The Foreward to TPOTT: What does it mean?

[Reed]

Foreword

I would like to thank the sisters of the Saint John Chapter in Alexandria, Virginia for their support in my decision.

By the grace of God, they are:

Sister Eleanor Lewis
Sister Francesca Godard
Sister Helen Davis
Sister Catherine Arnold
Sister Mary Lee Pond
Sister Virginia Wessex

This intent of this book is for it to be used as a simple and direct guide in a time of great danger.

I pray that this is merely a work of fiction.

If it is not, then I pray for you, the reader of this book.

If I am still alive when the events foretold in these pages occur, then I hope that you will find me before it is too late.

Roberta Ann Sparrow
October, 1944

So what does this mean? How is Roberta Sparrow tied n to the movie? Apparently, she wrote the book specifically for Donnie, and spent the rest of her life waiting for him to contact her. eventually he does, although they never speak.

She was a nun who left the church and wrote this book. She was obviously conflicted in her decision to leave the church, and sought the advice and guidance of her peers.

Was this a holy task given to her by God? Was Grandma Death the answer to a prayer made 40 years hence?

I've never really figured Roberta into my scheme of things, but she's obviously critical to the story. Any thoughts?

[Omnipotent]

Well it's a popular belief that she was once in Donnie's shoes as a living receiver herself but it's up to speculation.

[Reedx]

Omnipotent said:

Well it's a popular belief that she was once in Donnie's shoes as a living receiver herself but it's up to speculation.

But if that were the case, she wouldn't pray that her book was a work of fiction, now would she? She'd know it was not.

[rightfielder21]

Guest-Reedx said:

But if that were the case, she wouldn't pray that her book was a work of fiction, now would she? She'd know it was not.

Agreed.... I am one of those who don't believe she was a LR....

BTW, I'm back, if you didn't realize already... ;D What I miss?

[versusthemirror]

Guest-Reedx said:

But if that were the case, she wouldn't pray that her book was a work of fiction, now would she? She'd know it was not.

well of course "she" wouldn't pray that her book was a work of fiction, donnie is the one that prayed that it was a work of fiction. because if she was a LR before then he is where she used to be and im sure had a LR written the philosopy before sparrow...sparrow would think exactly what donnie thought

[Reed]

versusthemirror said:

well of course "she" wouldn't pray that her book was a work of fiction, donnie is the one that prayed that it was a work of fiction.

But she's the one that wrote the forward to the book. (shown above)

[ProvidencePortal]

Yours is a good point, Reed. While the idea that Sparrow was once an LR is purely speculation to fill a void in the story for the forumers here, I think it's an interesting enough story to try to defend. We believe from the PoTT that people revived from the TU have hazy, dream-like memories of their experiences. Could it be that, upon waking and refusing the fated conclusion of her LR cycle, she went on to live out her life with bizarre recollections of another world in her head ... dream-like, nearly forgotten, but there all the same. And might she then have written the book -- maybe even just to get those things out her head -- all the while hoping that those images and ideas were really just a phantasm, and not, as she came to worry through the years, a memory of this "TU" she couldn't stop thinking about?

Maybe a stretch, but maybe it works anyway.

[josh]

Perhaps the reference to praying has to do with the fact that individuals in the tangential universe are real people with souls. As such the conundrum lies in the fact that if people are in the alternate universe are real, the intent is to end the lives of all people existant in that universe.

While the paradigm of doing the best for the most people is a logical argument, religious beliefs are often less pragmatic. People in the tangential universe should have equal value as those in the real universe. If the goal of the Living Receiver is to end the tangential universe, countless lives will be lost. Would this be benevolent murder?

If the Living Receiver is successful, no evidence should remain that a tangential universe even existed and therefore there is hope that the possiblity that neither tangential universes (sp) actually exist nor the "need" to end a tangential universe and all its inhabitants.

