{"id":230,"date":"2009-09-19T09:27:59","date_gmt":"2009-09-19T13:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/?p=230"},"modified":"2009-09-20T13:07:14","modified_gmt":"2009-09-20T17:07:14","slug":"the-word-smooth-in-lucifers-hammer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/archives\/230","title":{"rendered":"The word “smooth” in Lucifer’s Hammer"},"content":{"rendered":"

A word implying a texture that is repeated in multiple places throughout the novel is the word smooth<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 This word is used with different characters in different settings.\u00a0 Sometimes it is\u00a0referring directly to the characters themselves, while at other times, the word is describing a character’s surroundings.\u00a0 The word smooth<\/em> is used 11 times in Lucifer’s Hammer.\u00a0 The meaning of the word starts out describing the smooth lines on Tim Hamer’s face at the Sutter’s party.\u00a0 The word reappears again on page 60, this time describing the smooth texture of Johnny Baker’s hands.\u00a0 It pops up again on pg. 136, where the description is moved away from face and hands to Leonilla’s muscles, which are described as smooth by the possibly perverted thinking of Mr. Johnny Baker.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The word reappears on pg. 323, when Harry refuses to give up mail duty despite the fact that no one really has any use for his mail anymore,\u00a0not to mention\u00a0he clearly is not going to be receiving\u00a0a paycheck for his services, so why he continues risking his life for the purpose is beyond me.\u00a0 Regardless, when Harry is delivering mail right after hammerfall, the boulders surrounding the location he is in are described as having a smooth texture.\u00a0 So far the word was being used to describe humans, but this is the first time it is describing an inanimate object.\u00a0 On pg. 344 we see the word used in reference to\u00a0the character of Harry again, this time he is\u00a0at the chicken ranch.\u00a0 Here, the word smooth<\/em> is not being used\u00a0for a description of a physical attribute or texture of a human or inanimate object, but rather it is being used to describe a \u00a0sound.<\/em>\u00a0 The sound being that of a truck that Harry finds at the ranch and starts: “It sounded smooth, in good tune” (344).\u00a0<\/p>\n

On pg. 379, smooth<\/em> is used to describe imagery of the road that Tim is driving on with Eileen, “the road became a smooth straight line” (379).\u00a0 On page 452, Rick Delanty is seen searching for items in a half drowned super market when his foot touches the smooth surface of a glass bottle.\u00a0 Here, the word is describing something that is touched<\/em>, as opposed to described, observed, or heard.\u00a0 The word shows up again on pg. 544, and then again on pg. 550.\u00a0 On both pages, the word is describing the smooth texture of the faces of the men Weigley and Hamner.\u00a0 This is significant because both men are at the power plant, which, in contrast to the other outside communities, actually has electricity.\u00a0 Both men can take showers, use electric razors to shave, etc.\u00a0 Here, the smooth texture of their clean shaven faces signifies good hygiene and cleanliness that can be obtained through the use of electricity, something that only the power plant seems to have at the moment, and something worth conserving if humans are to live the way they did before.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On pg. 567, smooth is the word used to describe the ground on both sides of the road when Harvey is driving.\u00a0 Finally, on pg. 592, the road ahead is described as “smooth and untraveled”\u00a0as Harvey is driving his car.\u00a0 The use of the word smooth<\/em> here could be symbolic in saying that there might not be alot more trouble for the communities ahead, that everything is going to run smoothly from now on.\u00a0 If it\u00a0had been\u00a0a bumpy road, however,\u00a0it might have symbolized the exact\u00a0opposite about their communities’ future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A word implying a texture that is repeated in multiple places throughout the novel is the word smooth.\u00a0 This word is used with different characters in different settings.\u00a0 Sometimes it is\u00a0referring directly to the characters themselves, while at other times, the word is describing a character’s surroundings.\u00a0 The word smooth is used 11 times in… Continue reading The word “smooth” in Lucifer’s Hammer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[34],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions\/338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}