Tag: books

Some of the books on Lost are more significant than others. The books that are actually shown are the most significant. If they’re shown and discussed they’re probably of greatest importance. Of lesser importance, but still relevant are those that are referenced by characters, referenced as the titles of certain episodes, and those that are referenced by certain events within the show.

When a book makes multiple appearances, it’s certainly worth thinking about a bit more. This post will take a look at three books that have reappeared in recent weeks.

Carrie

Carrie is a third season addition to the Lost book list. It was the subject of Juliet’s book group meeting in the first episode of season 3 (“A Tale of Two Cities”). Because Juliet wanted to read it and it was mentioned that Ben didn’t, it gave the first hint of dissension in the ranks of the Others, although at the time we didn’t know that Juliet was an Other or that Ben was “Henry Gale’s” real name.

We learned later that Carrie is Juliet’ s favorite book and it made several appearances in the most recent Juliet episode “One of Us.” After reading Carrie, I suggested that this implies that Juliet, like Carrie, does not belong anywhere, and – ever the outsider – she will exact her revenge on those who have tormented her, likely the Others. Likely Ben, especially if siding with the survivors might be her best shot at getting off the island, something that must surely seem more possible to her with the arrival of Naomi the Parachutist. Juliet isn’t on the Others’ side, nor is she really on the surviviors’ side.

She’s on her own and like Carrie killing the promgoers, Juliet will happily exact a terrible revenge on Ben if given the chance, though she may have to get in line behind Locke when it comes time to hand Ben his ass.

Watership Down

I think Watership Down has made more appearances and had more references than any other book on the show. It may even be the first literary work to appear, making its debut in “White Rabbit.” Sawyer found it in the crash; it had been Boone’s book, and when Boone saw Sawyer reading it in “Confidence Man” it was “proof” that Sawyer might be sitting on Shannon’s asthma medication, a turn of events that eventually got him “tortured by a real live Iraqi and a spinal surgeon.”

I wrote about Watership Down and some of the many parallels between it an Lost a few months ago, but seeing Sawyer rereading it again in “Left Behind” brought something else to the fore.

In Watership Down, the female rabbits die on the way to the new settlement leaving the rabbits of Watership Down with no way to reproduce and continue their colony. Sound like the Others? The good rabbits stage a raid on another warren, a totalitarian state, to liberate the female bunnies from the forces of the evil General Woundwart and his authoritarian regime. Not unlike what seems about to happen on Lost, except that the Others are the totalitarian society, at least as long as Ben is in charge.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

While The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has not actually been shown, it was referenced in Ben’s alias and alibi from last season: ‘Henry Gale’ who crashed his hot air balloon on the island.

We got another reference in the title of last week’s episode: “The Man Behind the Curtain.” In it Locke accuses Ben of being “the man behind the curtain” while arguing that there is no all powerful, all knowing “Jacob” from whom Ben take orders.

Last summer, I read and wrote about The Wizard of Oz:

The journey down the Yellow Brick Road ultimately becomes one of self discovery similar to what the characters on Lost experience during their adventures on the island. They too have what they thought they lacked ultimately allowing them the ability to change themselves and find redemption. The Wizard of Oz is about reaching one’s potential, a concept we see time and again on Lost, and also an apparent goal of the Hanso Foundation.

The example that springs to mind first is that of John Locke who finds within himself the strength, the ability to lead, and the conviction that he never knew he had. It’s worth remembering that Henry claimed to be coming for John because he was “one of the good ones.”

It is in this most recent episode that Locke’s trip down the Yellow Brick Road finally lands him before the Wizard. For the first time in his life, he is filled with self-confidence and conviction. Over the past few episodes we’ve seen Locke finally transform into what he has wanted to be all his life: a leader of men.

Naturally, this scares the hell out of out charlatan wizard, Ben. Despite the Norman-Bates-arguing-with-Mother feel of the Jacob scene in “The Man Behind the Curtain,” it’s clear that Ben believed there is a Jacob, and I’m thinking he’s not crazy. There is a Jacob, and my wacko theory is that Jacob is John Locke. Locke doesn’t know it yet, nor does Ben; it’s a future Locke that Ben knows as Jacob.