[ProvidencePortal]

Great post, Josh. Very compelling, and it reminded me of something that's rolled around on the edge of my thinking recently, but which I haven't really articulated. For me, the question of "does the ending of the TU kill billions of 'alternate' people" becomes, are there billions of people in the TU ... or, rather, is the TU really a full universe, completely mirroring the PU?

Maybe not. I believe the texts -- the movie, the PoTT the commentaries suggest the following:
1) the "corruption," which manifests itself as a wormhole, appears at random in the PU
2) the Living Receiver is chosen in part (small, large or completely) based on his/her proximity to the corruption
3) the people close to the corruption (including the LR) are transported to the TU in some way (we've thought it's likely they travel mentally or spiritually, rather than physically)
4) the LR process is executed -- MLs, MD, Ensurance Trap, the rest
4) when the TU is ending, everyone is transported back to the PU -- the TU "unwinds," according to Kelly

So, what if the only people in the TU are the people transported there as part of the LR cycle? Might it be that there's a certain radius around the PU manifestation of the corruption, within which everyone is subject to transport to the TU ... but outside of which, nothing changes?

Were this true, it would mean no one actually dies (LR excluded) as a result of the TU/LR cycle. The corruption occurs, everyone "near" it in the PU (with near being an indeterminate distance ... maybe a few miles?) is transported to the TU, where they have their eye-blink length experience and are immediately sent back as the LR concludes his/her task. Under this interpretation, it's as though a certain spot on earth -- the place nearest the 4th dimensional rift -- is mirrored in another dimension ... but only as a setting for people from the PU to be moved, act out their play, and then go back home. Then, the setting disappears and all's right in the "real" world.

Plenty of holes in the proposal, I'm sure. The first that sticks out to me is: what if someone travelled to the edge of that transport radius in the TU -- what would they find? The evidence is circumstantial, but no one travels outside that immediate radius in the TU, do they? We see air traffic, but not coming or going from somewhere else. We do see Rose calling from the airport ... but is she far away? At least one explanation presents itself that fits the mythos (but isn't much fun): no one would ever go to those boundaries, because everyone is "Manipulated Living" and their behavior is being inluenced to positively impact the outcome of the LR cycle. If we have a omnipotent power controlling -- or at least nudging -- the actions of the folks in the TU, it seems reasonable that that power would influence the movements of the ML so they never go beyond the boundaries of the space from which they were transported.

[Elwood]

Prov, I think that first hole you pointed out is a big one. Even if no one traveled outside the small radius bubble, what about communication with the outside world? Wouldn't it seem odd that no one gets any mail or phone calls from outside the radius for 28 days? What about TV signals? Isn't CNN going to disappear ? Plus, when Rose is calling from airport she's finished with "Star Search", and is taking the red-eye back from LA. So the radius would have to include Virgina to California.

My sense is that there are no "alternate" people in the TU. The people in the TU and PU are the same people. I've thought of the TU more like a Tangent Path, then any kind of duplicate universe (no matter how short lived). One way I've thought about it is that God has some sort of world path for the entire universe to follow, analogous to the individual future-paths we see Donnie visualizing. Then the corruption occurs, and the entire universe gets shifted off God's intended direction onto a Tangent Path. Imagine train tracks heading on indefinitely, with a switch and branch coming up suddenly to the side. The switch is somehow turned on (corruption), and the train and passengers (universe with people) accidentally take the wrong path, plummeting to their deaths when this "wrong" track ends at a cliff 28 days later.

The process of unwinding the TU is like the train being swiftly pulled back to the point of the switch, the switch being reset and the train continuing on the original, straight path. The TU is unwound, and the PU continues on the path God had set for it.

In some sense I guess I'm saying there really is just one universe - sometimes it is properly thought of as a TU (when a corruption has occurred), and sometimes it's properly thought of as the PU (both before the corruption, and after the LR's task is done). If the LR fails and the TU is destroyed, the PU is also of necessity destroyed (as in the PoTT), since the actual "stuff" of the universe, including people, has been lost in the TU and can't be returned to continue as the PU.

Whew! Hope that was a little clear. What do you think?

[mooseboy]

On another point about the Foreword, has anyone noticed:

One of the nuns she thanks for her help is FRANCESCA GODARD.

Francesca is the female variant of "Frank".

Godard begins with "God".

Could Roberta & her colleagues have experienced their own Universe-collapse, in which Francesca was the "Frank" role? It would make even more sense when tied in to Frank the Bunny in the theater saying that his father and father's father were named Frank also.

[Omnipotent]

Guest-mooseboy said:

On another point about the Foreword, has anyone noticed:

One of the nuns she thanks for her help is FRANCESCA GODARD.

Francesca is the female variant of "Frank".

Godard begins with "God".

Could Roberta & her colleagues have experienced their own Universe-collapse, in which Francesca was the "Frank" role? It would make even more sense when tied in to Frank the Bunny in the theater saying that his father and father's father were named Frank also.

A very original and interesting thought.

Bravo

[Madridarko]

Reed, you have found an interesting point, I also somewhat am skeptical of the theory of Roberta being once a living reiciver, but I finally gave up when I had not arguement to stand my ground on. It is speculated around, (there are few posts on this subject about Sparrow being once a LR and about how if LR have a choice to die or not) that Roberta Sparrow had once been a LR and that after her mission(closing the TU) was completed, (we belive that every LR has a choice either to die or not as in Donnie case he died, he could have eislily stood up and survived the crash) she decided to survive and that in turn she lived a life how she did as a social recluse and crazy waiting for Donnie (the next LR). So she wrotte the book and she is the only one who clearly remembers the TU and everybody either erases it off their mind or just remember it as a hazy dream. So Roberta goes crazy to the point that she does not recognize any longer if her experience was a dillusion of her mind or it really happened hence she writtes the book saying I hope this is a work of fiction. She herself did not know any longer if it had actually happened. So there that is a possible explanation that goes along with the theory. Enjoy!

[Liansky]

I don't know about you guys, but i freel that this whole TPOTT is merely a gimmick thrown together to feed the whole DD frenzy. Take into consideration Roberta's sudden departure from the church, and her sudden interest in Science. This is a women who has lost her faith as a result of logical thought. There is nothing to suggest that she kept her faith. In fact, her madness and seclusion only goes further in explaining her seperation from the church.

The first thing that really struck me is that she began the book like a nun, thanking a nun who belongs to a Catholic doctrine. No nun would want their names to be included in a document that would most certainly be condemned as heresy by the church. In fact, i am quite sure that the nun being thanked would have been summoned by the Vatican to explain her connection to this book, after which a call would be made to Roberta saying that legal steps would be taken if the introduction is not modified.
You must remembered that this is the very church that burned women at the stake for hundreds of years, just cause they could.

[Madridarko]

Liansky, you must also remember that those witch-trial burnings happened some hundreds of years before the movie takes place. You do make an interisting point in saying that for writting this book, they will in a sort of way for lack of better phrase "get in trouble", but the only linkage between POTT and religion, besides the fact that it was written by an ex-nun, was the begenning in which she mentioned that she prays to god that all this is a work of fiction and bless my sisters.....etc.

Besides that, there is no other visible religious approach.

There is no exact evidence wether or not she kept her faith in the church even after seperating from it. She could have still remained strong to her faith or maybe not. We are not sure of the evidence for or against that.

I don't think that this book would be condemnd by heresy at all, as I said before, it does not have an appearent religioush approach and thus does not go against any of the religious doctrines. Again besides the fact that it seems awkward the fact that a nun wrotte it. So I personally would not be afraid of anything if I was one of those sisters. If the church was to condemn this book as heresy, they might as well also any other book that is published or written that does not pertain to religion.