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They Call Me the Rambler
Oct. 2nd, 2001 10:22 pm"Why 'Dodger'?" asked my professor, who really ought to be competent to know these things.
"Because he dodges wishes," I replied simply. This was insufficient.
"How does one do that?"
"Well, in his case he buries the pennies, sir, but I think I see what you're asking."
"Do you intend to answer?"
Me: sigh
It's really quite obvious. To begin with, it alludes to a passage in the Tao te Ching since the whole story's a flawed understanding of eastern philosophy. "When a country is centered in the Tao, it need not fear evil. Not that it isn't there, but when danger comes, it can step aside."
Plus, who is the most beloved small-change pickpocket in all of literature? The Artful Dodger.
Let's not even discuss the word games one can play -- Dodger, Codger, Lodger, Doge. . . they all make up a part of his character.
My professor says I should include a footnote of some kind. Fuck that.
(It's all right though, because he's obsessed with the story, keeps it on his desk and reads it a lot, and talks about it with other people. Ahhhh mystical realism, he says.)
"Because he dodges wishes," I replied simply. This was insufficient.
"How does one do that?"
"Well, in his case he buries the pennies, sir, but I think I see what you're asking."
"Do you intend to answer?"
Me: sigh
It's really quite obvious. To begin with, it alludes to a passage in the Tao te Ching since the whole story's a flawed understanding of eastern philosophy. "When a country is centered in the Tao, it need not fear evil. Not that it isn't there, but when danger comes, it can step aside."
Plus, who is the most beloved small-change pickpocket in all of literature? The Artful Dodger.
Let's not even discuss the word games one can play -- Dodger, Codger, Lodger, Doge. . . they all make up a part of his character.
My professor says I should include a footnote of some kind. Fuck that.
(It's all right though, because he's obsessed with the story, keeps it on his desk and reads it a lot, and talks about it with other people. Ahhhh mystical realism, he says.)
