Re: Talk to me about the Ninth Wave

[mikael.jakonen@mailbox.swipnet.se (Mikael Jakonen)]

amahdavi@husc.harvard.edu (Andisheh Mahdavi) wrote:

> This is a coarse outline:

>     And Dream of Sheep  ----  In the boat, she falls asleep
>     Under Ice           ----  A dream; the storm arrives
>     Waking the Witch    ----  Wakes up, finding herself sinking
>     Watching you w/o me ----  In the face of death, 1) Grief
>     Jig of Life         ----                        2) Struggle
>     Hello Earth         ----                        3) Acceptance
>     Morning Fog         ----  The moment of her dying.

Most of the storyline seem to match those from previous
discussions, but with some differences.

Noone has to my knowledge previously suggested that she would
be in a boat by the time of 'And Dream of Sheep'. While this 
is an interesting idea, I myself has always thought of her 
starting off by being in the water.

I still think so, despite this new suggestion. 

KEITH BIRCH (KFB) wrote: 
> ...and trying not to fall asleep due to the extremely cold water; 
>the waves, etc. are the "white horses"  that she is actually side 
>by side, like in a race.

I agree his comments points to that fact, however, I'm not sure it is 
a ship lantern she's holding, but some kind of flashlight.

Both 'Under Ice' and 'Waking the Witch' comes through to me as
dreams and hallucinations. These to songs are my absolute all times
favourite Kate songs.

I actually experienced a 'Waking the Witch'-like hallucination
once. I was sick, and had a very high fever. Old, repressed, 
and painful memories came back in a jumble not making any sense.

I agree with the theory about 'Watching You Without Me' and to
the most part of 'The Jig of Life'.

Then Andisheh Mahdavi writes:

>What is she doing on the Space Shuttle? 

Where the heck did the Space Shuttle come from?
It struck me right away that the shuttle has a close orbit.
I sat down and made some trigonometrical calculations, and
my computation says that you have to be a fifth to a quater
of the way to the moon in order to blot the earth out 'with
a hand held up high'. No more, no less.
An orbiting shuttle isn't remotely at that altitude. Almost 
any photo of the Shuttle or SkyLab with earth in the background
would prove my point.

The end of 'Hello Earth', with the German lines about light
certainly, points to the 'tunnel experience' as life fades to
nothing and the soul is passed on to the after-life. Just as 
rave123 suggests.

However I do not believe as him, that it is a rebirth, but
just a transit to the afterlife. The critical factor is in
my opinion that after her 'rebirth' she still remember.
Most views about being reborn suggests that the memory of
previous lives are stored but erased from conciousness.

But the notion that she actually dies in the end really
struck me as novel. I don't recalled it being discussed 
during my time as Love-Hound (close to five years). But 
then, I may have missed it.

I have to congratulate Andisheh Mahdavi for his wonderful
contribution to understanding the Ninth Wave. 
The next time I listen to it, I will try to imagine the
narrator dying it the end, as he suggested.

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Bones: "Say one thing Spock, you never cease to amaze me!"
Spock: "Nor I myself..."                                         (StarTrek V)
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Mikael Jakonen                              mikael.jakonen@mailbox.swipnet.se
                                                   a94mikja@ida.his.se      
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