You are three men of sin, whom Destiny,
That hath to instrument this lower world
And what is in't, the never-surfeited sea
Hath caused to belch up you; and on this island
Where man doth not inhabit; you 'mongst men
Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad;
And even with such-like valour men hang and drown
Their proper selves.
The Tempest. Act iii. Sc. 3
Well, this has been mentioned before... I think. But I was
really beginning to see it the other day.
Each character is becoming the opposite of what they were, which is pretty
weird.
Kate was a criminal who must have done something pretty bad to be hunted
all around the world. -- Now Kate is trying to help everyone she can.
Locke was a paralyzed man who could not live the life he wanted. -- Now
Locke can walk and is experiencing his "destiny" or "walkabout".
Jack was unable to save his father. He was also picked on by bullies in
the schoolyard. -- Now Jack is saving everyone, but has also become a
bully in a way (like beating up Sawyer).
Sun was a quiet obedient wife back home. -- Now she is forming her own
idenity and challenging the will of her husband.
Charlie was a drug-addict. He was also ignored. -- Now he is a hero (by
saving Jack)and helping Claire with her pregnancy. Charlie also isn't
a drug addict anymore (with Locke's help).
Sawyer was a thief who stole from ignorant families. -- Now he is a self-loathing
man who is trying to change his life (I think).
I'm still trying to figure out Sayid.
---
Also, another interesting tidbit I found when re-watching the episodes.
Each time they start to hear something in the trees, they start to run
and always run into something that will end up shaping their characters.
Michael -- ran into Sun. Now they are developing a romance.
Jack -- ran into the caves and his "dad". Now they are at the
caves, which ended up caving in and giving Charlie a chance to become
a hero. o_O
Sawyer -- ran into Boone going through his things. He then beat him up
and got tortured, which helped his character's development.
Sayid -- I think we will find out the next episode, since he started hearing
things in "Solitary".
---
And I think dichotomy is the right term...
dichotomy
\Di*chot"o*my\, n. [Gr. ?, fr. ?: cf. F. dichotomie. See Dichotomous.]
1. A cutting in two; a division. A general breach or dichotomy with their church. --Sir T. Browne.
2. Division or distribution of genera into two species; division into
two subordinate parts.
3. (Astron.) That phase of the moon in which it appears bisected, or shows
only half its disk, as at the quadratures.
4. (Biol.) Successive division and subdivision, as of a stem of a plant
or a vein of the body, into two parts as it proceeds from its origin;
successive bifurcation.
5. The place where a stem or vein is forked.
6. (Logic) Division into two; especially, the division of a class into
two subclasses opposed to each other by contradiction, as the division
of the term man into white and not white.
Spirit Shards
Spirit Shards, you are correct. This point has been made in several threads, but I like the important addition that whenever a character has some significant enounter in the forest her or she experiences profound personal growth. When used as a comparative, dichotomy expresses a state of affairs, such that Sayid, say, experiences a dichotomy between his former identity as a ruthless officer of the Republican Guard and his current more pluralistic and compassionate outlook. When used to describe such a state, dichotomy usually implies a point where such an opposition can be clearly seen.
drabauer