On this site will be posted analyses of popular media productions. These analyses will have to do with determining the underlying meanings of various movies, songs, and certain novels. Methods used to analyze a given production will include exploration of the creators' use of symbolism, allegory, metaphor, etc., and deciphering any arcane or obscure references that it may contain.
Inferno (Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. It is an allegory telling of the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine circles of suffering located within the Earth. The circles are concentric and descend into the Earth, representing a gradual increase in wickedness as one descends from circle 1 to circle 9, and culminate at the center of the Earth, where Satan is held in bondage. Each circle's sinners are punished in a fashion fitting their crimes: Each sinner is afflicted for all of eternity by the chief sin he committed. (People who sinned but prayed for forgiveness before their deaths are found not in Hell but in Purgatory, where they labor to be free of their sins. Purgatory will be discussed later in this analysis.) Those in Hell are people who tried to justify their sins and are unrepentant.[a] As described below, there is representation of Dante's Hell in our movie, with Dorothy herself being the allegorical Dante, on a journey through this Hell, and her dog, Toto, being the allegorical Virgil (i.e., Dorothy's guide through Hell). (Note: The diagram of the structure of Dante's Hell at below right, is a 'profile' (i.e., side) view; if viewed from above, the viewer would see nine concentric circles).
Above: The structure of Dante's Hell, with the sin punished in each circle being labeled. Note that greed is punished in circle 4; as we will see below, this is one of the circles in which Munchkinland resides. Left: Inside the palace at Emerald City, during the second visit there by Dorothy and her companions: The red smoke and flames suggest the fires of Hell, and thus, the inside of the palace itself is in (Dante's) Hell.
Left: The decorative green structure protruding from the side of one of the Emerald Palace's walls, at the far left of the screencap, is designed by the movie-makers to be a representation of the levels of Dante's Hell. Here, each level has been labeled with its corresponding circle number, and the fact that the innermost segment represents level 9 (i.e., circle 9), indicates that when Dorothy and the others are standing at floor level in the palace, they are in circle 9 of Hell.
Left: The labeling of the gray platforms, and of the pool water surface (which can be taken as being at ground level), using black and brown numerals, indicates that Dorothy, standing at ground level in Munchkinland, is in both circles 4 and 7 of Hell. The river Phlegethon lies in circle 7, and is represented by the water flowing into the pool. This water also represents the river Acheron, and the fact that Dorothy is here on the 'shore' of the Acheron indicates that she is also standing in the vestibule, which is not in Hell proper, but is instead just before the entrance to Hell. Thus, as labeled in dark blue text (near the center right of the screencap), when Dorothy has first arrived in Munchkinland, she is simultaneously in the vestibule, circle 4, and circle 7. The three rings of circle 7, described below, are represented by the three different sizes of floating circular green pads (labeled 'A', 'B', and 'C' on the screencap).
If one imagines the gray platform structure and the lamp in the above screencap being flipped upside down, a physical structure similar to that of Dante's Hell can be visualized. In the flipped structure, the numbering of circles 1 through 7 (labeled on the screencap in black numerals) would be reversed, i.e., '1' would become '7' (and thus indicate the level of circle 7), '2' would become '6' (indicating circle 6), '3' would become '5', etc. To aid in visualization, the positions of the 8th and 9th circles have been labeled (in red text and numbers) in their correct sequence (i.e., 9 will end up below 8 after the flip). The red numeral '8' is actually pointing to the top of the small green cone-shaped structure at the base of the green lamp-post (click image to enlarge). The bottom of the cone sits atop the smaller gray structure indicated by the rightward pointing white arrow.
In addition to labeling (in black) the circle positions along the right-hand edge of the platform structure sitting above the pool (and the pool water surface itself), there have also been labels placed (in brown numerals - '1' through '4') along the left-hand side of the larger platforms (indicated by the large white downward-pointing arrow) and the water surface - the entire platform structure is designed as it is by the movie-makers, to suggest the 'dual' numbering scheme as indicated in the screencap (using the black and brown numerals), and to thereby give the audience a hint that Muchkinland is, speaking metaphorically, in circle 4 and circle 7, as stated (in addition to being in the vestibule). Note that the hints about Munchkinland being in circles 4 and 7 are given in a context that is before the above-mentioned flip. (After the flip, the brown numerals themselves effectively become irrelevant).
The wall enclosing the pool represents the walls of Dis. In Inferno, the City of Dis encompasses the sixth through ninth circles of Hell, which are marked in the above screencap as '2', '1', '8', and '9' respectively. Again, after the flip, '2' would become circle 6, and '1' would become circle 7; both of these points, as well as '8' and '9', would be within the pool wall after the flip, since the pool itself, and its wall, are not to be flipped.
According to the story in Dante's Inferno, Dante the Pilgrim (as contrasted with Dante the author of the story, though the two are essentially the same person), and his guide, Virgil, who are together in the vestibule and have not yet entered Hell completely, see the Uncommitted (i.e., the Indifferent), souls of people who in life did nothing, neither for good nor evil; these souls are neither in Hell nor out of it, but reside on the shores of the river Acheron. Their punishment is to eternally pursue a banner (i.e., self interest) while being chased by wasps and hornets that continually sting them as maggots and other such insects drink their blood and tears. This symbolizes the sting of their conscience and the repugnance of sin. This can also be seen as a reflection of the spiritual stagnation they lived in.[a]
Those whose attitude toward material goods deviated from the appropriate mean are punished in the fourth circle. They include the avaricious or miserly, who hoarded possessions, and the prodigal, who squandered them. The two groups are guarded by a figure Dante names as Pluto, either Pluto the classical ruler of the underworld or Plutus the Greek god of wealth.[a]
The seventh circle houses the violent. The Minotaur serves as gatekeeper for the entire seventh circle, which is divided into three rings. The outer ring (represented by the large-diameter green pads floating in the water, such as the one labeled 'C' in the above screencap), houses the violent against people and property. Sinners are immersed in Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood and fire, to a level commensurate with their sins. In the middle ring (labeled 'B') are the suicides and profligates. Finally, the inhabitants of the inner ring ('A') are the violent against God (blasphemers) and the violent against nature (sodomites and usurers).
All of the inhabitants of the inner ring of the seventh circle reside in a desert of flaming sand with fiery flakes raining from the sky, a fate similar to Sodom and Gomorrah. The blasphemers lie on the sand, the usurers sit, and the sodomites wander about in groups.[a] Recall from our movie that when snow begins to fall in the poppy field, Dorothy is lying down, and the Lion has his body positioned such that he takes on the appearance of both lying and sitting (the latter being suggested by the positioning of his legs; see screencap at left). Also note that Dorothy and her companions are traveling as a group. We've already noted that the Lion represents a gay person, and thus, he represents a sodomite. In accordance with the above, he must also represent a usurer and a blasphemer. And, since Dorthy is here lying down, she herself must represent a blasphemer.
Recall from above that Dorthy's guide through Hell is her dog, Toto. From the Dictionary of Symbols:
"There cannot be a mythology which does not associate a dog...with death, Hell, the Underworld or with those invisible realms ruled by the deities of Earth or Moon. At first glance, therefore, the extremely complex symbolism of the dog seems linked to the threefold elements Earth, Water, and Moon, with their recognized female and hidden significance, all connected with the basics of growth, sexuality and divination, as much in terms of the unconscious as the subconscious.