I’ve always been fond of the alternate reality/alternate timestream theory of the island, and I like the timestream aspect of it lately. Of course it means that Locke has to survive the gunshot wound he received from Ben who fears that Locke is about to become the new leader (dare I say savior?) of the Others, a role that I can’t help but think would have been Mr Eko’s if the actor hadn’t wanted to leave the show.

Another Wizard issue (as I mentioned last summer) is that The Wizard of Oz also suggests the lost continent-Atlantis-Lemuria theory:

The Wizard of Oz also brings us to the Lost Continent Theories in which we are meant to wonder if the survivors are actually on the remains of Lemuria, a Pacific Ocean version of Atlantis. This is implied by the four-toed statue that Sayid sees in the season two finale and by the fact that psychic Edgar Cayce (worth looking into since so many of his ideas correspond to what we see in Lost) “confirmed” the existence of Lemuria (and Atlantis).

Cayce believed that the citizens of Lemuria had psychic abilities and were both technologically and spiritually advanced. He also referred to Lemuria as Oz.

Adding in the many Alice in Wonderland references throughout the show, including in “The Man Behind the Curtain,” and that the title of the season three finale is “Through the Looking Glass,” the alternate time/reality aspect of the island is looking more and more plausible.

As to Locke’s return, it reminds me of The Shining (by Stephen King, who has two books on the Lost list so far.) Imagine Locke standing in a men’s room. Someone who has been on the island for an eternity without aging (Alpert?) informing Locke that he is Jacob, the island’s caretaker:

“You’re the caretaker, Mr Locke. You’ve always been the caretaker.”

And while we’re at it, let’s not forget that “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Sound like Jack Shepard?

And what about Walt? Oh, yeah, that’s right… “Walt isn’t here right now, Mrs. Torrance.”

Okay. I’m getting carried away here.

For some good reading and more ‘serious’ and in-depth (and less book-oriented) analysis of “The Man Behind the Curtain” visit:

• Apropos of Something where Jess awards points to each character in the weekly “lost-vivor” posts. Here’s the one for “The Man Behind the Curtain.”
• DarkUFO has an interesting run down of the episode and also wonders if Locke might be Jacob.
• Brian at Lost…and Gone Forever does an impressive analysis as usual including some good theories about how Ben came to be with the Hostiles.
• The Tyco Times presents an unusual theory (h/t Holli for the link) about little Annie.

Click here for the index of my Lost book posts.

Continuing my trek through the Lost books…Vladimir Nabokov’s Laughter in the Dark makes its appearance on Lost in the season three episode “Flashes Before Your Eyes.” Hurley and Charlie find it while ransacking the missing Sawyer’s stash of goods found in the wreckage of Oceanic 815.

Ever since I read Lolita many years ago, I’ve wanted to read more Nabokov, but I never got around to it. Fortunately, the island has a magic box that gives you what you want (despite Ben’s revelation in last night’s episode “The Brig” that the magic box is just a metaphor) and I was served up an author I wanted.

Laughter in the Dark is thematically similar to Lolita – middle-aged man seduced by a wicked young girl ruins his own life – though in Laughter, the girl is eighteen thereby making the middle-aged man merely a tragic fool rather than a felon.

Nabokov tells the whole story in the first two paragraphs:

Once upon a time there lived in Berlin, Germany, a man called Albinus. He was rich, respectable, happy; one day he abandoned his wife for the sake of a youthful mistress; he loved; was not loved; and his life ended in disaster.

This is the whole of the story and we might have left it at that had there not been profit and pleasure in the telling…

Eventually Albinus is blinded in an accident and his young lover – Margot – invites her lover, Rex, to live with them, unbeknownst to Albinus. The invisible man in Albinus’ world subjects him to all forms of mockery and humiliation as he and Margot rob Albinus blind (har-har, couldn’t resist).

How right he is that there is pleasure and profit in the telling and the reading. Nabokov’s writing here is thrilling. This is a writer who seems to love his work and this time, his work is to tell the tale of some really rotten people (not unlike on Lost).

While the story is grim and often depressing, Nabokov’s style keeps things light and humorous most of the time. Give Lost another point for introducing me to a cool book that I wouldn’t otherwise have read.

