Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Annie & Ben, Meet Boo Radley...

Everything always happens for a reason.
I guess it was never meant to be.
But it's just something we have no control over.
And that's what destiny is.
- Eminem, "Mockingbird"

This is how my brain works...

The Lost Book Club has been on my mind, and I've been thinking about the ones from the list which I've actually read. Today I was researching To Kill a Mockingbird for a work project and something just...clicked. It was as if my Lost brain cranked up to 11 (Spinal Tap anyone?); the wheels starting spinning at a rate usually reserved for mid-season. I had an epiphany, connecting a particular scene from the movie adaptation to Lost:

In To Kill a Mockingbird, the kids find a boy & girl doll set carved out of soap. In episode 3.20 of Lost ("The Man Behind the Curtain"), Ben's childhood friend Annie gives him a boy & girl doll set carved out of wood.

Although I do not find significant symbolism between Jem & Scout and Ben & Annie (especially given that we know so little about her character...so far), one rather obvious correlation between the book and the show is Boo Radley and Jacob:
  • Creepy and mysterious
  • Never leaves home; recluse
  • Perceived as bad/evil/scary
I suppose we shall see if the elusive Jacob ever emerges from his cabin (if indeed he takes human form), and if he turns out to be one of "the good guys" like Radley in the end.

Radley eventually saves the children, and there are numerous parallels on Lost:
  • Until recently, Ben took orders directly from Jacob. He was obsessed with fertility and repeatedly asserted that kidnapped children Zach & Emma were "in a better place" on the island.
  • Ben stole Alex from Danielle when she was an infant, more than likely a mandate from Jacob.
  • Jacob used Grandpa Ghost Christian Shephard to ensure that grandson Aaron was taken care of when Claire allegedly passed away.
  • Juliet's sister Rachel had cancer but was able to get pregnant and gave birth despite being sterile. Ben had off-island access and could have provided the miracle medicine to Dr. Burke's lab on behalf of Jacob.
  • Jin's infertility was 'healed' by the island/Jacob, allowing Sun to become pregnant with JiYeon.
Then again, Jacob probably orchestrated the kidnapping of Walt. Perhaps he believed that Walt deserved a better father figure than Michael.

And then there is the matter of Clementine Phillips, Sawyer's daughter with his ex/con Cassidy. Many of us assume that Sawyer whispered a quick request to Kate about Clementine before he jumped out of the helicopter at the end of Season 4, and we saw that Kate was putting those wheels in motion after she was off-island. As you know, there are no coincidences on Lost (case in point: Cassidy and Kate's flashback intersection and interaction in "Left Behind"). So the question is - what was or will be Jacob's role in Cassidy's life?

I could keep going, but I don't want to bore you. Take all of this with a grain of salt; I always post theories with the knowledge that there are many holes and immeasurable counter arguments. But I enjoy the hell out of connecting the dots, even when they don't complete the circle.

Are we there yet?

5 comments:

Pavement Runner said...

Any time you can work Eminem and Spinal Tap into a post, I think it deserves a "job well done."

But this one goes up to elleben. (11)

Anonymous said...

If you a true "southerner" and from "Alabama" then you have read and seen and now own the DVD (in classic black and white) "To Kill A Mockingbird".....a true classic no doubt!!!!! Boo Radley played by the young and talented (still talented) Robert Duvall.....represented so MANY things in that classic. To adults he might have represented "evil".....but adults always fear everything they cannot understand or see. Children...on the other hand....accept things as the "way they are" and children do not doubt or ask questions....they just "believe"....which in this case "Scout" saw Boo as "just a simple and gentle soul"...not to be afraid of....and she was never afraid of Boo. Boo became the unlikely savior of the children (much like Christ)....as Jesus demonstrated in the Gospels....He fused at the disciples for keeping the children away....because the children didn't have to acquire faith to believe in Christ...they accepted it naturally....because children are born with more "innocent tendencies" and we seem to loose those tendencies as we grow older and require more a sense of knowledge to help us decide what is truth and what is not....but children....they don't have to decide....they knew for a fact who Christ was!!! Scout represents that innocence and Boo is the "Christ"-like figure (I had to do a "paper" on this book in college). So since you are making some connections of LOST with the movie (or book)....then yes there is a connection just like there is a connection to "all things." Annie and Ben were children with childlike (innocent) tendencies....but something turned Ben to become the person he is and we all know what that was....Ben left his "innocence" in the jungle and emerged as "the Ben who becomes the leader of the Others". The same thing happened to Scout and Jim....they shed their innocence in the woods when Boo killed the mean guy....and the next day....they would not be the same "Scout and Jim" as the narrator of the book tells at the end.....Boo...the trial...the death...the death of the innocent black dude....changed everything in that small southern town and to the people. The characters in LOST have been undergoing a "slew" of changes which will effect them forever. (I just love Scout in the ham costume). As far as Jacob is concerned. The reason Ben fears Jacob is because he is of a "supernatural---spiritual being" This is the only way i can describe to you who i think Jacob is...i think he is a fallen angel of God....come to earth....landed on the island....changed the island to become a spiritual enviroment where only spiritual beings can "survive." Ben discovered "Jacob"and tapped into Jacob's power (by just believing...or by faith). Lee Strobel...a well known christian author....wrote something that i thought was very interesting in relation to LOST....Mr.Strobel pointed out in the Gospels that when people "believed" or showed incredible "faith" i. e. the roman centurion who asked Christ to heal his servant.....Christ's ability to perform miracles became "strengthened" than the other times when people did not show their faith..(i. e. Peter in the storm..saw Jesus walking on the water...came out of the boat...lost his faith...started to sink...Jesus saved him). ANOTHER big point is....As a Christ follower and believer...God came to earth in the form of human flesh..which is Jesus...so that he could communicate with the humans in their own way.....not a cosmic or superior being way....on humans' on terms. That is what Jacob is....he's some superior being that has to take a human form to "communicate" with anyone or anything on the island. Angels did the same thing in Old Testament and New Testament....they appeared to people in "human form." Well...let me go before i bore you also. That is interesting about "To kill a Mockingbird." But i don't think Eniem (or however you spell his name) has ever read such a timeless classic. He doesn't look the part.

whiterabbita said...

That's a very interesting post and I especially love the "children of the island" thread. If Jacob is the mastermind for the destiny of all his child, was he the mastermind for the destiny of all the Losties, since they were little guys?

Capcom said...

Very interesitng idea! And congrats for making the link between the two sets of dolls!

:-D

zerocrossing said...

Oh my... Jo... this is the most comprehensive TV analysis of a TV show I've ever seen. Amazing!