"Evidence of the primary mythic role played by the dog, that of psychopomp, is worldwide. Having been man's companion in the light of living day, the dog becomes the guide through the darkness of death. At every stage of Western cultural history the dog has featured among such powerful psychopomps as Anubis, Cerberus, Thoth, Hecate, or Hermes. But dogs are universal phenomena and make their appearance in every culture in different forms which serve only to enrich this primary symbolism."[b]
As will be explained later in the analysis, ground level and the levels of the stepped platform in Munchkinland not only represent levels of Hell, but concurrently with this, for certain specific characters in the movie (excluding the Munchkins), they also represent various levels of Dante's Purgatory and Paradise. (This 'triple representation' should not be taken to imply that the movie 'equates' Hell with Paradise, or some such thing. Each representation is independent of the others).
a. Wikipedia, 'Inferno (Dante)'. Web, n.d. URL = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_Inferno.
b. Dictionary of Symbols. Ed. Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant, Trans. John Buchanan-Brown. London: Penguin Group, 1996. p. 296.
CATEGORY: MOVIES; WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS CONTAINS SPOILERS!!
[Image at left from the Wikipedia 'Titanic (1997 film)' page; "Titanic poster",[a] licensed under fair use via Wikipedia.]
Welcome to the analysis of Titanic. Buttons at the bottom of each post enable navigation through the parts of the analysis.
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romantic disaster film which was directed, written, co-produced, co-edited and partly financed by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the ship during its ill-fated maiden voyage.
Production on Titanic began in 1995, when Cameron shot footage of the actual Titanic wreck. The modern scenes were shot on board the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, which Cameron had used as a base when filming the wreck. A reconstruction of the Titanic was built at Playas de Rosarito in Baja California, and scale models and computer-generated imagery were used to recreate the sinking. The film was partially funded by Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox, and, at the time, was the most expensive film ever made, with an estimated budget of $200 million. Below is a plot synopsis of the film.
Plot
In 1996, treasure hunter Brock Lovett and his team aboard the research vessel Keldysh search the wreck of RMS Titanic for a necklace with a rare diamond, the Heart of the Ocean. They recover a safe and find inside a drawing of a nude woman wearing only the necklace. The drawing is dated April 14, 1912, the day the Titanic hit the iceberg. An elderly woman calling herself Rose Dawson Calvert and claiming to be the person in the drawing visits Lovett, and tells of her experiences as a passenger on the Titanic.
Above left: A safe found aboard the sunken Titanic is hauled onto the Keldysh. Above right: An elderly Rose Dawson Calvert views this hand-held mirror found in the safe; she says the mirror is one that belonged to her.
In 1912 Southampton, first class passengers Ruth DeWitt Bukater, her daughter, 17-year old Rose DeWitt Bukater (wearing large hat), and Rose's fiancé, Caledon "Cal" Hockley, board the Titanic.
Ruth emphasizes the importance of Rose's engagement; the marriage will resolve the DeWitt Bukaters' secret financial problems. Made distraught by the engagement, Rose considers committing suicide by jumping off the ship's stern; Jack Dawson, a penniless artist, intervenes and convinces her not to jump. Discovered with Jack, Rose tells Cal she was looking over the edge and Jack saved her from falling. Cal is at first indifferent to Jack's actions, but when Rose indicates that some recognition is due, Cal offers Jack a small amount of money. After Rose mocks Cal by asking if saving her life meant so little, he invites Jack to dine with them in first class the following night. Jack and Rose develop a tentative friendship, even though Cal and Ruth are wary of the young third class passenger. Following the dinner, Rose secretly joins Jack at a party in third class.
Jack and Rose dancing at the party in third class.
Cal and Ruth both disapprove of Rose seeing Jack, so Rose attempts to rebuff Jack's continuing advances. However, she soon realizes that she prefers him to Cal, and goes to meet him during what turns out to be the Titanic's last moments of daylight ever. They go to Rose's stateroom, where she asks Jack to sketch her nude wearing only the Heart of the Ocean necklace, which was Cal's engagement present to her. Afterward, they evade Cal's bodyguard and make love in an automobile in the ship's cargo hold. Later, the pair go to the ship's forward deck, witness a collision with an iceberg, then overhear the ship's officers and designer discussing its seriousness. Rose and Jack decide to warn her mother and Cal.
Cal opens his safe, and retrieves some items from it (below left). He finds among these items Jack's sketch of Rose, and he also finds a mocking note from Rose (as shown at below right).
Furious, Cal arranges for his bodyguard to slip the necklace into Jack's coat pocket. Accused of stealing it, Jack is arrested, taken to the Master-at-arms' office, and handcuffed to a pipe. Cal puts the necklace in his own coat pocket. Rose evades both Cal and her mother, who has managed to board a lifeboat, then frees Jack. The crew starts to launch flares to attempt to obtain help from nearby ships.
Once Jack and Rose reach the top deck, Cal and Jack encourage Rose to board a lifeboat (as shown at left).
Cal claims that he has arranged for himself and Jack to get off safely. After Rose boards, Cal tells Jack the arrangement is only for himself. As Rose's boat lowers away, she realizes she cannot leave Jack and jumps back on board the Titanic to reunite with him. Infuriated, Cal takes a pistol and chases them into the flooding first class dining saloon. After using up all of his ammunition, Cal realizes, to his chagrin, that he gave his coat and the diamond to Rose.
With the situation now extreme, Cal returns topside and boards a lifeboat by carrying a lost child in his arms (shown at left).
Jack and Rose return to the top deck. All lifeboats have now departed and passengers are falling to their deaths as the stern rises out of the water and the ship's power goes out. The ship then breaks in half, and the stern rises 90 degrees into the air (below left). As it sinks, Jack and Rose ride the stern into the ocean. Jack helps Rose onto a wooden panel only buoyant enough to support one person (below right). Holding the edge of the panel, he assures her she will die an old woman, warm in her bed. Jack dies from hypothermia. Fifth Officer Harold Lowe has commandeered a lifeboat to search for survivors. Rose gets Lowe's attention and is saved.
Rose and the other survivors are taken by the RMS Carpathia to New York, where Rose gives her name as Rose Dawson in memory of Jack. She hides from Cal on Carpathia's deck as he searches for her. She learns later that he committed suicide after losing everything in the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
Rose's story causes Lovett to abandon his search. Rose goes alone to the stern of Keldysh, takes out the Heart of the Ocean — in her possession all along (below left) — and drops it into the sea over the wreck site. When she is seemingly asleep in her bed, the photos on her dresser show she lived a life of freedom and adventure thanks to Jack. A young Rose is then seen reuniting with Jack at the Grand Staircase of the RMS Titanic, congratulated by those who perished on the ship (below right).[b]
a. Poster for Titanic: The poster art copyright is believed to belong to 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures.
b. Wikipedia, Titanic (1997 film). Web, n.d. URL = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film).
Above left: Early in the movie, a man makes use of a computerized simulation to explain the Titanic sinking scenario to an elderly Rose (seated at left). Above right: A close-up of the Titanic on the man's computer screen. The forward starboard (front right) portholes on C deck, are enclosed in the green rectangle pointed to by the yellow arrow.
A magnified view of the enclosed area from above. Note that there are fourteen forward starboard portholes on C deck on the computer diagram of the ship, which is presumably based on the original Titanic drawings that were created when the ship itself was designed. The point is that it was intended that Titanic, when built, would have fourteen portholes on the forward starboard side of C deck.
Above: A little later in the movie during Rose's 'flashback' of Titanic's voyage, it is evident that there are fifteen forward starboard portholes on C deck of the ship. The discrepancy between the designed and actual number of portholes is explained below.
