High Weir - Samuel R. Delany

After coming to class and listening to the discussion, I went home and gave this story another chance. I really liked it! I took it to be an analogy to a common struggle in the search for identity. I think the fact the Rimkin is on Mars and that he is a linguist who seems to have an awful lot of communication problems, strengthens the idea that words cannot always be an adequate expression of our experiences. I think Samuel Delaney is trying to imply that humans do not have the necessary skills to vocalize many of the important things that we encounter. Maybe this is suggesting that we cannot always rely on language. Í'm assuming that this is why Rimkin went insane. It must have driven him crazy to think that language, of all things, had failed him so horribly on Mars. It seemed, as Hodges pointed out, that he was left feeling useless to the expedition.

I think it's interesting to note that although the story is essentially about human aliens, we never actually encounter one. Rimkin is lost in the search for himself. This concept makes me think of myself, someone who is still trying to find her way in the world. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do, where I want to go or where I fit into the grand scheme of things on this planet. So perhaps Rimkin is meant to be an exaggerated version of humankind in general.

Although Im not entirely sure of its significance, I think that it's important to note how often "eyes" are mentioned. Im leaning towards the idea that the "eye" is brought in as a replacement for verbal communication. Much of what is learned, pretty much everything actually, is done in a visual way throughout the story. This seems to be yet another indication that language is no longer sufficient.