For Cassandra *Spoilers*
What follows is some long-winded, self-indulgent, literary geek-out. Well, it's me, right? Skip this if you have anything better to do (toe nails to clip?).
The Cassandra character is going linger much longer than any other part of the novel, the question of what she saw in the Nightmare Box and why it made her want to be a writer. She may stay with me forever. Guess I ended up haunted by the only true ghost in the book, the mystery of what only Cassandra knew but would not tell. Transcendence.
The themes Chuck works with in [I]Haunted[/I] are the same questions in the Book of Job. Archibald MacLeish won the Pulitzer back in the late 1950's for his stage adaptation of Job, [I]J.B.[/I] If you've hung around high school drama departments you're no doubt familier with it. The play quotes only one line from the Bible, Sarah to her beleagured husband: "Curse God and die!"
Below is an excerpt from the final scene of the play. Zuss is the stand-in for God (Zeus, get it?). Nickles is Satan. J.B. is caught between them saying okay, maybe it is our destiny to suffer, but he still wants to know why. Just like Tess Clarke wanted to know the why of her daughter's death from Whittier. Unlike the Bible's Job or Whittier's writers, J.B. insists there must be meaning to all the suffering and in the final lines he figures it out and explains it to his just returned, nearly dead from grieving wife. What Macleish's J.B. sees is the same thing Chuck's Whittier sees, the only difference being what exactly suffering teaches us to love. It is almost the same ending as [I]Haunted[/I]. Perhaps Job is the only story we've ever had or the only one that means anything to all of us, all the time: if life is such a blessing, why does it hurt so much? Consider this a eulogy for Cassandra.
Mr. Zuss:
You’ve found
The answer at the end! You’ve answered him!
We take what God has sent—the Godsend.
There is no resolution to the mystery
Of unintelligible suffering but the dumb
Bowed head that makes injustice just
By yielding to the Will that willed it—
A world where there can be injustice.
You’ve learned that now. You’ve bowed your head.
The end is the acceptance of the end.
We take what God has willed….
J.B.
I’ll find a foothold somewhere knowing.
Life is a filthy farce you say,
And nothing but a bloody stage
Can bring the curtain down and men
Must have ironic hearts and perish
Laughing….
Well, I will not laugh!
And neither will I weep among
The obedient who lie down to die
In meek relinquishment protesting
Nothing, questioning nothing, asking
Nothing but to rise again and
bow!
Neither the bowing nor the blood
Will make an end for me now!
Neither the
Yes in ignorance…
the No in spite.
Neither of them!
Sarah:
The candles in churches are out.
The lights have gone out in the sky.
Blow on the coal of the heart
And we’ll see by and by…
We’ll see where we are.
We’ll know. We’ll know.
J.B.:
We can never know.
He answered me like the stillness of a star
That silences us asking.
No, Sarah, no:
We [I]are[/I] and that is all our answer.
We are and what we are can suffer
But…
What suffers loves.
And love
Will live its suffering again,
Risk its own defeat again,
Endure the loss of everything again
And yet again and yet again
In doubt, in dread, in ignorance, unanswered,
Over and over, with dark before,
The dark behind it…and still live…still love.
[COLOR=SandyBrown][SIZE=2]Perhaps, being lost, one should get [COLOR=RoyalBlue]loster[/COLOR]. - Saul Bellow[/SIZE][/COLOR]
[Color=SandyBrown][Size=2]Perhaps, being lost, one should get [COLOR=Red]lobster[/COLOR]. - Dean Young[/size][/color]
The whole story with Cassandra was my favorite part of the book. I'm still curious about that freaking box, though.
[QUOTE=Jane Jones]The whole story with Cassandra was my favorite part of the book. I'm still curious about that freaking box, though.[/QUOTE]
Book Club!
I was here. Then I wasn't. Then I was again.
I still can't find it! Am I just abnormally lost or is navigation usually an issue for the newbies?
[QUOTE=Jane Jones]I still can't find it! Am I just abnormally lost or is navigation usually an issue for the newbies?[/QUOTE]
go to your User CP and look on the left side of the screen -- click on 'Group Memberships', which is 3rd from the bottom.
I'm having problems with the bookclub too. If I go to my CP, it says I'm registered, but if I click on the forum, it asks for a password??
I read "the nightmare box" yesterday, I absolutely loved this story. I really think it's my favorite story from 'Haunted' so far (still reading), just hits you in the guts. I've heard Chuck say on a recent interview "How would you live your life if you knew, beyond all doubt, that it was only a dream, an illusion, how would you live?" I see this story as a partial unpacking of that question.
I had my mom read "the nightmare box" this morning, I told her this is one of the most beautiful stories I've recently read, you have to read this. She comes back to me and says "Why didn't Mrs. Clark call the police? Why would she just go to the antique owner and not the authorities?" She was overconcerned with the parental figure aspect and completely missed the whole point of the story, arg.
Hey all, noob here.
I loved Cassandra and the Nightmare Box story as well. I got about 8 pages through the Parkaboy review thread (I'm a real pro at lurking, folks.) looking for some thoughts on it, as obviously the closure wasn't as obvious as Chuck usually makes things. Great thoughts by some over in that thread, by the way, can't wait to read more.
However, I wasn't able to find the answer anywhere, but what does anyone make of the Nightmare Box being made by Roland Whittier? Did I miss something big somewhere? I just finished and I'm not exactly ready to go through the readings again, but what does this possibly signify? Way too small for coincidence, yes?
Thanks all, great discussion in here.
OK, but what? Consider me completely an idiot unable to read into things.
OK, yeah, I understand that futility is an overall theme, but I'm asking how specifically the Nightmare Box from Mrs Clark's story was tied to Brandon Whittier's life by the Nightmare Box being made by Roland Whittier. This was stated as being on the placard in the gallery, and seems like it would be a "bomb" to drop.
Maybe the antiques dealer was Brandon's father? I have no clue here, I'm just asking.
Haven't thought about this in a while, but was just reading about Chuck on a blog, so figured I'd check if anyone ever had any insight. Are there any clues anyone can point me to as to what the significance of the Nightmare Box's being created/found/displayed by a Whittier family member?
Be back in another nine months if not 
correct me if i'm wrong but isnt whats inside box the theatre?
after seeing so many disfigured and dead people wouldn't you be disturbed?:eek1:
or maybe it was one of her mothers pornos:p
The NB was my favorite aspect of the book. I think that what's visible in the box is the image mentioned later on in the book of the "true" afterlife - where everyone was all happy and running around on Saturn following their death. (wasn't it Saturn?)
Makes sense to me; that all of the witnesses of the innards of the NB realized that this life's temporary nature was a weigh station on the train ride to the afterlife on Saturn with everyone else who'd made it there. Which seems to be inferred as "everyone" who dies. As in, there being no heaven or hell, but just one place that's better than the one you already know about.
Once those who found out knew what lied in wait for them they couldn't wait any longer.
nightmare box contains scenes from the movie armageddon in editing sequences with eurotrash music
that's what fucked cassandra in the head
i guess
moving forward
I really loved Cassandra Clark's character. I think she just saw things the way they are. haunting and static despite all the ilusions.
It's been so long since I read that story, hm. I remember loving the story about the nightmare box though.
Cassandra is neat.
The NIghtmare Box and Cassandra were both well done. I would have liked to seen them followed up. I suppose she was named for Homer's prophetess to whom no one listened?
I was here. Then I wasn't. Then I was again.