Speaking of Lost…

The novel shows up in “Flashes Before Your Eyes” one of the more unusual episodes in the series’ history. It’s a Desmond episode and it’s one in which the flashbacks appear to be more than just memories. Desmond seems able to interact with his flashbacks, giving the viewer the sense that Desmond might have some ability to change the past, in a sort of dreaming time travel. We know he can see flashes of the future as well.

Many of Lost’s storylines revolve around cons, and not just those perpetrated by such con artists as Sawyer and Anthony Cooper. Laughter in the Dark is a con story as well. One in which the con works because the victim – Albinus – can’t see. In a way Desmond’s view of the future and potential parallel time streams is much like Albinus’ limited perception of the world around him.

This is not unlike the situation on the island where the Others have so much more knowledge of the survivors than the survivors have of the Others. (It also makes me wonder if there is an Other in the survivor’s midst, one that the survivors aren’t yet aware of.)

Another potential connection is Albinus’ blindness and the fact that he constantly mistakes the intentions of the other characters, most notably Margot’s. Mistaken intentions is a recurring theme on Lost and in the Lost books. Like Albinus, our survivors are definitely in the dark, able only to listen to the strange sounds of the Others that sometimes echo in the jungle, knowing only what the others want them to know.

The closest parallel between Laughter and Lost comes in the similarities between Albinus and Desmond. They are both cowards, afraid and unable to find the strength to change the course of their lives when they have the opportunity to do so. Desmond, though, is not as far gone as Albinus and it seems he has the capacity – and desire – to change the course of fate, beginning in the lucid dream of his flashbacks. We see Desmond attempting to defy fate and prove the idea of free will.

Laughter in the Dark also reminds the viewer of Desmond’s experience of spending years in the Dharma hatch prior to the Oceanic 815 crash. For years, he entered the numbers and pushed the button. Like Albinus, Desmond was unaware that he was being observed from the Pearl Station the whole time.

I often wonder how much the Others know about Desmond since he wasn’t on the plane, but then Laughter reminds me that the Others at least know of him and have probably been watching him, making me wonder how many of Desmond’s experiences could be the result of an Other con.

Thinking about Laughter in the Dark and “Flashes Before Your Eyes” has led me towards my very own Lost theory…

Last night’s episode which included Anthony Cooper’s assertion that they were in Hell (“It’s awful hot for Heaven”) along with last week’s revelation from Naomi the parachutist that everyone on 815 had died (of course Cooper may have been delusional and Naomi may be lying) adds fuel to the (hell)fire that they are all dead. This had been hinted at with several of the other Lost books, most notably The Third Policeman and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” but the creators have allegedly debunked the theory.

I’m still bunking it though, because when you factor in the alternate time stream theory (reinforced by A Brief History of Time, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and A Wrinkle in Time) you’re left with the notion that in one time stream Oceanic 815 did crash and everyone did die, but when Desmond let the numbers in the hatch run down (revealed in the season two finale) somehow Oceanic 815 was pulled into another time stream (possibly accelerated) in which they crashed on the island. In their original world, they all died, but in the newly created timeline, they are alive.

“Flashes Before Your Eyes” further points in this direction, thus opening the possibility that the happy ending for the series would be for the survivors to reconcile the two time streams and get home alive. I suspect that Desmond is the key to this somehow, since he seems able to alter the various streams. In this way we see a free will/fate battle emerging (another recurring theme on the show). If free will wins, the time streams reconcile and the survivors get of the island. If fate wins, then they’re all dead. Of course I wonder if each survivor would get to choose his own path.

Regardless of what happens, the sound of “real” time will be as nothing more than the ghostly echo of laughter in the dark.

For more thoughts about last night’s “The Brig” check out…

• The House Next Door’s Lost Thursday post, in which Andrew wonders about the future of Sawyer. I hope he’s wrong. That would be like Star Wars without Han Solo. You know, like the prequel trilogy.
• Greg at Begging to Differ offers up a bunch of interesting observations and insights from “The Brig”
• BC TV/Film’s Lost analysis explores the coincidences that permeate Lost
• Holli at Watching Lost poses some questions including one about the hole the Sayid is digging
• Blog de Drew wonders when the smoke monster will be seen again
• And nothing to do with “The Brig,” Reviewing Whatever has some thoughts on Bad Twin (the metafictional Lost detective novel) and kindly even links to my review of it.

Next up on my Lost reading list is Stephen King’s On Writing.

