Chapter Nine
“...larvae, recently laid.”
In The Father-Thing these larvae are described as being laid by an insect-like creature that is thin and jointed with a multitude of crooked legs and a tail, its color is specified as both reddish-brown and metallic.1
The story also adds that once this creature has laid its larvae it burrows itself into the ground for protection.2
“...a Nick-thing.”
Like the closing paragraph of the previous chapter, these opening paragraphs are a slight variation of a passage from The Father-Thing.3
“‘...by imitating...’”
The theme of doppelgangers is also present in Galactic Pot-Healer.
“‘...foretold our coming here; remember?’”
With the future knowledge of the Graham’s arrival, Glimmung made preparations.
The father-thing’s choice in imitating Nick first instead of his father suggests that One Summer Day specified Nick would be Glimmung’s greatest threat.
“‘...too short-handed.’”
The lacking amount of law enforcement on Plowman’s Planet is yet another suggestion that these events are taking place before Galactic Pot-Healer.
“‘...will burn it up.’”
In The Father-Thing the alien and its kin are destroyed when kerosene is poured down the insect creature’s burrow.4
Chapter Ten
“‘...venture out after dark.’”
It is possible that the attack the werjes made upon the Grahams might have been unusual for creatures that, as suggested here, strike at night. Perhaps Glimmung was further studying them as a threat so as to assess what to do next, maybe even hoping to convert the family to his side or at the very least keep them neutral in the conflict.
“‘...possibly a few human colonists.’”
Glimmung must also be aware of the ticking clock of the increasing number of earthlings emigrating to Plowman’s Planet. As more arrive they will be more likely to side with the Grand Four once they realize that the printers, nunks, and spiddles are not as they had been led to believe they would be from Glimmung’s The Last and Final War.
Chapter Eleven
“‘...going to be eaten,’”
Here a spiddle tells Nick of what will become of him if the Nick-thing catches him. Charles’s father suffers the same fate in The Father-Thing with only his skin left behind to tell the tale.5
“‘...changes every time it’s read.’”
Here yet another miraculous attribute of One Summer Day is brought up, its ability to update itself over the course of time, providing the reader with more accurate information. Again, much like the mythical book described in the Earth phone encyclopedia and The Book of the Kalends in Galactic Pot-Healer.6
“‘...especially against humans.’”
With this idea that Glimmung directly attacking people, fatally in the case of Mr. Frankis in this chapter, being a rare occurrence in conjunction with the arrival of the Graham family and the loss of One Summer Day, Glimmung is beginning to take increasingly more drastic measures in an attempt to turn events in his favor.
“...like a many-tailed squirrel...”
This simile seems to be a hint as to where Dick must have got the name of this life-form from. Spiddle appears to be a corruption of the word squirrel.
This is not the last time Dick attributes rodent-like traits to the spiddles. In Galactic Pot-Healer, he describes one as looking like a rat.7
1) The Philip K. Dick Reader (Citadel Press, 1997), pg. 107
2) Ibid
3) Ibid, pg. 109
4)
Ibid, pg. 110
5) Ibid, pgs.
103-104
6) Galactic Pot-Healer (Vintage Books, 1994), pgs. 26, 76-77
7) Ibid, pg. 71
No comments:
Post a Comment