Ridley Walker
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Both the reader of Riddley Walker and the characters in the novel have a majority of there questions, and answers, all stemming back to the mythsstory. There are 6 myths told through-out the novel and three of them refer to the “Bad Times” (Nuclear Holocaust) suffered by
“Riddley’s learning begins where most learning begins- with
myths that attempt to explain how the world Time
Back Way Back is “Why the Dog Wont Show Its Eyes.” In it,
man, woman, and animal (the dog) live together in harmony
(Taylor 31).”
These Myths give the reader an insight into what did or may have happened before, during, and after the Nuclear Holocaust. Because these are the only insights into the past the reader must be very wary of what the story is actually saying and who is actually telling the story. All the myths are mixtures of reality and folklore that help the people of that time to get a very vague and many times flat-out wrong interpretation of the past.
“Throughout the narrative there are scattered interpolated
stories that combine folklore with bits of half-remembered
history. The most important of these is “The Eusa Story,” which
contains an allegorical explanation of the holocaust, the “1 Big
1.” To “Fyn That 1 Big 1,” Eusa was told by “Mr. Clevver” that he
first “mus fyn the Littl Shynin Man the Addom.” As the story
Some of these myths are taken from the past way before our time now in the twenty-first century. “The Legend of St. Eustace” for example, takes place in Rome which are used to tell new radical views on the Eusa story, express government view, or to teach some sort of spiritual lesson. The shows are directly modeled after the 300 year old English tradition of the “Punch and Judy puppet show”. In the Punch and Judy shows, Punch always ends up killing his wife (Judy), daughter, and any other puppet involved in the show. This set up of the play is the exact same set up that is used in the first myth that that we learned in Riddley walker “Hart of the Wood”. The coincidence that this 2500 year old play might take the form of a Myth used to explain the past to regular people in “In-Land”, is not a coincidence at all. It seems that this government called “Mincery” that rules over “In-land” could have more knowledge of the past and technology then seen at first glance. To have keen knowledge of a 16th century play,