple conversational back and forth of
the characters, and of Jere and Chas in particular, there's a rather obvious
connection between the giant beet in the quasi-Edenic garden and that Jonas
Everybeet, the "Quartz-scryer", and his earlier revelation that there are
"secret Lead Mines which the Indians guard jealously." (547)

      "Most unhappy," recalls Mr Everybeet. "Not at all the Paradise one has
    been led to expect. Lead out here is a much-needed metal,-- who controls
    Lead controls the supply of Ammunition, for all sides in ev'ry Dispute,
    not to mention a section of the Tellurick-energy Market. ... " (548)

Guns need bullets, eh?

best

on 21/8/02 10:59 PM, jbor at jbor at bigpond.com wrote:

> I'm also wondering whether we can make connections between an
> "Iron-Plantation" and more agricultural enterprises - other types of
> "plantations" - along the same lines as the connection Dixon makes between
> the caretaker-farmers and their giant beet and the Geordie coalminers?
> 
> Maybe I just can't see a way back to some Bronze Age idyll. Or don't want
> to. Or maybe it was never really all that idyllic either?