Check out the rest of my Lost book posts here.

I love it when I catch a break in my effort to read and write about all the books on Lost. The latest break comes from last week’s “Catch-22.” Not only was the episode named for Joseph Heller’s brilliant antiwar novel, but one character – the mysterious parachutist – was even in possession of a copy, albeit the Portuguese translation, Ardil-22.

I read this book a few times in college and even devoted a large amount of time in grad school to studying the film. Naturally, I was pleased when Lost served up a book I already know and love.

Catch-22 is about the absurdities of life on a World War II airbase on the Italian island of Pianosa. The central character, Captain Yossarian, is a bombardier who wants out of the war because, well, millions of people are trying to kill him. Exacerbating his paranoia is the fact that each time his squadron completes the required number of missions, the number required is increased, creating a hopeless situation for the airmen.

Yossarian fakes illnesses and ultimately tries to get discharged on the basis of insanity, but in one of the novel’s many catch-22’s he is informed that trying to avoid flying combat missions is an act of pure sanity and therefore the harder he tries to prove he’s insane the more sane he appears.

There are a number of similarly circular and impossible situations that crop up throughout the book, each one deeply absurd and highlighting the ultimate absurdity of war and the immorality of those who profit from it.

It’s a great read and one that makes you laugh an uncomfortable sort of laughter. The kind of laughter born of pain and disgust.

On to Lost…

Like Lost, Catch-22 is a nonlinear narrative, often relying on flashbacks – particularly one in which Yossarian comforts a dying tail gunner – that are repeated, each time revealing new information. They’re also both about people stuck on an island.

The episode in which it occurs is a Desmond-centric episode in which Desmond gets one of his glimpses of a possible future. In his flashes, it seems that Charlie will die, but Desmond will be reunited with the love of his life, Penny Widmore, who may be coming to island to rescue him.

This situation presents Desmond with a terrible choice: Save Charlie and risk changing the course of the future in which case Penny won’t show up, or let Charlie die – essentially sacrificing a friend for his own happiness. Desmond ultimately decides to save Charlie and when they finally find the mysterious parachutist who should be Penny, it is instead some woman with a copy of Ardil-22 and a picture of Desmond and Penny.

The big unanswered question, of course is did Desmond change the future by saving Charlie? Can Desmond even affect the future? As Hurley says, his super power is kind of lame, especially if all it can do is leave Desmond stuck in the catch-22 wherein his only hope of being rescued is in sacrificing a friend.

At the end of Catch-22, Yossarian is busted for being AWOL, but he is given an opportunity to save himself and receive an honorable discharge if he will speak highly of and praise the policies of his crooked superiors. He ultimately refuses to sacrifice his fellow airmen just to save himself. Is this Desmond’s choice? Will he sacrifice the Oceanic 815 survivors to save himself or will he throw his lot in with theirs in an effort to save them all?

Last night’s episode, “DOC” (which stands for date of conception) contains its own catch-22’s (this time for Sun and possibly Juliet) along with one of Lost’s biggest wtf moments when the mysterious parachutist from the outside world informs Hurley that Oceanic 815 had been found and that everyone on board was killed. Holy living dead, Batman, that’s quite a bombshell. It kind of makes the whole show a sort of catch-22, as in, “hey we got off the island, but oh crap, we’re dead.” This leaves me thinking that the time warp theories are probably on the right track. Although it does also kind of point back toward the supposedly debunked purgatory theory, which is suggested by a large number of the Lost books from seasons 1 and 2.

I still say the island is a metaphorical purgatory, if not the real one (???).

For some interesting write-ups of “DOC,” check out:

• Dorkeriffic (great name for a blog, btw) where some interesting questions are posed
• Magic Lamp where Steve wonders if there is some kind of military op going on based on the parachutist’s gear
• Brian at BRIAN!!! Top Marks for Not Tryin’ has a good analysis with some interesting thoughts about some of the dialog
• The Atomic Blowtorch has some thoughts about Mikhail
• John at Critical Myth wonders if the the-crash-was-planned theory is back on the table

And, I’m still working on Nabokov’s Laughter in the Dark from “Flashes Before Your Eyes.” Look for that post next week.

Click here for a list of my other Lost book posts.

