xf_book_club | Story 10: "Oyster" by Jordan

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Story 10: "Oyster" by Jordan

I read this story last week after it was recced over at

rivkat, as having a strong Scully characterization. I liked it. I did. But I don't think I really understood it. Maybe someone can give me a hand with that.

Here is what the author has to say:
Title: Oyster
Author: Jordan
Category:That's a good question. Skinner, Scully and Mulder. All rolled into one delicious shell.
Rating: no none under eighteen, I hope.
Spoilers: THIS FIC IS REQUIEM FREE.
Summary: Scully gets laid but it is actually integral to the plot.

Oyster

Let us know what you think; let the author know what you think; and please, let us know your suggestions for next time.

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So many things to say about this story, so little time. I don't have time to write a full essay now, so for now I'll offer a placeholder comment that I can come back to later. Here are my three thoughts...

1) Yay Skinner! There are so few stories where Skinner gets to do any investigating that his role in this story meant I was pulling for it from the start.

2) What lovely style. The vividness and the quasi-hallucinatory detail in the story makes me think of Penumbra's writing. Yes, that's a very big compliment.

3) In The X-Files we usually are given a binary choice between the natural and the supernatural. Science or ghosts and aliens, take your pick. Scully or Mulder. What I liked about this story in the end was the way that it offers what I view as a third option, the surreal and the mystical. It would never have done to replace "Requiem" in the series, but it was frankly refreshing to see the story arc taken in a completely different direction. It reminded me very much of the conclusion of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, only that this has fewer interminable special effects shots. Which is all to the good.

Confessions time: I do really wish that there was a Cliff's Notes version of this story. Still, we can but try. Onwards!

To start with, my feeling is that this story is functionally intended to replace Requiem. It explains how Scully comes to be pregnant and how Mulder disappears. Unlike Requiem, it links those two explanations. It picks up the idea of Mulder and Scully's child as The One, and runs with it, making the concept a lot more transcendent and mysterious than the simple one of his genetic material being somehow valuable for alien-colonization-fighting purposes.

The whole story is about something too big and deep to be expressed in human language and concepts. It suggests that symbols and metaphors are the only way to approach whatever is happening. The two phrases that are used over and over again are "oyster" and "a woman is a vessel." The author explains a little bit about oysters here (http://www.geocities.com/sandyjordan.geo/oysternotes.html). The key passage in the story (in my opinion) is this one, right at the end:

Never dreaming that Scully is only a vessel, or that in her vessel is the true thing, the Scullyessence, a pearl that every year with Mulder has irritated to growth until it shines like a star in the galaxies. Or that now within the flesh of her body the seed of another pearl has been placed, not reproduced, but created. They never seem to wonder that where true life comes from, the animation in the eyes, the tenderness in the heart, the goodness of the human spirit, even though they endlessly pontificate about genes and morality. Skinner has illustrated that they are all too horribly aware of the dichotomy between flesh and spirit, which seems to exist in everyone in near total opposition. It's that opposition, that irritation, that creates the human soul. A very inefficient road to evolution, but give them another million years or so and maybe they'll have come up with something.

Mulder knows. He has seen the spark of divinity in mankind, and he knows that if one magic exists, there must be others. When he finds his way back, will he remember how to speak, how to tell them? If he does, will anyone listen? Surely not without proof, without "physical" evidence. Scully won't, except maybe at the instant she holds that proof in her arms and looks down into its eyes for the first time and recognizes, however briefly, that she has witnessed a true miracle.

Scully is the oyster; Mulder is the sand; the baby is the pearl.

It seems that it's also worth making the analogy to the Christian story. Word become flesh, and all that. Equally mystical and inexplicable (in a good way). If the baby is Jesus, then Skinner is the Holy Spirit, the conduit for Mulder and for all the power beyond. It's a good role for Skinner. He's always been the third person in the trinity anyway, and the story is all about moving beyond the Mulder/Scully, natural/supernatural dichotomy and towards... well, towards something else. As I said in my comment above, I love the surreal and mystical aspects of the story.

If you've seen Star Trek: The Motion Picture, you'll remember the way that Decker and Ilia merge at the end, combining human and machine in order to create some sort of new being. This is like that, only with Mulder and Scully. And without the widescreen special effects.