The accepted version of the sinking of Titanic is that she sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in the early morning of 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg, during her maiden voyage from Southampton, UK, to New York City, US; the sinking resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 passengers and crew.
An alternative theory concludes that the ship that sank was, in fact, Titanic's sister ship Olympic, disguised as Titanic, as an insurance scam.
Olympic was the older sister of Titanic, built alongside the more famous vessel but launched in October 1910 (Titanic was launched in 1912). Her exterior profile was nearly identical to Titanic, save for minor details such as the number of portholes on the forward C decks of the ships.[a]
In September 1911 during its fifth commercial voyage, the Olympic collided with the HMS Hawke near the Isle of Wight, southern England. It was later determined that suction from the Olympic had pulled the Hawke into the ocean liner. Both ships suffered major damage, and the Olympic did not return to service until November 1911.[b]
Because of the finding that Olympic was to blame for the collision, its insurers allegedly refused to pay out on the claim made on it. Since construction on Titanic had not yet been completed, and Olympic had to be repaired, a serious financial loss would be incurred by the company that owned the two ships, White Star Line, due to loss of use. To make sure at least one vessel was earning money, the badly damaged Olympic was patched-up and then converted to become the Titanic. The real Titanic when complete would then quietly enter service as the Olympic. One alleged plan was that the patched-up Olympic, disguised as Titanic, would then be disposed of in such a manner so that White Star could collect the full insured value of a brand new ship.[a]
Since the maker of the film under analysis here, James Cameron, depicts the designed number of portholes on the Titanic (14, on the forward starboard part of C deck) to be different than the actual number when it set sail (15 at this location, the same number as on the Olympic - see first photo below), the indication is that he believes that the Olympic and Titanic were, in fact, switched.
Recall from previous posts in this analysis that Cameron placed inaccuracies in the film. He did this intentionally, in order to get us, the audience, to question (and research) the accepted version of events surrounding the Titanic and its sinking. When we see that we have been 'deceived' about the history of the Titanic by Cameron, we are to extrapolate this to the fact that we have been lied to about the ship's history in real life. Then, each of us will be in the proper frame of mind such that we can realize and accept the fact, that the Titanic was switched with the Olympic.
Olympic arriving at New York on her maiden voyage in June 1911. There are fifteen forward starboard portholes on C deck. The name "Olympic" can be seen inside the brown oval (click image to enlarge). [Image from the Wikipedia 'RMS Olympic' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; edited for clarity.]
RMS Titanic departing Southampton on 10 April 1912. There are fifteen forward starboard portholes on C deck. The name "Titanic" is discernible inside the brown oval (click image to enlarge). [Image from the Wikipedia 'RMS Titanic' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; edited for clarity.]
a. Wikipedia, 'RMS Titanic alternative theories'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic_alternative_theories.
b. 'Olympic'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 30 Sep. 2015.
URL = http://www.britannica.com/topic/Olympic.
CATEGORY: BOOKS; WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS CONTAINS SPOILERS!!
Above left: James A. Michener, American author.[a] Above center: The cover of one of Michener's novels, Centennial (published in 1974).[b] Above right: The cover of Michener's Poland (1983).[c]
Welcome to the James Michener analysis. Buttons at the bottom of each post enable navigation through the parts of the analysis. Regarding the appearance of possible anti-Semitism on this blog, please see the 'Disclaimers' section near the bottom of this page.
James Michener, in full James Albert Michener (born Feb. 3, 1907?, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Oct. 16, 1997, Austin, Texas), was a U.S. novelist and short-story writer who, perhaps more than any other single author, made foreign environments accessible to Americans through fiction. Best known for his novels, he wrote epic and detailed works classified as fictional documentaries.[d]
In analyzing various films on this blog, there have been correspondences discovered between many of these films, and the late filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's 1968 movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey (this film itself is also analyzed on this blog). These correspondences have yielded valuable information as to the underlying meaning of A Space Odyssey, a film in which Kubrick was making statements and predictions about society that are crucial to understand, in order to assess where we as a society are today. Therefore, the first thing we want to check into in this analysis, is whether there are any links between James Michener and Kubrick.
Given that 2001: A Space Odyssey is a fictional film having to do with space exploration, and given that Michener's novel Space (published in 1982) itself has to do with exploration of space, one place to start is to see if there are any links between 2001 and Space. In fact, there are several such links, as described below.
Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey was developed alongside science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke's novel of the same name. There are several mentions of Clarke in Space, for example, where Michener, as narrator, describes that scientist Stanley Mott (one of the main characters in Space) was impressed by Clarke's writing: "Mott was impressed by the skill displayed in [certain science fiction short stories], but the one which made the most lasting impression was by an Englishman living in Ceylon, Arthur C. Clarke..."[e]
Another link between Space and A Space Odyssey has Michener, again as narrator, describing a certain (semi-fictional) island (which he calls Peenemünde), as it appears on a map, as resembling "a fetus, a monstrous thing brought to birth by mad scientists..."[f] In the final scene in Kubrick's film, a giant fetus floats near Earth (see screencap below).
A Space Odyssey ends with a giant fetus floating in space, gazing at Earth.
A somewhat more 'indirect' link between Space and Kubrick's film, has to do with something called the Egyptian Ogdoad, a set of eight deities which were worshiped in ancient Egypt. Part 45 of the Space Odyssey analysis on this blog discusses Kubrick's positing of a '5 + 3' ogdoadal system. To see how the Ogdoad applies to Michener's book, it is first observed that the first two chapters of Space are titled "Four Men" and "Four Women" respectively. In the book, each of the four men marries one of the four women, forming four male-female pairs. The eight deities of the Ogdoad itself were arranged in four male-female pairs, with each pair representing the male and female aspects of one of four concepts, namely, the primordial waters (Nu and Naunet), air or invisibility (Amun and Amunet), eternity or infinite space (Huh and Hauhet), and darkness (Kuk and Kauket). These pairs can be matched up with the husband-wife pairs in Michener's novel: Norman Grant (former Navy man) together with his wife, Elinor, represent the primordial waters; Stanley Mott (aeronautical engineer) and his wife, Rachel, represent air; John Pope (astronaut) and his wife, Penny, correspond to infinite space; and Dieter and Liesl Kolff represent darkness since, more so than with the other major characters, the action involving Dieter, as well as that involving both Dieter and Liesl together, takes place during darkness.
Having established a few links between Space and 2001, and thus between Michener and Kubrick, it will now be shown that two of Michener's novels, Centennial (published in 1974) and Poland (1983), are linked to each other, and that this link yields a clue as to Kubrick's and Michener's belief that the public has been given an inaccurate accounting of the Holocaust. In addition to this, analysis of Centennial leads to the conclusion that Michener believed that certain Mormons have the long-range intention of assembling certain North American Indian[g] tribes together into one geographic location and having their members 'convert' to certain religious principles (as necessary) such as belief in Jesus, and then establishing Zion (i.e., a New Jerusalem, or modern-day utopia) composed, in part, of these tribes. These Mormons appear to believe that the particular Indian tribes that they are trying to get together, consist of the descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Centennial's chapter 7 (titled "The Massacre") is based on the Sand Creek Massacre, which took place in Kiowa County, Colorado in 1864. As discussed below, Kubrick and Michener believed that the public has been given an inaccurate version of what actually happened at Sand Creek; the commonly accepted version of events is that a band of soldiers, effectively acting on behalf of white settlers of the American West, massacred a tribe of Native Americans (i.e., American Indians) living at Sand Creek.
