Quote:
Originally Posted by Ea
Why do you think the star constellation Kuno describes to to Vashti is that of Orion? (i.e. why this exact constellation?) |
Maybe making a connection between Orion the Hunter and Kuno's quest for knowledge.
Other constellations would have lacked symbolism, and most readers wouldn't have recognised them just from a description of the stars - Orion is the most widely known, and easily recognised constellation seen from Britain.
I found it a stretch to believe that Kuno would have so accurately duplicated the Greeks' representation of the stars as that of a man with a sword. I can't decide if Forster was hinting at some sort of race-memory, and that it was this that may have spurred Kuno into questioning the Machine in the first place.
Also it seems the constellations weren't unknown to the inhabitants of the Machine, when Kuno is on the surface he seems to have quite detailed astronomical knowledge:
"The sun grew very feeble, and I remembered that he was in Scorpio - I had been to a lecture on that too. If the sun is in Scorpio, and you are in Wessex, it means that you must be as quick as you can, or it will get too dark."
But maybe they just have a knowledge of the star patterns and not the mythological stories behind them. It's a puzzle.
