(Group1) Walkabout: Hunters & Gatherers, & other pairings
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By jazprof
- (Group1) Walkabout: Hunters & Gatherers, & other pairings
- Created: Jun 15, 2007
- Last updated: Aug 13, 2008
- After episode: 3.22: Through The Looking Glass
- Status: Current
- Flag this theory:
could they have made the contrast in the size of Jack and Sawyer’s, ummmm, flashlights, any more obvious?
— jazprof
Beginning on a completely unserious note—but, boy could they have made the contrast in the size of Jack and Sawyer’s, ummmm, flashlights, any more obvious? Or its not the size of your flashlight, but where you choose to shine it?
Well now that that’s out of the way, I think I was mostly noticing character relationships, pair-ups & contrasts, especially (but not only) male/female relationships as the survivors started to settle into a community. I thought it was especially interesting to see how the more usual gender division in a hunter/gatherer society got brought up but also played with.
Locke the hunter/Sun the gatherer. Michael (competing with Locke because of Walt) tries to be the hunter—leaves Walt with Sun. Locke is a good father figure to many of the young men; Michael feels he is a failure as a father. It reminds me that we also see Michael in a wheelchair in Season 1. And look where his feelings of inadequacy lead. Shannon flirts with Charlie to get a fish so that she can wave it in Boone’s face. Hurley apparently still watching over Claire as Jack instructed him.
Kate was an interesting mix here—she says she’s a vegetarian, but she is also one of the hunters. She and Locke are the two carrying the knives. She and Locke are the two trackers. Sawyer calls her the mighty huntress and asks “What’s for dinner, hun?”
Sayid: technology-man working on the transceiver, but also working on the transceiver because as a man of faith he disagrees with Jack’s decision to burn the bodies without any regard to people’s beliefs. Kate’s “What can I do to help?” is one of the driving forces of her character I think. Sayid says something like “You are as anxious to get off this island as I am” which reminded me of the similar exchange between Jack & Juliet. But in this case we know Kate isn’t all that anxious to get off the island.. When Kate returns and reaches out to Sayid when he is frustrated and angry it seemed like there was a romantic spark (or that may just be my interpretation) and then Jack approaches and Sayid makes way for him.
To me one of the most interesting exchanges was between Jack & Rose. Jack goes over and speaks to her with the authority of his position as a doctor. He tells her things she should be doing because she’s suffering from post traumatic stress, and she replies “aren’t we all”—putting them on equal footing. Then she becomes the counselor, telling him about himself, and he confesses something about his family and his choice to be a doctor. Rose is sitting by herself through most of the episode, but by the end it is Jack who is sitting alone as everyone else participates in the memorial service.
A few other thoughts and questions—about mysteries:
A lot of people wear some kind of symbol on a necklace (Claire, Boone, Rose are the ones I noticed) Locke’s boss says he’s never been in the armed forced so I guess he wasn’t a commander in the navy. When he says he will slit the boar’s throat, his injured eye squints. “Who is this guy?” echoes “Guys, where are we?” Jack and Locke are paralleled by both being the ones who see something extraordinary. Jack pulls Charlie out of danger again. The sound of Locke’s adding machine at the box company sounds like Smokey.
Key episodes
| # | Title | Aired | Central character | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.3 | Tabula Rasa | 10-6-2004 | Kate | 95 |
Similar theories
| Title | Author | Cmnts | Votes | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1 - Walkabout and John Locke’s metamorphasis | Stip | 17 | 6 | +2 |
| Group 1: Jack and Claire, good souls | ProfOzone | 5 | 6 | +2 |
jaz: excellent observations. really liked the one about Rose and Jack switching places by show’s end. Do you think it implies Jack’s “man of science” is not the way but faith is? or is he simply grappling still with the death of his father? I took it he is still reluctant to take on the role of leader.
btw, lmao at your flashlight comment - that was great!
Hey! how come no Ethan yet?
Stip, I have also been scanning constantly for Ethan but no sign.
Jaz, fantastic post as always always look forward to seeing your contribution. The flashlight comment made me laugh
I didn’t really understand why jack was so reluctant to join in with the memorial service. And thought to that the adding machine reminded me of one of the noises that smokey makes which made me consider smokey being a build up of what everyone hated in there former lives, I then had a reality check and dismissed the whole idea.
Thanks guys!
About Jack sitting along—I thought it was either connected to his “not one of them” tattoo, or a sign that rejecting faith might be Jack’s downfall (or both) He seemed very anxious not to have anything to do with the faith side of things this ep.
I also thought smokey might be adding something up. I like your idea sleepz.
sitting alone I mean
Great post, jaz, as always.
Yes, in this episode we see Jack represent cold reality against the considerations of faith. The bodies have to be burned… we don’t have time to sort out everyone’s gods…
Great observations jaz.
While I was re-watching the ep recently, I was inerested in how there is sort of a hunter AND gatherer in each character. Locke, for instance, is literally a hunter, but he is also a gatherer, gathering information about the island and the mysticism (for lack of a better term) of the island. Sun, who is portrayed as a literal “gatherer” is also hunting, for a way to reach out to the other Losties without her husband finding out she can speak english. Shannon, in trying to prove to her brother that she could be a gatherer of sorts, used her flirtatious personality to prey on a guy willing to do her bidding.
sleepz - actually, Jack sitting alone, apart from the memorial service fits perfectly with his character. It’s his denial of the finality of death, the same thing we see in his reluctance to open the coffin in Through the Looking Glass. It’s probably why he became a doctor, his attempt to fix things, to attempt to deny death from succeeding.
Great observations, jaz!