Here’s strange symmetry; see Fenris’s thread in the Pit.
Ugh. Did my thread become broken? Okay…Let me try again:
Here is the OP Once more:
I figured this out a while ago, but never got a chance to post it. Fenris’s thread in the BBQ Pit reminded me. For English this year, we were doing some of the Narnia books, as part of a study on C.S. Lewis. Anyway, do you guys remember the novel? Eustace Scrubb, the little wussy cousin of dear Lucy and Edmund, is keeping a journal. Eventually, they land on an island, and Eustace is lost, and turns into a dragon. But do you remember the date?
There’s a line: “What awaited them on the island was going to concern Eustace more than anyone else, but it cannot be told in his words because after September 11, he forgot about keeping his diary for a long time.”
Bizarre, no? Not just that it occurs on Sept 11 (which is weird, in and of itself), but bizarre that something realy big happens on that date. Everyone I’ve shown it to gets pretty freaked out. It’s like Lewis knew. Maybe kids growing up now, and in the future, will read the book and think it was written recently, and believe he was making a reference to what actually happened. Really makes the “Two Towers” look pretty small in comparison.
So? It’s not that big a deal. I’m sure people can find lots of books that used Sept. 11 for things.
There are 365 days in a year; there are thousands of stories that include dates. Oooh, creepy…
Yeah, I know, but this date just happened to be really significant in this book. It’s not like he knew, but it just seems really unnerving reading it. And there are 364 other days that could have been used, I just think it’s kind of scary he chose a day that happens to be so important.
I thought I would test your theory that this was a significant point, and not merely a coincidence.
The first two books I picked up were ‘Hornblower and the Hotspur’ by C. S. Forester and ‘Honour among Thieves’ by Jeffrey Archer.
I found dates in both of them.
‘Hornblower and the Hotspur’, page 18: 2 April 1803
‘Honour among Thieves’ page 11 : Feb 15 1993
What does this tell us?
Well if you come across a date that means nothing special, you will ignore it.
However, if you come across a meaningful date, you will notice it.
So all this shows is that you notice things in a subjective way, not that ‘it’s kind of scary he chose a day that happens to be so important’.
I do find it scary that you think there is any meaning in this.
Why not look deliberately for dates in books? I would suggest that you will find a completely random selection.
(I don’t want to mention that the Archer book says on the front cover ‘Who would pay a million dollars to humiliate America?’, in case you start another thread 
)
James Dean was killed on the 30th of September.
ArchiveGuy was born on the 30th of September.
Ergo, a spectre of death looms over me every waking moment of my life. I am a soul haunted by the spirit of teenage rebellion cut short in its youthful prime. Do not approach, lest its icy finger touch you too!!! :rolleyes:
Oh God. I’m not saying it necessarily means anything. You can stop with the rolly eyes smilies, I get that you’re all skeptics. I just thought it was pretty cool and I wanted to share it. You know, when you notice something interesting and you pass it on? I’m not advancing a theory of any kind, I’m just saying that doesn’t it look strange compared to what actually happened last year? Is it even possible for any of you to at least admit that it’s kind of weird or make some non-rude comment, without mocking me?
Well, sharing is good, but why is this coincidence 
?
Again, I’m all for passing interesting stuff on. But this is just a day of the year (not mentioning the year itself) on which something bad happened in America.
C.S. Lewis lived through the two World Wars. These involved millions of casualties, both civilian and military. The Nazis attempted genocide.
Please think seriously about what you’re saying. Why, even if C.S. Lewis could foresee the future, would he select a tragedy with far fewer deaths?
In any case, the book was published in 1952. What is your theory about how an English author foresaw an event some 50 years later?
No.
Read any other book. Look for a date in it. Is it Sep 11? Why is C. S. Lewis more relevant than these other authors?
It’s not weird at all.
I’m sorry if you feel slighted. But you are posting on a board dedicated to fighting ignorance.
You are badly confused about a simple coincidence, and it is our duty to point that out.
Re-read this:
If anybody cared to check, there are probably a lot of other books most of us have read where “something happened” on a September 11th. It would be statistically strange if that weren’t the case. If I recall correctly, the imporant event on Sept. 11 in Dawn Treader was that Eustace turned into a dragon. You don’t see a connection there with the dragon of terrorism, or something, do you? I hope not.
English assigments tend to have one looking for symbolism where there isn’t any. How many copies of The Great Gatsby are there with every color word underlined? Poor kids, prodded to think like this with every book.
Read and enjoy, that’s my advice.
:eek: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! :eek: Stay back! Back I say, Back!
Zoggie, I find it very vaguely creepy™ myself.
Why do I find it creepy? Well, maybe because the line could apply to a couple thousand people who would have forgotten about their diaries after September 11, 2001, due to the events of the day.
That’s all…not because it’s like Lewis had some prophetic vision of the future, but because it’s a strange coincidence. Which is also what I believe Zoggie was saying, too.
Some people need to lighten up.
Rose
These books were written a long time ago. The odds were in Lewis’s favor.
Do this experiment: pick a date at random. Now wait, say, fifty years. Something of enormous significance will eventually happen on that date. Now add some prophetic words that aren’t particularly specific: “May 14th, a day that will be remembered forever.” Voila! You’re a prophet.
Moreover, the actual incident in Dawn Treader, IIRC, was the story of Edmund getting turned into a dragon, a very cool tale with a great deal of allegorical significance, probably the heart of the book, but not particularly relevant to 9/11 unless we do some serious stretching.
Well, it’s just slightly creepy I suppose. If I’d noticed it myself it would have made me shiver, that’s all.
But another C S Lewis coincidence - did you know he died on the day JFK was assasinated?
“The laws of statistics not only permit coincidence; they require it.”
In 1941 a hack writer named Clive Cartmill was under FBI investigation, though they would not tell him why. It turns out that he had written a science fiction story about a bomb based on uranium fission. Obviously (in their eyes) he had access to a leak from the Manhattan Project! (More obviously, he had some knowledge of physics and was trying to write a SF story based on Fermi’s discovery of fission and its consequences in the real world of power politics and such.)
Sigh. Thank you. I think it’s a coincidence that I happened to be reading a book I ordinarily wouldn’t have read, and that the date happened to be significant. There’s no theory, I just think it’s, as Wicked Blue points out vaguely creepy. I’m aware of the fact that coincidences exist, I’m just saying it was a weird feeling to read that date in a book that had been written beforehand. Rationally I know it means nothing, but on an emotional level it’s very bizarre.
My auto club card has Sept. 11 on it. It will always feel “creepy.”
Wait, you mean CS Lewis was president of the United States? I thought he was English or something. Why wasn’t I told that foreign nationals are allowed to be prez? I’m voting for Coldfire come 2004.
Mmm… future-y…
Tenebras
Hey, you too? Cool!
I think your initial post was misleading and suggested that there was something meaningful to this.
As I said, posting that suggestion on this board was bound to lead to swift rebuttals.
Of course it’s natural to be upset when something reminds you of a tragedy. I don’t see why this is creepy, scary or should freak anyone out.
When I was a kid, my dog got run over outside my local park. Every time I pass by the spot I get sad.
I guess it will be the same for you whenever you encounter 9/11.