Quote For The Day

    Number 6 is asked by Number 2 if he could spare the Awards Committee a few minutes of his time. The members of the Awards Committee are intrigued by Number 6’s abstract sculpture, but a little mystified.
    Number 2 “And here he is, our very own Epstein.”
    Number 6 “Can I help?”
    “We’re not quite sure what it means.”
    “It means what it is.”
    “It means what it is. Brilliant. Oh no, you mustn’t allow me to influence you. You are the Awards Committee
    “What puzzled me Number Six is the fact you’ve given the group a title…..Escape.”
    “This piece, what does it represent to you?”
    “A church door?”
    “Right first time.”
    “I think I see what he’s getting at.”
    “Yes, this other piece here of the same general lines but somewhat more abstract as you’ll notice, representing freedom or a barrier, depending on how you look at it. The barrier’s down, the door is open you’re free, free to go, free to escape, to escape, to this the symbol to human aspirations. Knowledge, freedom, escape.”
    “Why the crosspiece?”
    “Why not?”
    “Good, splendid. I was really quite worried for a moment. The only really thing I don’t understand.”
    “Yes.”
    Where is Number Two?”
         {Number’s 2, 6 and the Awards Committee –
                                                                  The Chimes of Big Ben}
    I’ll say this for Number 6, he has the ability to think on his feet. After all he had no idea that he was going to have to explain the symbolic meaning behind his abstract sculpture.
    That “crosspiece,” that has been seen by fans and enthusiasts of ’the Prisoner’ who have a religious nature, as representative of the cross. And that’s fine, if that’s what people interpret that crosspiece to be, as I do not wish to commence upon a religious debate regarding the possible religious content within ‘the Prisoner.‘ But why the crosspiece? Well on a purely functional level, Number 6 had crafted a coracle or boat out of a tree trunk. He had a crosspiece strapped to a pole. The pole is the mast of the boat, and the crosspiece the spar from which Number 6 would eventually hang a sail, or in this case Number 38’s tapestry! But why Number 6 had to actually use those 2,000 free Work Units to buy Number 38’s tapestry I don’t know, unless he was feeling generous towards Number 38. Seeing as he thought he was not going to be around in The Village for very much longer, he perhaps thought the 2,000 Work Units would do her better good than himself. After all, it was at dead of night when Number 6 and Nadia took the parts of his sculpture from the Recreation Hall to assemble them on the beach. Number 6 could easily have taken the tapestry then! And that’s one further point, seeing as how Number 2 knew precisely what Number 6 was about. It then must follow that Number 2 saw to it that the Recreation Hall was left open that night, so that Number 6 and Nadia could retrieve the parts of the boat, Number 6’s sculpture in order for them to make good their escape! Plus the Supervisor had to be in on it, otherwise had the Observers seen Number 6 and Nadia at the Recreation Hall, or down on the beach after curfew, an Orange Alert may well have been issued too soon, and that would have put paid to the escape somewhat prematurely. And that’s something Number 2 wouldn’t have wanted!

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