Hey, so I totally didn't realize I was alphabetically the first until like, five seconds ago, so sorry it took so long! My last name starts with M... didn't think it'd be me
Okay, so I know that we touched on this in class but I wanna talk about the dopplegaenger. (I can't get the diacritic umlaut to work, so the spelling changes). I stumbled upon a book a few years ago by Jorge Luis Borges called The Book of Imaginary Beings, wherein he described the history, literary importance, and general meaning of the dopplegaenger. Anyway, so the description is only about 400 words or so, but he says a lot.
Concepts of the dopplegaenger have also been said to be a link to parallel universes and time travel etc, etc. So as related to The Lost World, Professor Challenger and the king of the ape-men are each other's dopplegaenger, though it's rather ambiguous as to who is the "evil" twin and bringer of death or whatever.
As primitive as the ape-men are portrayed in comparison to the Brits, I think that the notion of a dopplegaenger is a product of having been "taken back in time" by the expedition to witness the prehistoric scenes. I don't know what else to say other than the appearance of a dopplegaenger has linked the modern world with the prehistoric one, but it's out of the public eye. It's in a remote forest that, at the time was largely unexplored...
I get wordy. Sorry guys...
Your turn.
Alli
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I'm gonna go off your comment about doppelgaengers and the ambiguity of who was the "evil" twin. I don't know what Borges' book says about them, but just from your comment, you could consider Challenger the bringer of death in the sense that he brought the party who had the guns, and it was with the aid of the guns the Indians were able to kill all the males of the ape-men. So, in a way, he was an omen of death to the leader of the tribe. That's really all I have to say on your post for now...
ReplyDelete~Lillian
After reading your post, I saw Professor Challenger's doppelganger as a vision of the past that questions the reader whether or not man has really changed much over a course of thousands of years. When I first read the description of Challenger's twin I pictured his two persona. Challenger represents sophistication and science. The ape king, however, represents primate/brutal nature. Afterward, It appeared to me that the following events where a battle between the two. Who would win, primitive or civilized? When Lord Roxton shoots the ape king, modern technology prevails which might signify where the adventures would end up. Would they become uncivilized and remain on the plateau forever, or would the find some resourceful way to descend the cliff? Challenger conjures up a make-shift balloon that would slowly and safely lower them to the bottom of the cliff. Civilized Challenger won the battle regardless of the fact that an Indian gave them a map to find the way out soon after.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tyler's comment. It also made me think of the battle between the scientific mind and instinct which is stated in the following: I am wondering if you (anyone) believes that, in reality, that logic (scientific method) would dominate/win over instinct? Just wondering, because I believe that, to an extent, they both go hand-in-hand together. Rather the scientific method could be viewed as a natural instinct. For instance, when the first caveman created fire, his instinct was to touch the red-hot flame. The result was that he was burned. Therefore, he would question what he did (touch the flame), the result (pain), what to do next time (not touch the flame because it burns).
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna play a little off of Tyler's comments about the ape-man representing the primitive nature, while Challenger represents a more civilized nature. The ape-man is without a doubt Challenger's doppelganger. However, their meeting does not end with the usual results. Instead of the evil twin killing Challenger, they form a sort of mutually respectful relationship. In the end, the ape-man is killed, but by Lord Roxton not Challenger. From this circumstance I wonder what could have caused this change in the usual order to be flipped on its head. Was it the technological advances of the group? Was it the fact that the "twins" managed to form a friendship?
ReplyDeleteTechnological advances is an interesting topic. In almost every encounter of a more advanced society with a less advanced society, the outcome isn't in favor of the less advanced one.
ReplyDeleteFor example: the Incan empire's brush with the Spanish led by Francisco Pizarro in Peru. The Inca were hardly as technologically advanced as the conquistadors; the absolute monarch, Atahuallpa was captured and held for ransom and then the Spanish demolished the Inca at Cajamarca. Same concept, but hundreds of years earlier than Challenger's expeditions.
I think that the technology is tied with science and expedition and lack thereof is tied with the primitive ape-men. So then, in response to Tyler, the sophistication of the civilized world is the victor in the end.
Scientia potentia est.... Knowledge is power.
I'm going to go back to Chelsea's post, and comment on her assertion that instinct and logic go hand in hand. In some cases, I believe it would be more appropriate to depend more on instinct, and in others, to depend more on logic. However, logic can be used to override instinct in theoretically all cases, yet it would not be plausible (or even possible) to do so.
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