Also contained in chapter 7 of Centennial is a passage linking the Mormons with the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. This passage begins by giving the reader some background on the fictional character, Frank Skimmerhorn,[h] who has come to Colorado to help solve the 'Indian problem' there:
He was Frank Skimmerhorn, from some old family of Schermerhorns, no doubt, and he came from Minnesota. There, in the years 1861–62 he had become acquainted at first hand with Indian problems, for the Sioux, irritated by some minor alteration in procedures, had run wild and killed his parents, his wife and his daughter. A farm which had been worth twenty thousand dollars had been left desolated, and he had moved homeless from one Minnesota town to the next, hearing the terrible stories of damage done by the Sioux—a hundred ranches burned, two hundred people scalped, a whole section of the nation in disarray, and all because of a few fractious Indians.
He left Minnesota with his son, satisfied never to return. Rights to his farmland he had sold for fifteen hundred dollars, and with this he had returned to his childhood home in Nauvoo, Illinois, where he tried to piece together for himself an explanation of what he had seen during the Indian uprising, and one night after a church meeting it had all been made clear.
A farmer who had lived in Nauvoo all his life said, "I never cared for the Mormons. Now understand, I didn't go to war against them the way some of my neighbors did, and I never put fire to their barns. But as a people they don't please me, and their idea of one man having fifty-three wives, which they did. Yes, they did..." He lost his thread and leaned against his carriage. "What was my point, Skimmerhorn?"
"You didn't cotton to the Mormons."
"Yes. Like I was sayin', I could certainly not be called their defender, but they did have one idea that made a lot of sense, a lot of good common sense." He paused here to let that sink in, and Skimmerhorn asked obligingly, "What was it?"
"They had done a lot of serious study about the Indians. Sounded a good deal like you, when they talked. Confused as to who the Indians were and
why they behaved in the unchristian way they did. And then it came to them in a prophecy kind of. God sent them a message sayin' that the Indians
were really Lamanites, the Lost Tribes of Israel. Yessir, way back in the year 722 B.C. when the Assyrian King Sargon took 'em into bondage...ten tribes...they never got back to Israel...just wandered about the world."
"That's very interesting," Skimmerhorn said.
"You know it's true," his informant continued enthusiastically. "The Indian medicine lodge, for example, with all that mysterious going-on. What is it really? The tabernacle of the Lost Tribes. And you talk about sackcloth and ashes in the Bible. Don't the Indians mourn by cutting their hair and slashing their arms? Seems clear to me they're Jews."
"That would explain why they're so hellish," Skimmerhorn said, grasping his informant by the arm. "You said they were Lamanites? Now, just what does that mean?"
"I'm not a Mormon, you understand, but I've had my brushes with the Indians, so I listened, and as near as I could make out, the Lamanites were God's name for the Lost Tribes, and because they had known God and turned their backs on Him, he put a powerful curse on them, and darkened their faces, and turned all men against them. Skimmerhorn, if they knew God and rejected Him, it's our duty to hunt them down and slay them. It's our bounden duty."
For some days Frank Skimmerhorn pondered this matter of the Lamanites, and he asked throughout Nauvoo for other recollections the villagers might have as to what exactly the Mormons had said during their unhappy stay there on their way to Salt Lake City, and he came up with a profound body of confirmation. The Indians really were the Ten Lost Tribes. They had been led to America by the Prophet Lehi and their faces had been darkened because of their sin in rejecting the Lord. To exterminate them was both a duty and an exaltation. They were an abomination to honest men, and the sooner they were wiped from the face of the earth, the better.
In a dream, brought on perhaps by too much listening and too much brooding on this problem, Frank Skimmerhorn saw that he was destined to go to Colorado, where the Indians were causing trouble among the gold-seekers, and put an end to that trouble. It was more than an invitation; it was a command. In the Clarion he wrote: [a letter denouncing the Indians and saying they must be exterminated] [this letter was then widely printed ...][i]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Later in chapter 7, Skimmerhorn leads a large group of American soldiers into battle with the Arapaho and Cheyenne Indian tribes, and this battle is Michener's 'allegory' for the Sand Creek massacre. However, part of the reason Michener has the battle take place in a fictional location (at 'Rattlesnake Buttes'), instead of at the actual Sand Creek site (which is near the modern-day town of Eads, Colorado, about 200 miles south, and slightly to the west, of Julesburg) (see the below left-hand map for the locations of Julesburg and the fictional Rattlesnake Buttes), is to help convey to us the idea that certain historians, and the popular media, have given us a fictional version of the events that happened at Sand Creek - Michener intends for Centennial's readers, to notice the discrepancy in locations just mentioned, and to then investigate the story of the battle itself.
Ultimately, Michener believed that Sand Creek was, in fact, not the massacre it is commonly portrayed as having been. In fact, Michener, in his introduction to the 1978-1979 TV miniseries based on Centennial, says that a massacre did take place in 1864, but he does not specify that it was a massacre of Indians by whites; and, as explained below, Michener is actually referring to a (real-life) Indian massacre of whites, at Julesburg. Based on the analysis of Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film, The Shining (this analysis can be viewed on the Can Analyze Kubrick blog), Kubrick himself also believed that the public has been given an inaccurate version of the events at Sand Creek; and, the Sand Creek 'allegory' in The Shining is a 'surface' allegory for the Holocaust, and for Kubrick's belief that the public has been given an inaccurate version of the Holocaust as well. Michener himself also believed this, as described below.
In order to link Centennial with Poland, and to thus see how it is that Michener depicts the idea that the public has been given a false version of the Holocaust, we first review some basic information about Poland:
Poland is a historical novel detailing the times and tribulations of three Polish families (the Lubonski family, the Bukowski family, and the Buk family) across eight centuries, ending in the then-present day (1981). The three families are fictional as are the other characters in the book. The plot, however, takes place throughout the history of Poland and contains many historic people. The events are largely real events in which the fictional characters interact. Chapter 9, "The Terror", is about invasion and occupation by the Nazis during World War II, including the Holocaust in Poland; and the subsequent Soviet occupation. Much attention is devoted to the Polish resistance movement in World War II, including the Leśni (foresters).[j][k]
Above left: A map from chapter 7 of Centennial, showing the extent of the area of Colorado jointly occupied by the Arapaho and Cheyenne Indian tribes, after the treaty of 1851.[l] Michener's fictional town of Centennial is established a few decades later than the time period depicted by the above map, and is therefore not shown on the map, but it comes to be located at the point where the fictional 'Zendt's Farm' is shown (denoted on the map by the small purple circle), on the South Platte River upstream of its confluence with the North Platte River (the location of this confluence is marked by the small blue circle). The aforementioned Rattlesnake Buttes (established in 1861) is located in the area inside the pinkish oval. Above right: A map of the Kindom of Poland and the surrounding countries, taken from chapter 8 of Poland, depicting the geographical situation after the Napoleonic Wars.[m] As can be seen on the map, Michener's fictional town of Bukowo (inside the yellow circle) is located on the Vistula River (the Vistula is denoted by the two reddish arrows), upstream of its confluence with the San River. (The San flows into the Vistula from the southeast; the confluence is marked by the green circle.) The Vistula runs north from this confluence, winding around a bit before it empties into the Baltic Sea. As indicated above, Michener not only did not believe that white soldiers massacred the Indians at Sand Creek, but he mentions a real-life massacre of settlers by Indians, at a small settlement named Julesburg (Julesburg is shown on the map of the Indian territories, further downstream on the South Platte from Zendt's Farm, and is denoted by the small orange circle): On pages 590-591 of Centennial (in Chapter 7, shortly after the story of the Sand Creek battle), it is mentioned that rampaging Indians over-ran Julesburg. It is this massacre that Michener is referring to in his statement made in his introduction to the TV miniseries mentioned above.