So, what is the "I" in the story? Given that people are being abducted and dying, the initial assumption is that it's some sort of malevolent force. Clearly that isn't true. Is it an alien or other form of life, somehow trapped on Earth, found by Tracy Buckland during her archaeological dig, and at the end released in order to travel onwards? Probably. As for the "why" or "how," we really can't say. That's the point, isn't it? Given the use of the term "miracle," I guess that one could just as easily reference some form of higher power.

Or maybe it is all some crazy story dreamed up by Skinner to explain to Mulder how he happened to get Scully pregnant.

"Sure, I slept with your partner while you were missing. But it was some mystical miraculous type of deal, and anyway we both thought that I was you at the time...."

Edited 2008-02-18 22:40 (UTC)

Wow, this is great. I feel really amazed because you just expressed this so perfectly. Wow.

"Sure, I slept with your partner while you were missing. But it was some mystical miraculous type of deal, and anyway we both thought that I was you at the time...."

Are you like channeling Skinner, or what? You need to write more Skinner fic. Why don't you write that season eight Skinner looks for Mulder story that I keep thinking someone must have written, but haven't run into yet?

Okay. I will try hard to write a more coherent response than this. I'll get back to you.

I would much rather read other people's Skinnerfic, but (*sniff*) there isn't nearly enough of it. So you never know, I might step into the breach. What I really would want to read is a Skinner and Scully look for Mulder in season eight. Not sure that I could do justice to the concept as a writer, though.

Mulder, who has lived before in the mouth of madness, seems to have established some kind of sanctuary there. A calm inner place I haven't found in anyone else. Far from being made claustrophobic by the confinement of his own awareness, he has claimed this space for his own, hung paintings on the walls, arranged the furniture. And there he is now, putting together his own little puppet show, and all I can do, really, is watch, and wonder, and consider that he was well named Fox.

In her author's notes, Jordan states emphatically that "THIS FIC IS REQUIEM FREE." This is rather misleading. Oyster is a re-envisioning of the end of season seven and to some extent, season eight as well. The parallels are multiple and striking. In both stories there are deaths, and multiple abductions. There is an investigation in which Skinner, Scully and, of course, Mulder are all major players. Like all great western religious stories, Oyster takes place in the desert, in the modern day stand-in of Sodom and Gomorrah: Los Vegas. It is a land of waking dreams, endless heat and unquenchable thirsts. Instead of Scully fainting as happens in Requiem, we have Mulder continually zoning out and eventually disappearing altogether. Where does he go, and who, or what, has taken him? And for what purpose?

There is a narrative voice, who may be the author, or perhaps it is the alien entity responsible for the multiple abductions, who is trying to communicate through the limited consciousness of the people it takes. This is not a successful strategy, until it takes Mulder. Then something unexpected happens. Mulder figures out how to communicate with Scully and with Skinner. He somehow figures out a way to send them to rescue one of the abductees: Dr. Tracy Buckland. How does he do this? He goes deeper and deeper into the alien consciousness and sends out the missing persons one by one, all of whom have been trapped and inadvertently damaged by their encounters with the entity. Their minds are limited in a way that Mulder's is not.

But he can not save himself. Instead he takes over Skinner's body and uses it to make love to Scully, to give her the sexual pleasure and fertility that she sacrificed to be with him as his partner. "A woman is a vessel," says Tracy Buckland before they shoot her up with thorazine. Somehow this release of sexual energy, this intense union of the three into one, also releases the alien. Its ship is raised from the desert floor, and it leaves Earth far behind. But the alien cannot release Mulder without harming him in the process. Just as he is in "Dead/Alive," Mulder remains trapped between two worlds, "one foot in and one foot out." And so, "Mulder sits in the shade of the umbrella, watching the endless roll of the ocean. No rush. He drinks his tea, serene and thoughtful, waiting for the sound of human voices to call him home."

"Requiem" was the inspiration for many, many stories, and I believe that Oyster is among the best, and the most challenging. I loved its complex characterizations and its use of religious symbolism. It is a moving story of passion and sacrifice, which has much to teach us about transformation and the power of Love.

What a wonderful review! Working together, the two of us have summed this one up, I think.

Like all great western religious stories, Oyster takes place in the desert, in the modern day stand-in of Sodom and Gomorrah: Los Vegas. It is a land of waking dreams, endless heat and unquenchable thirsts.

Great point here. That's something I had missed.

And am I seeing things, or do you actually have an "Oyster" themed icon? Where did that come from, if I may ask?

