I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! It would appear that being numbered is the one of the categories to which No.6 objects the most. He's used to being pushed around, but who has resigned from any further briefings, but was debriefed by No.2 on the morning of his arrival in The Village, and again by the Colonel during both ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ and ‘Many Happy Returns.’ Yet he has not overcome being numbered, in fact No.6 fights desperately to hang onto to his identity of No.6 in the episode ‘The Schizoid Man.’ Perhaps No.6 is a man who is afraid of losing the identity and number of the man he is, in fear of what he might become!
BCNU
Hello David,
ReplyDeletethis reminds me of that scene in Free For All..
Manager: You are afraid!
Prisoner: I am afraid of nothing!
Manager: You are afraid of yourself! You are aware of that? Good! You are honest! ...
Given that this piece of dialogue comes from McGoohan himself - well, perhaps the manager was right, and even really honestly (perhaps not for the good of the Prisoner, but for the good of the village). And I think he had good reasons to be afraid, if he felt as if his reasons to resign and his -sense- of identity were the only two things that they couldn't take away from him. Since they already knew hand had everything else.
It is a very interesting question what he would have become .. not a number of any kind, I assume. But not an individual, neither.
Very kind regards
Jana
BCNU
Hi Jana,
DeleteYour comment makes one think........
Number 6, afraid of himself, afraid of what he had become - Number 1! Is that why he resigned?
Kind regards
David
BCNU
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteit's a thrilling thought.. if they had managed to take away his sense of identity and his reasons to resign, would he have become Number 1? I hadn't thought of that...
But yes, I think that he was indeed afraid of his inner Number 1. Perhaps he was afraid that this One might take over. It might be his reason to resign, I can imagine. But there is no escape.
And maybe some fears are a part of Number 1, too? The fears of betrayal, unmutuality, "wrong" ideas... and so on. Such fears that lead to the idea to build up a village.
Kind regards,
Jana
Be seeing you
Hi Jana,
DeleteAn interesting and thought provoking comment.
I think that inside No.6 agonized about his resigning, as suggested by the doctor-Number 14 in 'A B and C,' I think No.6 was afraid of his other self, of what he had become. It's like 'The Man In the Iron mask,' in which a brother incarcerates his identical twin brother. Or 'the Prisoner of Zenda' in which a man impersonates a King who looks like an identical twin.
No.1 may very well be afraid, afraid to damage the tissue of his twin! Is that why No.6 was given the password 'Gemini' in 'The Schizoid Man,' which was alleged to have been inspired by 'The Prisoner of Zenda.'
Very Kind regards
David
BCNU