One geographical correspondence between the areas depicted on the two maps, is that both Julesburg and Bukowo are located at similar distances upstream from the respective river confluences (about 85 - 90 miles for Julesburg, and approximately 50 miles for Bukowo). If the map from Centennial is rotated ninety degrees clockwise, and we reverse, in our 'mind's eye', the flow of the South Platte, so that it runs from east to west (south to north in the rotated map), additional geographical correspondences between the two maps can be drawn: When the Indian region is rotated as stated, it is roughly similar in size and shape to Poland. Also, the Vistula River traces out a route somewhat similar in shape to the one now followed by the South Platte (except that the Vistula's curvature in the area of the aforementioned confluence with the San, is greater than that of the South Platte at its confluence with the North Platte). Also note that both the South Platte and the Vistula divide their respective regions along a north-south axis into two approximately equal-in-area halves (again, when using the rotated map of the Indian region).
We can also draw geographical correspondences between the various surrounding Indian territories shown in the map from Centennial, with the surrounding countries in the map from Poland: When the Indian map is rotated, the Sioux, Crow, and Pawnee territories, all taken together, correspond to Russia. Also, Comanche and Ute countries (together) correspond to Germany, and the region between the Pawnee and Comanche territories, and to the east of Arapaho/Cheyenne territory (in the non-rotated map), roughly corresponds to Austria (once the Indian map is rotated). The overall point of all of this is that Michener is drawing a correspondence between Centennial and Poland - he is allegorically connecting the events at Sand Creek in Colorado, with World War II and the Holocaust in Poland (this is the subject of Chapter 9 of Poland; as stated above, this chapter is titled "The Terror"). The connection is that not only has the public been given an inaccurate version of what happened at Sand Creek (i.e., it was not a wholesale slaughter of Indians by whites), but correspondingly, the public has also been given an inaccurate historical account of the Holocaust (i.e., the account of the slaughter of Jews during the Holocaust, has been exaggerated). The fact that the map of the Indian territories was rotated clockwise by ninety degrees to yield the above-described correspondences, is a 'match' for the ninety degree image rotation 'theme' in 2001: A Space Odyssey (as described in part 11 of the analysis of 2001 on this blog).
Both Kubrick and Michener must have done extensive research on the Holocaust (and/or had researchers do it for them), which would have included, among other things, checking into factual records regarding how may Jews were killed. If the logic used by the two men regarding Sand Creek (Michener in Centennial and Kubrick in The Shining) is followed, and applied to the Holocaust, then we can conclude that the two men believed that the Holocaust has been depicted inaccurately, by mainstream historians, the popular media, and other parties; e.g., the number of Jews killed that is typically stated is much higher than it was in reality. Note that Michener's figures in chapter 9 of Poland reveal that more Christians (220,000) than Jews (140,000) were killed at the Majdanek death camp. Michener claims that "the three centers of Nazi terror in Lublin—Under the Clock, Zamek Lublin and Majdanek—are historic and are depicted as accurately as data permit, except that the specializations of the various fields at Majdanek varied from time to time."[n]
In addition to the topics discussed above (the inaccuracy of the commonly accepted versions of Sand Creek and the Holocaust), Michener is also having some of the action in Centennial depict a partial 'microcosm', for what he believed the Mormons are currently doing in North America regarding the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, i.e., the establishment of Zion, as mentioned earlier in this post. However, before this is discussed, a certain document from Mormonism needs to be reviewed. This document is called The Articles of Faith, and certain portions of it will be looked at in the next post in this analysis.
a. Image from the Wikipedia 'James Albert Michener' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
b. Image from the Wikipedia 'Centennial (novel)' page; "James A._Michener - Centennial (novel)", licensed under fair use via Wikipedia. The cover art copyright is believed to belong to the publisher of the book, Random House, or the artist(s) who created the cover artwork.
c. Image from the Wikipedia 'Poland (novel)' page; "Miche poland 1st ed", licensed under fair use via Wikipedia. The cover art copyright is believed to belong to the publisher of the book, Random House, or the artist(s) who created the cover artwork.
d. 'James Michener'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 04 Sep. 2015.
URL = http://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Albert-Michener.
e. Michener, James A. Space. Introduction by Steve Berry. Dial Press, 2015. Google Books, p. 538. URL = https://books.google.com. The other two mentions of Clarke are on pages 620 and 848, respectively.
f. Ibid., p. 30. Peenemünde is the name of a real city, located in Germany relatively close to where Michener's fictional island of this name is situated.
g. By "North American Indian" tribes is meant not only those groups of Native Americans located within the 50 states of the United States, but also groups of native peoples living in Mexico and the Caribbean Islands.
h. The Skimmerhorn character in Centennial is, to some degree, a representation of an actual person from history, Colonel John Chivington.
i. Michener, James A. Centennial. Introduction by Steve Berry. Dial Press, 2015. Google Books, pp. 557-560. URL = https://books.google.com.
j. Wikipedia, 'Poland (novel)'. Web, n.d. URL = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland_(novel).
k. Michener calls the Leśni the 'Stork Commando' in his novel, and he says at the beginning of the book that the Polish retaliation against the Germans in Zamość is based on actual events: the Poles not only killed Nazi soldiers there, but they also killed innocent German civilians.
l. Map from Centennial, p. 397.
m. Map from Michener, James A., Poland, New York: Random House, 1983, p. 390.
n. Michener, James A. Poland. Introduction by Steve Berry. Dial Press, 2015. Google Books, p. 9. URL = https://books.google.com. Since Poland was published in 1983, Michener was, in fact, using the most recent (at the time) commonly available data for his figure of 360,000 prisoners killed at Majdanek; for according to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum website, "The figure of 360,000 victims appears in the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, the Britannica Polish edition, and the Polish Nowa Encyklopedia Powszechna PWN. In all three cases, the source is a 1948 publication by Zdzisław Łukaszkiewicz, a judge who was a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland." (--Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum website, "Majdanek Victims Enumerated. Changes in the history textbooks?", 23 Dec. 2005, Web, URL = http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/news/majdanek-victims-enumerated-changes-in-the-history-textbooks,44.html.) However, according to the same website, Tomasz Kranz later calculated a total of 78,000 prisoners killed at Majdanek. As an aside, Stanley Kubrick has reportedly said that, "The Holocaust is about six million people who get killed. 'Schindler's List' is about 600 who don't." (--Goldmann, A.J., (August 21, 2005), "Eyes wide open", Haaretz, Web, URL = http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/eyes-wide-open-1.167674.) If Kubrick did make this statement, he was using the word "about" as if to say, that this is the popular perception of what the Holocaust was, not what it was in reality.
Rose prepares to break Jack free so that he can be saved from drowning.
From Warren Farrell's book, Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say:
"While we know [the movie] Titanic had a fictionalized story line, it developed a reputation for being meticulously researched with many characters based on reality. In some ways that was true. But one of the most fascinating stories behind the movie is the story revealed by what is and is not fiction. ...