Yes, it does seem appropriate doesn't it? I remembered seeing it back when I was going through the backlogs in the XF icon communities. Or maybe I was just snooping around her journal. It was made by

frey_at_last. I was hoping she might jump into the fray here (sorry) but I guess she is busy with school. She made a whole set that has "The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock," line by line on XF icons. This was mixed into that set, which I had book-marked. There is a lot of religious symbolism in this, much of which we already talked about. There are also other parallel scenes from Requiem, which I had to re-watch, by the way, in order to understand this story. It made me cry. Again. This discussion seemed like one to which she could have added an extra dimension, as a religious studies major.

Well, I guess we could wait a day or so, to see if anyone else has anything to add. I put a little nag, I mean, a little reminder in my journal about the reading. I am tempted to go friend everyone in the community so that I can nag them on a weekly basis. Can you tell I am the daughter of two school teachers? Also, If we could get everyone here to pin this community, then we might get more discussions going. I don't think everyone on LJ knows about that.

Oh, and thank you. I wouldn't have tried as hard if you hadn't written something so astoundingly, blindingly brilliant to start us out. I am surprised you didn't consider literature as a field. But maybe you were more drawn to the sciences initially? Now, I think I am going to go post that Dylan Thomas poem in

sacred_muse. Maybe in my journal, too.

Edited for typos. As usual.

Edited 2008-02-27 17:03 (UTC)

There is a lot of religious symbolism in this, much of which we already talked about. There are also other parallel scenes from Requiem, which I had to re-watch, by the way, in order to understand this story. It made me cry. Again. This discussion seemed like one to which she could have added an extra dimension, as a religious studies major.

You've worked harder at this than I did. I haven't seen Requiem in a while and so I think I missed most of the parallel scenes. As for the religious themes, I'm thinking that I should try to get

hadjie to read this and see if she can spot the themes that we missed. She's been talking about maybe trying some fanfic but hasn't done so yet. This might be a good starter story for her, even though it's a far from easy read! She's good at analysis.

I wouldn't have tried as hard if you hadn't written something so astoundingly, blindingly brilliant to start us out. I am surprised you didn't consider literature as a field. But maybe you were more drawn to the sciences initially?

Well, I don't know about brilliant. Analyzing something like this successfully seems to me to be a matter of just grabbing hold of it really firmly and then worrying it in your mind until you come up with something. Less intuition and more hard slog. Or possibly it's just that the intuition becomes automated the longer you practice it. I'm not all that used to analyzing literature but in some senses the basic idea is the same.

I did ponder literature briefly. I was interested in science during my early teen years and then went over to history. I thought of applying to Oxford to do Modern History and English, but finally settled on Modern History and Politics. My theory was that I could always enjoy reading novels and poetry, but that analyzing them to death might get old after a while as a primary occupation. I think I was right, at least as far as my own inclinations go.

I am not good at the hard slog, I guess. I have to wait for a flash of insight to hit. If it does, well, then I can write something, if it doesn't, then I am at a loss. (this is why I had no future as an academic) Your analysis just jump-started my brain, I guess. I watched "Requiem" because it worked before, when I was slogging my way through my third or fourth attempt at "Parabiosis." I had to watch all of season seven, that time. It did help.

I love the idea of

hadjie reading "Oyster." I am sure she would see more of the religious symbolism. I don't think you have to have seen "Requiem" to understand this story, although I do think it helps.

Edited 2008-03-05 05:20 (UTC)

Another one bites the dust! Finally got around to this.

I'm terrified this makes me sound shallow, but it was too much for me. I felt confused through most of it, and missing Mulder (besides the point). I didn't get who the narrator was, or where people were most of the time, and why they kept slipping in and out of consciousness. And this is probably the point, so you can draw your own conclusions, but I guess I like more firm and solid understanding laid out for me. I never did like poetry analysis in school, even if sometimes the insights were deep.

I don't know why, but reading

emily_shore's comment really set my brain free to puzzle my way though this. I really loved it my third time through. I had a terrible time with "Parabiosis," as well, which is everyone's all time fav. It took me three tries and re-watching all of season seven to get that one. So, shallow, no, not unless I am too.

I'm really impressed at how you've been reading your way through all of our back issues. :)

And I have to say that as much as I loved Oyster, I do think it's a pretty specialized taste. I found it hard going at times, and I *do* like poetry and ambiguity in fiction. The beauty of XF fic is that there's something there to please everyone, so there's no need to worry about things that you don't like.

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Story 10: "Oyster" by Jordan

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Even more spoilery thinky thoughts

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there is a saviour

rarer than radium, crueller than truth...

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