Hop on Pop: A Realtime Analysis Part 3 Well. I immediately let this little series die. Nothing else seems to be going on, so I may as well get back into the swing of things. SWING THING. THING SWING. Geisel may just be getting to me. I'll admit, I've been having dreams about this work. It's become my own personal House of Leaves, my own Finnegan's Wake. I'll tear those dreams apart using the Jungian method on my own time; for now, we get back into the work. ALL BALL We all play ball. Play implies a game, yet the exact type of ball, both the ball game being played and the type of ball being used, is left ambiguous. We all play ball, whether we like it or not. Participation is mandatory. It is ambiguous whether we is all-inclusive or merely referring to the group the speaker belongs to. BALL WALL Up on a wall. The "we" is deemphasized to draw attention to the wall. Notably, this is the first pairing of a rhyme and a short sentence which does not include both words. It is not "ball on a wall" but "up on a wall". Every word from the previous phrase has been removed to showcase the importance of this prepositional phrase. It is evidently vital that any ballplay occur up on a wall. Depicted are a group of eight; if they are not the same individuals as depicted on the last page, they are likely the same species. They play with nine solid balls in a variety of ways: juggling, kicking, a baseball facsimile, and playing catch. They all stand upon a blank wall, comprising no structure but itself. It is alone in a grassy plain, save for two trees it dwarfs. Eight players balancing atop a tall, inorganic structure with no immediate purpose, besides raising them higher? Geisel, you mad dog. ALL FALL Fall off the wall. As it so often does, pride cometh before the fall. At some point you would think the fall would have a long discussion with pride, or look into alternative methods or partners, but alas, the most the fall is willing to do right now is fake it. There are many such cases that would do well with couples therapy. If pages of this book were tarot, this would be the Tower. Everything thus far has been perfectly fine and dandy, but now everyone comes tumbling down, with nary a king's horse to offer aid. Phone for Zahhak. Of note is that this is no observation: it is a command. All nine balls are accounted for, but only seven of the players. Perhaps one fell to the other side of the wall, symbolizing a stark separation between them and the rest of the group. Perhaps one is just out of sight, one who when the going gets rough they get obscure. It appears they've fallen onto the side of the wall opposite that of the trees, with a force that suggests this was no mere accident. They are none the worse for wear, if a bit discombobulated, but the balls are in danger of rolling down a hill. It is perhaps a trick of perspective that made this hill impossible to see in the previous image. Hmm... upon review, the bat does not appear with the fallen entities. Perhaps it is the batter that fell to the other side? The one who is entirely reactive yet determines the pace of the game. Perhaps this one went mad and began swinging, sending their former comrades tumbling down. Hmm. The question posited at the end of my previous analysis has been answered: Geisel did, in fact, know ball. We all play ball. He instructs the reader that to play we must all be tall, even if we are all small, we may be tall upon the wall. If a squall tends us all to fall we will once more feel small, but we might just recover, all in all. This may also be an allusion to the society formed on Alternia; play that comes with the constant threat of pain and death, such that it encourages those who play ball to grow tall and not fall. A plea to hold sympathy for our Trollian counterparts? A scathing critique of the practice, showing that for all the effort put into constructing such a culture, the ball still fall? Nine solid balls... Zero through eight. Quite. One wonders where the rest may hide. #HopOnPop #KantianAnalysis #Subconstruction #ArenaStickballAllusion #TableStickballIllusion #AllPlayAndNoWork #DangerousPlay #Ballplay #Wallplay #Fallplay #Unreality #BeatingOff2008 #NSFP #MidautumnDreaming #Loam #Roughcast #Stone #RightAndSinisterCranny Seuss, Dr. 2004. Hop On Pop. Random House.