Titanic Fiction: A woman saves a man at the repeated risk of her life.
Titanic Fact: There is no record of a woman risking her life to save an adult man, no less repeatedly.
Titanic Fiction: Men in charge decided to lock third class (steerage) passengers below the decks.
Titanic Fact: Public Record Office documents in London show that this never happened - in fact, a higher percentage of men from second class died than men from third class (92% vs. 88%) and 55% of the third class women lived, which would not have been possible had they been locked below.[a]
Titanic Fiction: Being poor made one even more disposable than being a man.
Titanic Fact: Being a man and being poor both increased disposability, but being a man increased it significantly more than being poor. First class men were 22 times more likely to die (66% vs. 3%) than first class women.[b] The richest men were significantly more likely to die than the poorest women. ...
Here is the breakdown by class and sex:[c]
Class% of men dying% of women dying
1st
66%
3%
2nd
92%
16%
3rd
88%
45%
Finally, the multiple scenes of men as cowards...negates the reality, especially regarding First Officer William Murdoch, who was portrayed in the film as taking a bribe, shooting a third-class passenger, and then killing himself. In real life, 'Murdoch behaved heroically, sacrificing his life after laboring frantically to save others.'[d]"
We will soon find out why it is, that Cameron intentionally placed these historical inaccuracies in his movie.
a. AP & Nando Times, "New Fight Over Film Version of Titanic Tragedy", April 9, 1998, in Farrell, Warren, Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say, New York: Tarcher/Putnam, 1999, p. 289.
b. Ibid., p. 289.
c. Ibid., p. 289.
d. Joseph Sobran, "The Story of the Real Titanic", Universal Press Syndicate, April 1998, in Farrell, Women Can't Hear, p. 290.
Above left: Two deep see diving vehicles explore the Titanic wreck, at the beginning of the movie. Above right: Brock Lovett uses a handheld video camera to record pictures of the Titanic's deck, from one of the diving vehicles. He is heard saying, "Dive six. Here we are again on the deck of the Titanic, two and one-half miles down, three thousand eight hundred twenty-one meters. The pressure outside is three and a half tons per square inch. These windows are nine inches thick and if they go, it's [goodbye] in two microseconds. Alright, enough of that bullshit."
There is a problem with Lovett's numbers. Since 1 meter = 3.281 feet, 3,821 meters is equivalent to about 12,537 feet. The pressure at this depth would be approximately 5,585 pounds per square inch (psi),[a] but Lovett says the pressure is 3.5tons psi, and since 1 ton = 2000 pounds, the number given by Lovett equates to 7,000 psi; this is quite a bit higher than 5,585 psi.
Brock is also wrong about the thickness of the windows. He says they are 9 inches thick, but the Russian Mir, the actual Deep Submergence Vehicle that is carried by the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, is capable of descending to a depth of 6,000 meters, and each of its three viewports is only 18 centimeters (7.1 inches) thick.[b]
Above left: The Russian spelling of the name on the side of the scientific research ship used in the movie (click image to enlarge), when 'translated' into English letters, reads "Akademik Mstislav Keldysh." Above right: The Deep Submergence Vehicle being retrieved from the water, after its crew is done exploring the Titanic wreckage.
James Cameron has intentionally placed inaccuracies in the film, with the hope that the audience will notice them. In upcoming posts in this analysis, we'll look at some more inaccuracies, and we'll see why Cameron wants us to notice them.
a. The 5,585 psi figure was obtained using the MyCalTool 'Pressure at depth' calculator, URL = http://www.calctool.org/CALC/other/games/depth_press.
b. Wikipedia, Mir (submersible). Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_(submersible).
The establishment of New Jerusalem is to usher in a Messianic Era for its inhabitants
According to Jewish tradition, the Messianic Era will be one of global peace and harmony, an era free of strife and hardship, and one conducive to the furtherment of the knowledge of the Creator. For our purposes, "global" is to be taken as applying only to the tiny 'world' in southern Indiana occupied by the conspirators, i.e., the New Jerusalem/Zion itself, whose land area is to be isolated and sealed off from the rest of the Earth's inhabitants. The theme of the Jewish Messiah ushering in an era of peace is taken up in two passages from the biblical book of Isaiah:
"4. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." [Isaiah 2:4, New International Version]
"6. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8. The infant will play near the cobra's den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper's nest. 9. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea." [Isaiah 11:6-9, New International Version]
According to Chabad dot org, "[T]he Talmud states that there is a predestined time when Moshiach [the Messiah] will come. If we are meritorious, he may come even before that predestined time. This "end of time" remains a mystery, yet the Talmud states that it will be before the Hebrew year 6000. (The Hebrew year at the date of this publication is 5772.)"[a] 29 Elul is the last day of the Hebrew year 5999; this corresponds to a civil date of September 29, 2239.
The Freemasons are to 'build' a metaphorical Solomon's Temple at New Jerusalem
Above left: In his De Occulta Philosophia Lib. III (Three Books of Occult Philosophy), 16th-century philosopher Heinrich Agrippa drew a man over a pentagram inside a circle. [Image from the Wikipedia 'Pentagram' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.] One reason that Freemasons are interested in the pentagram, is that they consider it to express the Golden Ratio. The five signs at the vertices of the pentagram shown here, are the astrological symbols for Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. According to Freemasonic writer Jean-Louis de Biasi, "[A]ll traditional representations (hermetic, astrological, alchemical, etc.) show that the foundation of the [Freemasonic] initiatic progression is composed of four elements that constitute us and can be symbolized by the Pentagrammaton (the Tetragrammaton with the letter Shin added). So...they are the four traditional elements (earth, water, air, and fire) and aether (or mind) that overcomes them."[b] Author, mystic, and 33rd degree Mason Manly P. Hall (1901-1990), writing in the year 1928, tells us that "[M]an's physical body has five distinct and important extremities - two legs, two arms, and a head, of which the last governs the first four - the number 5 has been accepted as the symbol of man...The hands and feet are used to represent the four elements, of which the two feet are earth and water, and the two hands are fire and air. The brain then symbolizes the sacred fifth element - aether - which controls and unites the other four."[c] Above right: A goat's head inscribed in a downward-pointing pentagram, from La Clef de la Magie Noire by Stanislas de Guaita (1897). The Pentagrammaton (the Hebrew symbols surrounding the goat's head) translates into "Leviathan." [Image from the Wikipedia 'Pentagram' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.]
The quoted material below is from chapter 40 of Hall's The Secret Teachings of All Ages:[d]
"The name Solomon may be divided into three syllables, SOL-OM-ON, symbolizing light, glory, and truth collectively and respectively. The Temple of Solomon is, therefore, first of all "the House of Everlasting Light", its earthly symbol being the temple of stone on the brow of Mount Moriah. According to the Mystery teachings, there are three Temples of Solomon...The first temple is the Grand House of the Universe, in the midst of which sits the sun (SOL) upon his golden throne. The twelve signs of the zodiac as Fellow-Craftsmen gather around their shining lord. Three lights - the stellar, the solar, and the lunar - illuminate this Cosmic Temple. Accompanied by his retinue of planets, moons, and asteroids, this Divine King (SOLomon), whose glory no earthly monarch shall ever equal, passes in stately pomp down the avenues of space...SOLomon signifies [the sun's] invisible but all-powerful, spiritual and intellectual effulgency.
