I have begun a short story of excruciating difficulty; viz., "Red Clay Man." It is a prehistoric tale of a young lad who, upon reaching puberty, has a Helen Keller moment and devises "language." What makes it difficult is that I must tell the tale using language, which will distort the reader's understanding. Hence, I am feeling my way into the story using an omniscient narrator, while the characters themselves (other than Red Clay) are more the Show-Don't-Tell sorts. The paragraph of opening stands at the moment, thus:
They called him Red Clay Man from his custom of smearing his forehead with a paste he made from the red clay above the lagoon. This was a feat, since the clay could be scraped only by standing on a precarious ledge above the crocodile-infested waters, but Red Clay Man did not realize this yet. He had not yet reached puberty, and the other naked apes on the island gave no thought to crocodiles they were not directly confronted with; or indeed much thought to anything at all, inasmuch as one cannot give what he does not have.
The above has already been changed.
Let’s call him Red Clay Man, after his custom of smearing his forehead with a paste he makes from the red clay above the lagoon. This is not his name for himself. He doesn’t have one because he doesn’t need one. He knows who he is, and so do the other Naked Apes hanging out on that wide and bountiful island.
Nor does he need names for the other accouterments of his world. No one needs to be told that he is eating a banana, or that the sun is shining, or that this is a brown snake and so best avoided. Red Clay knows these things as he knows all else: directly through his senses. He is a “show, don’t tell” kind of guy.
In "They called him Red Clay Man", what is the antecedent of "they"? Without language, would the other apes even have names for each other? (would seem to require that continuity of awareness and awareness of continuity that hasn't yet appeared ["emerged"]) Would the apes even have any words for "red" or "clay" or "red clay" or "man" with which to form such a name?
ReplyDeleteBut if the grammatical antecedent to that initial "they" is not "the other apes", who is it doing the namecalling? Some watcher(s) standing by, holding a spark to impart once it finds appropriate tinder on appropriate fuel? The original "Houston, we have ignition . . . and liftoff!"
— Occasional Correspondent
Aristotle observed mankind was twice gifted--with reason and hands. The earliest human communication would have used both hand signals and sounds. While hand signs are temporary, painted signs endure and are the initial written form of communication. Early signs could identify a star constellation (belt of Orion), season (winter snow), (poison (skullbones), direction (arrows), and sea (wavy lines). Combine sea and direction signs to get the first form of written language.
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