I wonder why No.6 suddenly feels so alone during the episode of A Change of Mind? After all in the previous episode Its Your Funeral No.6 saved the citizens from the mass reprisals which the new No.2 would have seen to be carried out, if the assassination/execution plot had succeeded. And you would think that this would draw him closer into the community. But then the citizens of the community would never know, would they, or be allowed to know. And even if they did, it would not have turned them against the new No.2, or would it? Well No.6 did manage to turn the citizens aganst No.2 at the end of A Change of Mind.
Is it more likely that No.6 turned his back on the community of the village? After all he said he preferred his own privacy, this after having built his own private gymnasium in the woods. No.6 can't have it both ways. And of course No.6 hasn't formed that many friendships with other members of the community since his arrival in the village, and when they do come knocking on his door he doesn't always answer! And when he does, it usually has something to do with plots to either escape, or to become involved in machinations against No.2!
So if No.6 is feeling lonely, then he only has himself to blame. Him being something of a lone-wolf, as lone-wolves belong to the wilderness as No.2 once said. But this preferring his own company didn't start with A Change of Mind, oh no, it began sometime before then. Because during the 'Activity Prognosis' on No.6, he can be seen working out using his own private gymnasium in the woods! So perhaps this wanting to be alone, turning his back on the community, stems form Hammer Into Anvil. Perhaps by the end of this episode No.6 had just about had enough, I wouldn't blame him if he had. But then it had been a personal victory for him, in the way he brought No.2 to his knees, and casting No.14 out.... through the French window!
Anyway, it's all good food for thought. And demonstrates that even I can find something new in the Prisoner to chew over.
The trouble is that science can be perverted, as No.6 found out that it's not only science that can be perverted, so called friends can be as well! I bet No.6 never spoke to that No.24 again, No.24-Alison of The Schizoid Man. And writing of that particular episode, how could it be that both No.6 ad No.12 had the same finger prints? Well one way would be to have No.6's thumb print impressed upon a very thin piece of latex which Curtis could wear over his right thumb. The result of which was evident upon the screen in No.2's office, as both No.6's were trying to prove that he was No.6.
Speedlearn in the episode of The General was also a demonstration of perverted science in the village. Both the General and Speedlearn might have saved pupils from learning by tedious rote, cutting out wastage at schools, a brilliantly devised course, delivered by a leading teacher. But it can only teach you when but not what, how and by whom. Speedlearn is not the perfect teaching machine which No.2 is quick to endorse. Like everything else, the General, which is after all only a computer, and that is only as good as it is programmed. After all you can't take out what you don't put in! The General and Speedlearn have their failings just like anyone or anything else. Its no wonder that all you have at the end is a row of cabbages! Just imagine everyone knowing exactly the same thing word for word, it would be the end of the education system and in time possibly mankind’s intellect and capacity to learn.
The ambiguity of it all, Alison-No.24 of ‘The Schizoid Man, why exactly she was brought to the village in the first place is where her particular ambiguity lies. It could be that her abduction to the village was due to her ability to read minds. After all No.58 of Free For All was brought to the village because of her wonderful photographic memory, well that's what No.2 told No.6 over breakfast that time.
And why not indeed? Because the villages administration makes the best use they can of any technology which becomes available to them. Technology or peoples capabilities, sees their eventual abduction to the village. Unless they arrive of their own free will. But then perhaps Alison-No.24 was born to the Village, and her "gift" developed there in a section of the hospital.
A row of cabbages! No.2 "No more wastage in schools. No more tedious learning by rote...... A brilliantly devised course, delivered by a leading teacher, subliminally learned and checked by an infallible authority....... and what do you have?"
"A row of cabbages!" - No.6 replies.
{The General}
Well we might have met with this "row of cabbages" previously during the dissolution of the out going council at the Town Hall during the election period of Free For All. And as the candidate No.6 observed, what a bunch of "tailors dummies" they all turned out to be. And as far as I can see, a more suited "row of cabbages" you would not wish to meet.
"Can you laugh, can you cry, can you think? In your heads must be the remnants of a brain. In your hearts must be the desire to be a human being again. {No.6}
Is this what happens to those "rotten cabbages" in the village? Brainwashed imbeciles, who might once have been former No.2's who have now been sub-divided, and who now sit upon the town council without a voice, and without power to act. A puppet regime, a twentieth century Bastille which pretends to be a pocket democracy. It's all a farce really, as No.6 observes. Solitary confinement would be more effective in getting what "they" want, as are truth drugs. But then that might prove to be too easy, as No.2 and the village administration do like to play their games, but not to "damage the tissue."
Had Free for All been different, as well as the villages administrations attitude towards No.6. That the rigged elections had actually proved to have been democratic after all, with No.6 having been duly elected as the "new No.2." Then might not No.6 himself one day, find himself a member of the Town Council. A brainwashed imbecile, with no heart or brain, nor the desire to be a human being again.
Be seeing You
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