"The second symbolic temple is the human body - the Little House made in the image of the Great Universal House. "Know ye not", asked the Apostle Paul, "that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" Freemasonry within a temple of stone cannot be other than speculative, but Freemasonry within the living temple of the body is operative. The third symbolic temple is the Soular House, an invisible structure, the comprehension of which is a supreme Freemasonic arcanum. The mystery of this intangible edifice is concealed under the allegory of the Soma Psuchicon, or Wedding Garment described by St. Paul, the Robes of Glory of the High Priest of Israel, the Yellow Robe of the Buddhist monk, and the Robe of Blue and Gold to which Albert Pike refers in his Symbolism. The soul, constructed from an invisible fiery substance, a flaming golden metal, is cast by the Master Workman, CHiram Abiff, into the mold of clay (the physical body) and is called the Molten Sea. The temple of the human soul is built by three Master Masons personifying Wisdom, Love, and Service, and when constructed according to the Law of Life the Spirit of God dwells in the Holy Place thereof. The Soular Temple is the true Everlasting House, and he who can raise or cast it is a Master Mason indeed! The best-informed Masonic writers have realized that Solomon's Temple is a representation in miniature of the Universal Temple..."
Who exactly are these people?
To find out who the specific persons are that are conspiring to create the New Jerusalem, one way to begin doing this is by determining what the full story is regarding the events of September 11, 2001, and finding out who was actually behind the bringing down of the World Trade Center towers on that fateful morning. Unknown to many people is the fact that a third building in New York (WTC 7) fell on that day, later in the afternoon. This building was not struck by any airplanes, nor did it suffer significant damage from WTC 1 and 2 falling. A good place to start getting to the bottom of the true events of 9/11, is by viewing this highly informative video.
Along with the above, it should also be helpful to find out why it is that the mainstream news media, and certain films, such as The Fifth Estate, are portraying Wikileaks (and its founder, Julian Assange) almost entirely inaccurately.
a. Dubov, Nissan Dovid. Chabad.org "What Is the Jewish Belief About Moshiach?" page. Web, n.d. URL = http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/108400/jewish/The-End-of-Days.htm.
b. De Biasi, Jean-Louis. Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons. 2010. Google Books, p. 34. URL = https://books.google.com.
c. Hall, Manly P. The Secret Teachings of All Ages, Reader's Edition. New York: Tarcher/Penguin, 2003. p. 229.
d. Ibid., pp. 574-575.
In this post we put together information and ideas contained in previous parts of the analysis, in order to find out exactly where it is that evil high-ranking Mormons and Freemasons, evil hermaphroditic Jews, highly-placed radical feminists, and the other parties involved (i.e., certain Mennonites, members of certain North American Indian tribes, and possibly Rosicrucians and other parties), plan to physically locate their New Jerusalem (that is, their 'paradise').
Match-up of Michener's 'Indian novels' with the compass rose
With an eight-point compass rose centered in northeastern Colorado, where the action in Centennial is focused, an association can be seen between Michener's other six novels (besides Centennial) that are set in North America (and that deal, in part, with the history of certain native peoples), and their locales' approximate compass directions relative to the fictional town of Centennial:
Shown at left are the five compass directions corresponding to the six novels we are here initially considering. The position of Centennial, in the center of the compass rose, is to be 'shifted' such that it is replaced with Texas. The overall symbolism here suggests that the above-mentioned parties have selected the specific location for their New Jerusalem, based on a five-pointed star insofar as its points may be taken to correspond to compass directions, with a location in Texas at the center, as is shown below.[a]
Figuring the approximate location of the New Jerusalem
Michener is offering us a clue as to the actual planned geographical location of the New Jerusalem:
On a map of North America (above), connecting lines are drawn from locales used in five of Michener's novels: one between Alaska (near Palmer) and Haiti (a few miles east of Cap-Haïtien), one between Hawaii (on the island of Maui, at Lahaina) and the Chesapeake region (at Jamestown, Virginia), and a third line passing through the intersection of these two lines, from the location of Michener's fictional city of Toledo in Central Mexico. When extended out the other side of the pentagram, this third line passes through Independence, Missouri, which, as indicated in the Mormon Articles of Faith (quoted in part 2 of this analysis), was the location for Zion originally intended by the Mormons. All these lines intersect (on a flat map) as shown above, and yield the inverted pentagram outlined in red shown at left. In accordance with the discussion of pentagram symbolism in part 4 of this analysis, the region is thereby linked with the Mormons; and, the pentagram is also a Masonic symbol (as indicated in part 4). Also, as indicated by the Star of David traced out (purple lines), the region is linked up with the evil Jews.[b]
The smaller map above shows, at the points of the pentagram, the titles of five of Michener's novels that inform us as to some of the specific Indian tribes to be gathered.
Based on the intersecting lines on the large map, it appears that the New Jerusalem is to be located somewhere in far northeastern Texas, but these lines are drawn on a flat map. However, the Earth is spherical, so the shortest path between any two points on its surface is always a minor arc of a great circle. Therefore, to determine the actual geographical location of the planned New Jerusalem, what needs to be computed is the latitude and longitude of the point of intersection of the two minor arcs 'represented' by the two longer straight lines drawn on our map of North America (the lines between locations near Palmer, Alaska, and Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, and between Lahaina, Hawaii, and Jamestown, Virginia).[c] Using the 'Movable Type Scripts' website (URL = http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html) and the 'Great Circle Mapper' website (URL = http://www.gcmap.com/), the intersection is found to lie in southern Indiana, not far from the city of Louisville, Kentucky near the Ohio River. Specifically, the point of intersection lies in Crawford County, Indiana, close to Milltown (see Google map here). This is the actual current planned location for New Jerusalem.
At some point in history, the Mormons decided to acquire the land itself on which to place New Jerusalem, from American Indians. Indiana's name means "Land of the Indians" or simply "Indian Land." The point on the Google Map linked to above, lies on land that was acquired from local Indian tribes in 1804 under the terms of the (second) Treaty of Vincennes (or possibly, under the Treaty of Grouseland in 1805). There is also an LDS stake (i.e., stake of Zion) on this land. This stake was established on October 24, 1982 in New Albany, Indiana, which is just to the north and west of Louisville, Kentucky. There is also an LDS stake in Louisville itself.
As indicated earlier in the analysis, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian tribes play a prominent part in Centennial. There was formerly a Cheyenne/Arapaho reservation in west-central Oklahoma (see map here); the line between Alaska and the Caribbean passes through this area, which is now known as the Cheyenne-Arapaho Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Area. The conspiratorial parties plan to get their Cheyenne and Arapaho from this region, which is indicated on the map of Oklahoma shown below,[d] as 'Area 1'. Based on name symbolism in Centennial, these two tribes represent the Israelite lost tribes of Asher and Zebulon.[e] Also indicated on the below map of Oklahoma is the location from which the parties plan to get their Comanche and Kiowa tribes, both of which figure prominently in chapter 10 of Michener's Texas (published in 1985). Also, the Apaches, depicted in chapters 2 and 3 of Texas, are to be obtained from the same area as the Comanche and Kiowa; this area is labeled on the below map as 'Area 2'. Some combination of 2 of these 3 tribes, represent the lost Israelite tribes of Reuben and Ephraim.[f]
The tribes to be gathered from Oklahoma account for five of the ten tribes to be assembled in the evil parties' New Jerusalem. The other five come (one each) from the other five of Michener's 'Indian novels': Alaska, Hawaii, Chesapeake, Caribbean, and Mexico.
