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October 1, 2003
Fortress of Solitude excerpts, part 2 of 2
Late in the novel, in a scene set in the late 1970s inside CBGB's, a minor character presents his theory that almost all group dynamics can be understood in terms of the relationship between The Beatles: every group has its own John, Paul, George and Ringo. The other characters challenge the limits of this theory:
See page 264 for more, including the analysis of Gilligan's Island.Dylan's friend Linus Millberg appears out of the crowd with a cup of beer and shouts, "Dorothy is John Lennon, the Scarecrow is Paul McCartney, the Tin Woodman is George Harrison, the Lion's Ringo."
"Star Trek," commands Dylan over the lousy twangy country CB's is playing between sets.
"Easy," Linus shouts back. "Kirk's John, Spock's Paul, Bones is George, Scotty is Ringo. Or Chekov, after the first season. Doesn't matter, it's like a Scotty-Chekov-combination Ringo. Spare parts are always surplus Georges or Ringos."
"But isn't Spock-lacks-a-heart and McCoy-lacks-a-brain like Woodman and Scarecrow? So Dorothy's Kirk?"
"You don't get it. That's just a superficial coincidence. The Beatle thing is an archetype, it's like the basic human formation. Everything naturally forms into a Beatles, people can't help it."
"Say the types again."
"Responsible-parent genius-parent genius-child clown-child."
"Okay, do Star Wars."
"Luke Paul, Han Solo John, Chewbacca George, the robots Ringo."
"Tonight Show."
"Uh, Johnny Carson Paul, the guest John, Ed McMahon Ringo, whatisname George."
"Doc Severinson."
"Yeah, right. See, everything revolves around John, even Paul. That's why John's the guest."
"And Severinson's quiet but talented, like a Wookie."
"You begin to understand."
Here's our earlier excerpt.
