Malone Dies, Part 2

Here's a little cartoon I found that is an artist's rendition of Malone.
I just finished Malone Dies and, in true Beckett fashion, the ending was very satisfying.

I liked the allusion on page 221: "and how is it the moon where Cain toiled bowed beneath his burden never sheds its light on my face?" However, I'm slightly confused about what it means. Why would he want Cain's light on his face? And what "toil" and "burden" was he talking about? The murder of Abel?

An interesting passage on page 234: "May comes from Maia, hell, I remember that too, goddess of increase and plenty" I wikipedia'ed "maia" and I found out that Maia was the mother of Hermes, one of the many women Zeus raped. It's funny that Beckett should call her the "goddess of increase and plenty," because she was a fertility goddess, oddly enough.

I thought it was funny on page 236 when Beckett poked fun at himself by naming off several of his characters: "Merciers, Molloys, Morans, and Malones." It kind of makes me wonder if Malone was actually the author of Molloy?

I was reminded of the "Dead Man" movie on page 249: "But have I not perhaps just passed away? Malone, Malone, no more of that." Perhaps Malone is dead for the second half of this book. Or all of it.

On page 266, Beckett (Malone) specifically mentions the number 166 in relation to the House of Saint John. I searched for any significance of the number, but couldn't find anything. If anyone figures it out, let me know!

I also looked up Saint John, but found that there are around 50 Saint Johns of the Catholic Faith. I assume he's talking about John the Baptist, and I wonder what the significance of that is too. Saint John, of course, was beheaded merely to please Salome. Maybe Malone relates him to MacMann because he knows he is going to kill off MacMann.

I was confused for a while about how old Moll is. I thought she was young and pregnant until he says "Half a century younger she might have been taken for pregnant." So, if a woman can bear children until 40, than Moll is 90 years old? Also, is there some allusion here to Sarah in the Bible, who was well over 100 when she conceived Isaac?

I found the perfect passage to relate to "Stranger Than Fiction:" "This exercise-book, so I cherish it, it's human." I thought it was ironic that I read this not long after watching the movie, and found that the movie wasn't the only example of "living fiction." It's a bit different though; instead of controlling the life of a real person through a character, he sees the book itself as a companion and human being. The concept is not that hard to imagine; we've all gotten caught up in stories before and forgot they were not "real."

And, like both Molloy and The Unnamable, the last page of Malone Dies is the best. I just had to share:

Lemuel is in charge, he raises his hatchet on which the blood will never dry, but not to hit anyone, he will not hit anyone, he will not hit anyone any more, he will not touch anyone any more, either with it or with it or with it or with or

or with it or with his hammer or with his stick or with his fist or in thought in dream I mean never he will never

or with his pencil or with his stick or

or light light I mean

never there he will never

never anything

there

any more.

Beckett is not only one of the great authors of all time, he is obviously one of the greatest poets. I can't wait to start the last book!