Continuing my effort to read the books that appear on Lost, I’ve arrived at Stephen King’s Carrie, which makes its appearance in “A Tale of Two Cities,” the season three opener.

Prior to Carrie, the only Stephen King books I’d read were his more recent ones (except for Firestarter, which I read perhaps 100 times in eighth grade) so going back to his first novel was kind of fun.

Carrie White is the girl that gets picked on by all the mean popular girls. She has her first period at age seventeen in the shower after gym class. Her insanely religious mother never told her what this meant, and Carrie thinks she’s bleeding to death. The other girls make fun of her. Carrie is bitter, confused and angry. With the onset of her late puberty, she also develops telekinetic powers. One girl tries to make amends. Carrie goes to prom. There’s a practical joke and then Carrie turns her powers against her classmates.

My English classes just finished reading Lord of the Flies (my Lost post on that is here) and the question always comes up: what would happen if it were a bunch of girls? With Lord of the Flies in my head, I couldn’t help but think of Carrie as a kind of female version, with Carrie playing the part of poor doomed Piggy. With that thought in mind, it was hard not to think of Carrie as an examination of the effects of cliquish cruelty on the outsider, the kind of fiction that makes one think of things like Columbine.

Unlike much of King’s more recent work, Carrie is short and brisk. It’s a fast-paced novel that tells the story from a variety of viewpoints including investigatory committee hearings, police reports, letters, books written by survivors, scientific articles, and popular news pieces all interspersed with King’s no-frills narration. It’s one of those books where the form is part of the enjoyment of the text. A good read.

On to Lost. The first five minutes of season three was one of the most amazing sequences I’ve ever seen on TV. We meet Juliet hosting a book group meeting with no idea who she or any of the members are. She puts in a CD, burns some muffins and deals with book group members who complain about her book choice: Carrie. There’s a rumbling, they all run outside and there in the sky is Oceanic 815 breaking up above them. Suddenly, we realize that Juliet is one of the Others and that they live in nice houses with electricity and plumbing. They have the ability to score at least ten copies of recent editions of Carrie from the outside world. Your head spins.

Juliet says she chose Carrie because it’s her favorite book. What does this reveal about Juliet? Well, now that I’ve read Carrie and gotten to know Juliet a bit better its easy to see that Carrie White and Juliet the Other are both outsiders in their communities. Like Carrie, Juliet plots revenge (I wrote about this in my To Kill a Mockingbird post) against her own people. They are cruel to her (first sentencing her to death and then finally branding her in “Stranger in a Strange Land”) and don’t appear to think of her as one of them.

Like Carrie White, Juliet vacillates between being sweetly concerned with being liked and being an accomplished and merciless asskicker, though without Carrie’s telekinetic powers (I think). We saw this in last Wednesday’s episode (“Left Behind”) in which, Juliet cuffed herself to Kate so that she would have someone to be with after being abadoned by the Others. She appears to want to be with the Oceanic 815 survivors, but her manipulative nature and the fact that she wasn’t straight with Kate suggest to me that she may not be 100% on the side of the survivors. Perhaps, Like Carrie, Juliet is ultimately on her own side and all the while wishing desperately that she could fit in somewhere.

Next week’s episode features more Juliet flashbacks with Sayid, himself an accomplished and merciless asskicker, apparently offering to kill her if she doesn’t tell him everything. Can’t wait.

Other connections via Lostpedia:

• Carrie White, the eponymous heroine, attends Ewen High School. The principal of that school is named Henry Grayle (similar name to Henry Gale).
• In a Carrie TV Movie, the role of villainess Chris Hargensen was played by Emilie de Ravin, who currently portrays Claire.

This is also yet another Lost book that deals with mental/psychic/telekinetic powers.

Having nothing to do with Carrie, but interesting nonetheless, here are some links to three interesting posts about last week’s controversial Nikki & Paolo episode, “Expose” (which I really liked, by the way):

• Check the Fien Print wonders if “Expose” was Lost’s own version of Rosencrantz & Gildenstern Are Dead
• South Dakota Dark commends the episode for giving the viewers a break
• The House Next Door has some very good and amusing analysis as well. In fact, check back there every Thursday for good analysis (h/t to Scribes & Scoundrels for directing me there)

Click here to read all of my Lost book posts, or here for the index.

Next up… Laughter in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov.