Monkey Sonatas

ORSON SCOTT CARD.

MONKEY SONATAS.

INTRODUCTION.

I DON"T BELIEVE IN DON"T BELIEVE IN the "collective unconscious," not in the Jungian way I"ve seen it used. But I do believe that it is in large part through shared stories that communities create themselves and bind themselves together. the "collective unconscious," not in the Jungian way I"ve seen it used. But I do believe that it is in large part through shared stories that communities create themselves and bind themselves together.

It begins with the way we establish our ident.i.ty, which is intimately tied to our discovery of causality. All of nature relies on mechanical causation: Stimulus A A causes response causes response B B. But almost as soon as we acquire language, we are taught an entirely different system: purposive causation, in which a person engaged in behavior B B in order to accomplish result in order to accomplish result A A. Never mind that it was X X and and Y Y, not A A, that resulted. When it comes to evaluating human behavior, we quickly learn that it is the story we believe about a person"s purpose purpose that counts most. that counts most.

You know the phrases of moral evaluation: "Why did you do that?" "I didn"t mean to." "I was just trying to surprise you." "Do you want me to be humiliated in front of everybody?" "I don"t work my fingers to the bone so you can go out and..." All of these sentences contain or invite stories; it is the stories we believe about our behavior that give them their moral value. Even the cruelest or weakest among us must find stories that excuse-or even enn.o.ble-their own character flaws. On the day I"m writing this, the mayor of a major American city, arrested for using cocaine, actually stood before the cameras and said, in effect, "I guess I"ve just been working so hard serving the people that I didn"t have time to take care of my own needs." What a story-smoking crack as an altruistic, selfless endeavor. The point is not whether the story is true; the point is that all human beings engage in storytelling about themselves, creating the story they want to believe about themselves, the story they actually believe about themselves, the story they want others others to believe about them, the stories they believe about others, and the stories that they are afraid to believe about them, the stories they believe about others, and the stories that they are afraid might might be true about themselves and others. be true about themselves and others.

Our very ident.i.ty is a collection of the stories we have come to believe about ourselves. We are bombarded with the stories of others about us; even our memories of our own lives are filtered through the stories we have constructed to interpret those past events. We revise our ident.i.ty by revising our self-story. Traditional psychotherapies rely heavily on this process: You thought thought you were trying to do you were trying to do X X, but in fact your unconscious purpose was Y Y. Ah, now I understand myself! But I think not-I think that in the moment of believing the new story you simply revised revised your ident.i.ty. I am no longer a person who tries to do your ident.i.ty. I am no longer a person who tries to do X X. I am a person who was being driven to do Y Y, without even realizing it. You remain the same person, who performed the same acts. Only the story has been changed.

All this deals with individual ident.i.ties, and the tragedy of the individual is that the true cause of his behavior remains forever unknowable. And if we cannot know ourselves, true understanding of any other human being is permanently out of reach. Other people"s behavior must be, in that case, completely unpredictable. And yet no human community could ever exist if we had no mechanism to enable us to feel safe in trusting other people"s behavior to follow certain predictable patterns. And these predictable patterns can"t arise solely from personal experience-we must know, with some certainty, before before we have observed another member of the community for any length of time, what he or she is likely to do in most situations. we have observed another member of the community for any length of time, what he or she is likely to do in most situations.

There are two kinds of stories that not only give us the illusion of understanding other people"s behavior, but also go a long way toward making that illusion true. Each community has its own epic: a complex of stories about what it means to be a member of that community. These stories can arise from shared experience: Have you ever heard two Catholics reminisce about catechism or being taught in Catholic school by nuns? Or they can arise from what is perceived to be a common heritage, spreading a sense of community ident.i.ty across s.p.a.ce and time. Thus it is that Americans feel there is nothing incongruous about referring to Washington as "our" first president, even though no living American was present for his administration and most Americans have precious few ancestors who lived here during that time. Thus it is that an American living in Los Angeles can hear of something that happened in Springfield, Illinois, or Springfield, Ma.s.sachusetts, and say, "Only here in America..."

Of course, membership in communities is never absolute. The same person could just as easily say, "We sure aren"t like that here in California" or "here in L.A.," thus a.s.serting the epic of another community. But the more important a community is to us, the more power its stories have in forming our view of the world-and in shaping our own behavior. I don"t think my children are the only ones who"ve heard prescriptive epic stories like this one: "I don"t care what other people"s children do. In our our family we..." Every community"s epic includes shibboleth stories-stories that define what members do and do not do. "No good Baptist would ever..." "...just like a true American." And the stories that define a person"s individual ident.i.ty are often interpreted by the role that person plays within the community. "You make us all so proud of you, son." "An outstanding role model for young--s." "I just wish other young people would be more like you." "I hope you"re proud of the example you"re setting for the other kids." "Now everybody"s going to think all us blacks/Rotarians/Jews/Americans are like you!" Thus we not only are defined by the epic stories of the communities we belong to, but also help revise the community"s epic stories by our behavior. (If I were going into this in detail, I"d talk about the role of outsiders in shaping a community"s epic, and also about negative epic. But this is an essay, not a book in itself.) family we..." Every community"s epic includes shibboleth stories-stories that define what members do and do not do. "No good Baptist would ever..." "...just like a true American." And the stories that define a person"s individual ident.i.ty are often interpreted by the role that person plays within the community. "You make us all so proud of you, son." "An outstanding role model for young--s." "I just wish other young people would be more like you." "I hope you"re proud of the example you"re setting for the other kids." "Now everybody"s going to think all us blacks/Rotarians/Jews/Americans are like you!" Thus we not only are defined by the epic stories of the communities we belong to, but also help revise the community"s epic stories by our behavior. (If I were going into this in detail, I"d talk about the role of outsiders in shaping a community"s epic, and also about negative epic. But this is an essay, not a book in itself.) The second category of story that shapes human behavior so that we can live together is not perceived as being tied to a particular community. It is mythic; those who believe in the story believe that it defines the way human beings human beings behave. These stories are not really about how this character or that character behaved in a certain situation. They are about how behave. These stories are not really about how this character or that character behaved in a certain situation. They are about how people people behave in such situations. behave in such situations.

All storytelling contains elements of the particular, the epic, and the mythic. Fiction and scripture are both uniquely suited to telling mythic tales, however, because by definition fiction is not not tied to particular people in the real world, and by definition scripture is perceived by its believers to be the universal truth rather than being merely and particularly true, the way history is usually received. That fiction and scripture are also inevitably epic, reflecting values and a.s.sumptions of the community out of which they arose, is true but not terribly important, for their audience tied to particular people in the real world, and by definition scripture is perceived by its believers to be the universal truth rather than being merely and particularly true, the way history is usually received. That fiction and scripture are also inevitably epic, reflecting values and a.s.sumptions of the community out of which they arose, is true but not terribly important, for their audience believes believes mythic stories to be universal and, over time, comes to behave as if they mythic stories to be universal and, over time, comes to behave as if they were were universal. universal.

But fiction is not all equally mythic. Some fiction is quite particular, tied to a time and place and even characters in the real world. Thus historical fiction or contemporary realistic fiction with a strong sense of place can lead the reader to say, "Those people certainly were/are strange," rather than the more mythic response, "People certainly are strange," or the even more mythic response, "I never knew people were like that," or the ultimate mythic response, "Yes, that"s how people are."

It might seem then that fiction becomes more mythic as it is divorced from identifiable real-world patterns, but it is not really the disconnection from reality that makes fiction mythic-if that were so, our myths would all be of madmen. Rather a story becomes more mythic as it connects to things that transcend reality. Tolkien"s Middle Earth is so thoroughly created in The Lord of the Rings The Lord of the Rings that the wealth of detail makes readers feel as though they had visited in a real place; but it is a place where human behavior takes on enormous importance, so that moral issues (the goodness or evil of a person"s choices and actions) and causal issues (why things happen; the way the world works) take on far greater clarity. We find in Aragorn, not just that he is n.o.ble, but n.o.bility. We find in Frodo, not just that he is willing to bear a difficult burden, but Acceptance. And Samwise is not just a faithful servant, but also the personification of Service. that the wealth of detail makes readers feel as though they had visited in a real place; but it is a place where human behavior takes on enormous importance, so that moral issues (the goodness or evil of a person"s choices and actions) and causal issues (why things happen; the way the world works) take on far greater clarity. We find in Aragorn, not just that he is n.o.ble, but n.o.bility. We find in Frodo, not just that he is willing to bear a difficult burden, but Acceptance. And Samwise is not just a faithful servant, but also the personification of Service.

Thus it is in fantasy that we can most easily explore, not human behaviors, but Humanity. And in exploring it, we also define it; and in defining, invent it. Those of us who have received a story and believed in its truth (even if we don"t believe in its factuality) carry those memories inside us and, if we care enough about the tale, act out the script it provides us. Because I remember standing at the Cracks of Doom, and because I remember experiencing it through Sam Gamgee"s eyes, I clearly remember seeing that those who reach for power are possessed by it, and if they are not utterly destroyed by it, they lose part of themselves in getting free. I doubt that in crucial situations I"ll summon up the memory of Lord of the Rings Lord of the Rings and consciously use it as a guide to my behavior-who has time for such involved mental processes when a choice is urgent, anyway? But unconsciously I remember being a person who made certain choices, and at that unconscious level I don"t believe that I-or anyone-distinguishes between personal and community memories. They are all stories, and we act out the ones we believe in and care about most, the ones that have become part of us. and consciously use it as a guide to my behavior-who has time for such involved mental processes when a choice is urgent, anyway? But unconsciously I remember being a person who made certain choices, and at that unconscious level I don"t believe that I-or anyone-distinguishes between personal and community memories. They are all stories, and we act out the ones we believe in and care about most, the ones that have become part of us.

While I have been speaking about what fantasy can can be-a particularly powerful source of mythic stories-it is worth pointing out that most fantasy, like most other kinds of fiction, doesn"t live up to its potential. Furthermore, because it is to be received and acted upon unconsciously, the most successful fantasy is not often that which be-a particularly powerful source of mythic stories-it is worth pointing out that most fantasy, like most other kinds of fiction, doesn"t live up to its potential. Furthermore, because it is to be received and acted upon unconsciously, the most successful fantasy is not often that which looks looks most mythic; often the most powerful fantasies are those that seem to be very realistic and particular. I think this is part of the reason that Tolkien shunned allegory. Consciously figured storytelling is received intellectually; it is never as powerful as stories whose symbols and figures-whose mythic connections-are received unconsciously. And I"ve come to believe that the most successful mythic writing is that storytelling in which the author was unconscious of his or her most powerful mythic elements. most mythic; often the most powerful fantasies are those that seem to be very realistic and particular. I think this is part of the reason that Tolkien shunned allegory. Consciously figured storytelling is received intellectually; it is never as powerful as stories whose symbols and figures-whose mythic connections-are received unconsciously. And I"ve come to believe that the most successful mythic writing is that storytelling in which the author was unconscious of his or her most powerful mythic elements.

So, while the best fantasy will have a powerful mythic effect, the most successful fantasists are not those who set out to write myth. Rather, the best fantasies come, I think, from storytellers who strive to create a particular story very well-but who use settings and events that give great freedom to their imagination, so that mythic elements can arise from their unconscious and play a strong role in the story. A fantasist who works from a deliberate plan will almost never achieve as much as the fantasist who is constantly surprised by the best moments in his or her stories.

You can see, then, that I"m not defining fantasy fantasy the way the word is used in contemporary publishing. When publishers speak of the way the word is used in contemporary publishing. When publishers speak of fantasy fantasy they generally mean stories set in a kind of pseudo-medieval world in which some kind of magic plays a role. Certainly good mythic fantasy can still be written in that kind of setting; but since such a world has been a staple of romance since before Chaucer, one can hardly credit most authors who work in it with having allowed their imagination to play a large role in their writing. Most such "fantasists" tuck their imagination away somewhere before they enter the mythic marketplace; they have come to buy, not to sell. they generally mean stories set in a kind of pseudo-medieval world in which some kind of magic plays a role. Certainly good mythic fantasy can still be written in that kind of setting; but since such a world has been a staple of romance since before Chaucer, one can hardly credit most authors who work in it with having allowed their imagination to play a large role in their writing. Most such "fantasists" tuck their imagination away somewhere before they enter the mythic marketplace; they have come to buy, not to sell.

It"s worth pointing out that works of derivative fantasists often sell very well; there is a large audience that buys fantasy in order to have their preexisting vision of The Way Things Work reaffirmed. And some quite brilliant fantasists remain obscure, because their mythic universe is so challenging that few readers are happy to dwell in it. But when a fantasist imagines well-and writes evocatively-many people drink in the story as if it were water, and their lives till then a vast desert in which they wandered without ever realizing how much they thirsted.

The real fantasists are not content to echo other writers" myths. They must discover their own. They venture into the most dangerous, uncharted places in the human soul, where existing stories don"t yet explain what people think and feel and do. In that frightening place they find a mirror that lets them glimpse a true image. Then they return and hold up the mirror, and unlike mirrors in the real world, this one holds the storyteller"s image for just a fleeting moment, just long enough for us also to glimpse the long-shadowed soul that brightly lingers there. In that moment we make the mythic connection; for that moment we are are another person; and we carry that rare and precious understanding with us until we die. another person; and we carry that rare and precious understanding with us until we die.

And what am I? Like most who attempt fantasy, I imagine that I am doing true Imagining; like most, I am usually echoing other people"s visions. There"s always the hope, though, that at least some readers will dip into the old dry well and find new water there, seeped in from an undiscovered spring.

UNACCOMPANIED S SONATA.

TUNING UP.

WHEN C CHRISTIAN H HAROLDSEN was six months old, preliminary tests showed a predisposition toward rhythm and a keen awareness of pitch. There were other tests, of course, and many possible routes still open to him. But rhythm and pitch were the governing signs of his own private zodiac, and already the reinforcement began. Mr. and Mrs. Haroldsen were provided with tapes of many kinds of sound, and instructed to play them constantly, waking or sleeping. was six months old, preliminary tests showed a predisposition toward rhythm and a keen awareness of pitch. There were other tests, of course, and many possible routes still open to him. But rhythm and pitch were the governing signs of his own private zodiac, and already the reinforcement began. Mr. and Mrs. Haroldsen were provided with tapes of many kinds of sound, and instructed to play them constantly, waking or sleeping.

When Christian Haroldsen was two years old, his seventh battery of tests pinpointed the future he would inevitably follow. His creativity was exceptional, his curiosity insatiable, his understanding of music so intense that the top of all the tests said "Prodigy."

Prodigy was the word that took him from his parents" home to a house in a deep deciduous forest where winter was savage and violent and summer a brief desperate eruption of green. He grew up cared for by unsinging servants, and the only music he was allowed to hear was birdsong, and windsong, and the cracking of winter wood; thunder, and the faint cry of golden leaves as they broke free and tumbled to the earth; rain on the roof and the drip of water from icicles; the chatter of squirrels and the deep silence of snow falling on a moonless night. was the word that took him from his parents" home to a house in a deep deciduous forest where winter was savage and violent and summer a brief desperate eruption of green. He grew up cared for by unsinging servants, and the only music he was allowed to hear was birdsong, and windsong, and the cracking of winter wood; thunder, and the faint cry of golden leaves as they broke free and tumbled to the earth; rain on the roof and the drip of water from icicles; the chatter of squirrels and the deep silence of snow falling on a moonless night.

These sounds were Christian"s only conscious music; he grew up with the symphonies of his early years only a distant and impossible-to-retrieve memory. And so he learned to hear music in unmusical things-for he had to find music, even when there was none to find.

He found that colors made sounds in his mind; sunlight in summer a blaring chord; moonlight in winter a thin mournful wail; new green in spring a low murmur in almost (but not quite) random rhythms; the flash of a red fox in the leaves a gasp of startlement.

And he learned to play all those sounds on his Instrument.

In the world were violins, trumpets, clarinets and krumhorns, as there had been for centuries. Christian knew nothing of that. Only his Instrument was available. It was enough.

One room in Christian"s house, which he had alone most of the time, he lived in: a bed (not too soft), a chair and table, a silent machine that cleaned him and his clothing, and an electric light.

The other room contained only his Instrument. It was a console with many keys and strips and levers and bars, and when he touched any part of it, a sound came out. Every key made a different sound; every point on the strips made a different pitch; every lever modified the tone; every bar altered the structure of the sound.

When he first came to the house, Christian played (as children will) with the Instrument, making strange and funny noises. It was his only playmate; he learned it well, could produce any sound he wanted to. At first he delighted in loud, blaring tones. Later he began to play with soft and loud, and to play two sounds at once, and to change those two sounds together to make a new sound, and to play again a sequence of sounds he had played before.

Gradually, the sounds of the forest outside his house found their way into the music he played. He learned to make winds sing through his Instrument; he learned to make summer one of the songs he could play at will; green with its infinite variations was his most subtle harmony; the birds cried out from his Instrument with all the pa.s.sion of Christian"s loneliness.

And the word spread to the licensed Listeners: "There"s a new sound north of here, east of here; Christian Haroldsen, and he"ll tear out your heart with his songs."

The Listeners came, a few to whom variety was everything first, then those to whom novelty and vogue mattered most, and at last those who valued beauty and pa.s.sion above everything else. They came, and stayed out in Christian"s woods, and listened as his music was played through perfect speakers on the roof of his house. When the music stopped, and Christian came out of his house, he could see the Listeners moving away; he asked, and was told why they came; he marveled that the things he did for love on his Instrument could be of interest to other people.

He felt, strangely, even more lonely to know that he could sing to the Listeners and yet would never be able to hear their songs.

"But they have no songs," said the woman who came to bring him food every day. "They are Listeners. You are a Maker. You have songs, and they listen."

"Why?" asked Christian, innocently.

The woman looked puzzled. "Because that"s what they want most to do. They"ve been tested, and they are happiest as Listeners. You are happiest as a Maker. Aren"t you happy?"

"Yes," Christian answered, and he was telling the truth. His life was perfect, and he wouldn"t change anything, not even the sweet sadness of the backs of the Listeners as they walked away at the end of his songs.

Christian was seven years old.

FIRST MOVEMENT.

For the third time the short man with gla.s.ses and a strangely inappropriate mustache dared to wait in the underbrush for Christian to come out. For the third time he was overcome by the beauty of the song that had just ended, a mournful symphony that made the short man with gla.s.ses feel the pressure of the leaves above him even though it was summer and they had months left before they would fall. The fall is still inevitable, said Christian"s song; through all their life the leaves hold within them the power to die, and that must color their life. The short man with gla.s.ses wept-but when the song ended and the other Listeners moved away, he hid in the brush and waited.

This time his wait was rewarded. Christian came out of his house, and walked among the trees, and came toward where the short man with gla.s.ses waited. The short man admired the easy, unpostured way that Christian walked. The composer looked to be about thirty, yet there was something childish in the way he looked around him, the way his walk was aimless, and p.r.o.ne to stop just so he could touch (not break) a fallen twig with his bare toes.

"Christian," said the short man with gla.s.ses.

Christian turned, startled. In all these years, no Listener had ever spoken to him. It was forbidden. Christian knew the law.

"It"s forbidden," Christian said.

"Here," the short man with gla.s.ses said, holding out a small black object.

"What is it?"

The short man grimaced. "Just take it. Push the b.u.t.ton and it plays."

"Plays?"

"Music."

Christian"s eyes went wide. "But that"s forbidden. I can"t have my creativity polluted by hearing other musicians" work. That would make me imitative and derivative instead of original."

"Reciting," the man said. "You"re just reciting that. This is the music of Bach." There was reverence in his voice.

"I can"t," Christian said.

And then the short man shook his head. "You don"t know. You don"t know what you"re missing. But I heard it in your song when I came here years ago, Christian. You want this."