As far as exactly why it is that the elite parties want to include these various groups of native peoples in their New Jerusalem, it must be the case that they intend for these people to be employed at the 'low-status' jobs and tasks, such as common laborer, waiter and waitress, cleaning maid, etc. The idea is to convince each group of people that they are descended from one of the lost tribes of Israel, so that they will fit in in New Jerusalem. The Mennonites are to be employed in positions requiring more skill, such as that of craftsman.
Other clues in chapter 10 of Texas indicate that Michener believed that New Jerusalem was formerly to be located in or near Wichita Falls, Texas. (Chapter 10 of Texas is set in the mid to late 1800's.) There are also indications in Texas, that the city of Charleston, South Carolina was, at some point, a planned location for New Jerusalem (i.e., at some point in time prior to Wichita Falls being such). In his novel, Michener depicts Charleston as a kind of 'fallen city', in the same vein as Rome. Also, in chapter 9 of the book ("Loyalties"), one of the characters who lives in Charleston has the same name as a Roman emperor, Trajan, who is best known for his extensive public building program which reshaped the city of Rome and left multiple enduring landmarks such as Trajan's Forum. Another well-known structure in Rome (though not built by Trajan) is the Aurelian Walls.
According to the 'Rediscovering Charleston's Colonial Fortifications' website, "Between 1704 and about 1730, sixty-two acres of the town [of Charleston] were enclosed within a network of walls and bastions and surrounded by a moat. The three inland walls were leveled around 1730 (an exact date has not yet been found) to accommodate civic expansion, but over the next half century the colony’s Commissioners of the Fortifications built further defensive works to protect the town’s south, west, and north sides...Charleston’s defensive fortifications were dismantled in the mid to late 1780s, after the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War, but there are three visible remnants above ground."[g] The original intention for Charleston, as far as establishing a New Jerusalem there, was to use the city's existing or remaining colonial era fortification walls, adding to them as necessary, to protect the New Jerusalem from intrusion from the outside. Freemasonry's Supreme Council, Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction, USA) was founded in Charleston in 1801.
a. Image from the Wikipedia 'Compass rose' page; Compass rose en 08p by ElfQrin, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons; edited for clarity.
b. Map of North America from the Global Overlay Mapper suite at the 'mapability' website, URL = http://www.mapability.com/ei8ic/.
c. The line between central Mexico and Independence, Missouri, is a 'confirmer' line that the other two lines do intersect at the point shown, so this line is not used in the computation of where the lines intersect when drawn on a globe (although the evil parties do intend to gather some native Americans from central Mexico). The reasoning used to place the four endpoints (between which the two longer lines on the map are drawn), at their respective specific geographical locations, is given below.
1) Palmer, Alaska - Palmer is located a very short distance from Matanuska, which is described in Michener's Alaska as being a "wonderland", with the word 'Matanuska' itself described as a "magical word." (--Michener, James A., Alaska, Introduction Steve Berry, Dial Press, 2014, Google Books, p. 1012, URL = https://books.google.com.)
2) Cap-Haïtien, Haiti - A certain retreat a few miles to the east of here is described in Michener's Caribbean as having an "Eden-like" quality. (--Michener, James A., Caribbean, Fawcett Publications, 1989, p. 761.)
3) Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii - In Michener's Hawaii, this area is indirectly referred to as a "promised land." (--Michener, James A., Hawaii, Fawcett Publications, 1959, p. 88.) What is meant by 'indirectly' is that it must be deduced from information given later in the book, that Maui is the island on which the book's earliest voyagers landed, in or near what later became Lahaina.
4) Jamestown, Virginia - In Michener's Chesapeake, one of the characters says, "One day Jamestown will be a new Jerusalem..." (--Michener, James A., Chesapeake, Fawcett Publications, 1978, p. 97.)
d. Map from the Wikipedia 'Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Area' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
e. In Centennial, there is a character named General Asher, and also, Pikes Peak is mentioned; the latter is a mountain in Colorado named in honor of American explorer Zebulon Pike.
f. In Texas, there is a character named Reuben, and another named Efraín.
g. "Rediscovering Charleston's Colonial Fortifications", FAQ's. Web. 29 Sep. 2015. URL = walledcitytaskforce.org/faqs.
Recall that some Mormons believe that the members of certain American Indian tribes, are descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were 10 of the original 12 Hebrew tribes, which, under the leadership of Joshua, took possession of Canaan, the Promised Land, after the death of Moses. They were named Asher, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Issachar, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, and Zebulun — all sons or grandsons of Jacob. In 930 BC the 10 tribes formed the independent Kingdom of Israel in the north and the 2 other tribes, Judah and Benjamin, set up the Kingdom of Judah in the south. Following the conquest of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians in 721 BC, the 10 tribes were gradually assimilated by other peoples and thus disappeared from history. Nevertheless, a belief persisted that one day the Ten Lost Tribes would be found.
[a]
In part of Centennial, Michener tells the story of the chiefs and certain other members of twelve western American Indian tribes, coming together at a meeting on Arapaho/Cheyenne territory in Colorado to establish a peace treaty among themselves and the white settlers. The twelve tribes are the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Sioux, Ute, Comanche, Crow, Pawnee, Shoshone, Assiniboin, and the three 'stranger tribes' from the north: Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara. Michener is hinting that some combination of ten of these twelve tribes, represent descendants of the Ten Lost tribes of Israel.
The meeting of Indian tribes in Centennial is a 'microcosm' for what it is that certain high-ranking Mormons are currently up to. What is meant by this is that Michener believed that the Mormons are planning on gathering certain Indian tribes from all across the North American continent - this is the 'macrocosm' mentioned earlier - in order to establish Zion. The ten actual Indian tribes involved in the founding of the planned utopia, are to be taken from the tribes in seven of Michener's novels: Centennial, Hawaii, Chesapeake, Texas, Mexico, Caribbean, and Alaska. (Centennial's Levi Zendt, a Mennonite who moves west from Pennsylvania, represents that component of the real-life Mennonites who are helping the Mormons and other parties to establish the modern-day Zion.)
a. 'Ten Lost Tribes of Israel'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 04 Sep. 2015.
URL = http://www.britannica.com/topic/Ten-Lost-Tribes-of-Israel.
Disclaimers 1) In certain instances it has been determined that the creators of some of the productions analyzed on this blog, and/or the creators of source material(s) used in the making of these productions, may be making negative statements about certain segments of society in their productions. These statements should be taken as expressing the opinions of no one other than the creators.
2) This blog is not associated with any of the studios, creators, authors, publishers, directors, actors, musicians, writers, editors, crew, staff, agents, or any other persons or entities involved at any stage in the making of any of the media productions or source materials that are analyzed, mentioned, or referenced herein.
3) In keeping with the policies of the filmmakers, authors, studios, writers, publishers, and musicians, that have created the productions (and their source materials) that are analyzed, mentioned, or referenced on this blog, any similarity of the characters in these films or source materials to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Saint Augustine's Confessions andCity of God from Wikisource (except where otherwise noted); portions from Wikisource used on this blog are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
Saint Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica from the 'Logos Virtual Library' website (except where otherwise noted), compiled and edited by Darren L. Slider; believed to be in public domain.
Above: The structure of Dante's Hell, with the sin punished in each circle being labeled. Note that greed is punished in circle 4; as we will see below, this is one of the circles in which Munchkinland resides. Left: Inside the palace at Emerald City, during the second visit there by Dorothy and her companions: The red smoke and flames suggest the fires of Hell, and thus, the inside of the palace itself is in (Dante's) Hell.
+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy.gif)