"It"s forbidden," Christian answered, for to him the very fact that a man who knew an act was forbidden still wanted to perform it was astounding, and he couldn"t get past the novelty of it to realize that some action was expected of him.

There were footsteps and words being spoken in the distance, and the short man"s face became frightened. He ran at Christian, forced the recorder into his hands, then took off toward the gate of the preserve.

Christian took the recorder and held it in a spot of sunlight through the leaves. It gleamed dully. "Bach," Christian said. Then, "Who is Bach?"

But he didn"t throw the recorder down. Nor did he give the recorder to the woman who came to ask him what the short man with gla.s.ses had stayed for. "He stayed for at least ten minutes."

"I only saw him for thirty seconds," Christian answered.

"And?"

"He wanted me to hear some other music. He had a recorder."

"Did he give it to you?"

"No," Christian said. "Doesn"t he still have it?"

"He must have dropped it in the woods."

"He said it was Bach."

"It"s forbidden. That"s all you need to know. If you should find the recorder, Christian, you know the law."

"I"ll give it to you."

She looked at him carefully. "You know what would happen if you listened to such a thing."

Christian nodded.

"Very well. We"ll be looking for it, too. I"ll see you tomorrow, Christian. And next time somebody stays after, don"t talk to him. Just come back in the house and lock the doors."

"I"ll do that," Christian said.

When she left, he played his Instrument for hours. More Listeners came, and those who had heard Christian before were surprised at the confusion in his song.

There was a summer rainstorm that night, wind and rain and thunder, and Christian found that he could not sleep. Not from the music of the weather-he"d slept through a thousand such storms. It was the recorder that lay behind the Instrument against the wall. Christian had lived for nearly thirty years surrounded only by this wild, beautiful place and the music he himself made. But now.

Now he could not stop wondering. Who was Bach? Who is is Bach? What is his music? How it is different from mine? Has he discovered things that I don"t know? Bach? What is his music? How it is different from mine? Has he discovered things that I don"t know?

What is his music?

What is his music?

What is his music?

Until at dawn, when the storm was abating and the wind had died, Christian got out of his bed, where he had not slept but only tossed back and forth all night, and took the recorder from its hiding place and played it.

At first it sounded strange, like noise, odd sounds that had nothing to do with the sounds of Christian"s life. But the patterns were clear, and by the end of the recording, which was not even a half-hour long, Christian had mastered the idea of fugue and the sound of the harpsichord preyed on his mind.

Yet he knew that if he let these things show up in his music, he would be discovered. So he did not try a fugue. He did not attempt to imitate the harpsichord"s sound.

And every night he listened to the recording, for many nights, learning more and more until finally the Watcher came.

The Watcher was blind, and a dog led him. He came to the door and because he was a Watcher the door opened for him without his even knocking.

"Christian Haroldsen, where is the recorder?" the Watcher asked.

"Recorder?" Christian asked, then knew it was hopeless, and took the machine and gave it to the Watcher.

"Oh, Christian," said the Watcher, and his voice was mild and sorrowful. "Why didn"t you turn it in without listening to it?"

"I meant to," Christian said. "But how did you know?"

"Because suddenly there are no fugues in your work. Suddenly your songs have lost the only Bach-like thing about them. And you"ve stopped experimenting with new sounds. What were you trying to avoid?"

"This," Christian said, and he sat down and on his first try duplicated the sound of the harpsichord.

"Yet you"ve never tried to do that until now, have you?"

"I thought you"d notice."

"Fugues and harpsichord, the two things you noticed first-and the only things you didn"t absorb into your music. All your other songs for these last weeks have been tinted and colored and influenced by Bach. Except that there was no fugue, and there was no harpsichord. You have broken the law. You were put here because you were a genius, creating new things with only nature for your inspiration. Now, of course, you"re derivative, and truly new creation is impossible for you. You"ll have to leave."

"I know," Christian said, afraid yet not really understanding what life outside his house would be like.

"We"ll train you for the kinds of jobs you can pursue now. You won"t starve. You won"t die of boredom. But because you broke the law, one thing is forbidden to you now."

"Music."