Not a soul
But felt a fever of the mad and play'd
Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners
Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel,
Then all afire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-staring,--then like reeds, not hair,--
Was the first man that leap'd; cried, 'Hell is empty
And all the devils are here.'

The Tempest. Act i. Sc. 2

Aliens & the Paranormal:

Good Vibrations

Children and the Island?

A few child related thoughts and/or questions: In tonight's episode we once again see Walt able to manipulate reality to gain what he wishes for, when he and Hurley are playing backgammon.
This answers whether or not Walt was responsible for the rain stopping when his father promised to go looking for Walt's dog, for instance; this is now at least the third time we've seen this happen (Walt get what he ardently wishes for).
Now, we also know (assuming that Danielle was being truthful - and in this instance, I believe that she is) that Danielle's child Alex was taken by "them"; we now know that "they" are also responsible for taking Claire.
Can it be that children are able to tap into some type of psychic - well, at least unseen and currently unknown - energy more easily than adults do? This may account for Ethan's great desire to get ahold of Claire's new born baby. We dont' know if Alex was an infant or small child when kidnapped - but what if he/she was?
Perhaps the younger the child, the greater the ability to tap into this unseen force, as well as control the child that is able to do this. An older child, such as Walt, is halfway to adulthood and less likely to be controlled in as complete a way as an infant or small child. It's also possible that his age and relatively maturity means that he can only come into contact with this power intermittently.
Some sort of Id manifestation or amplification able to be achieved on this island, perhaps? A baby has no real sense of self as an older child does, much less an adult.
It may be also that the psychic's warnings were simply a red herring by the writers for us as viewers to glom onto, and it's not that *Claire's* baby that is of importance, but just that it's a baby at all.
Just some random thoughts post episode...

lauradelenn

Re: hmmm

A couple things, I think that because children have fewer ties to the outside world, they have less desire to leave the island and are rewarded faster than the others. (Locke is a special case because he had nothing left on the outside world) I predicted a while ago that Walt would be the next one to be "infected" and that he would eventually choose Locke over Michael.
But I do want to disagree that we know that "the others" took Claire. We know that Claire is with Ethan and that Ethan was on the island beforehand, but Claire could easily be cooperating with Ethan and Ethan could be working against "the others" that have the sickness.

KillBuckner

Re: hmmm

Quote:
But I do want to disagree that we know that "the others" took Claire. We know that Claire is with Ethan and that Ethan was on the island beforehand, but Claire could easily be cooperating with Ethan and Ethan could be working against "the others" that have the sickness.

I disagree - unless you think that she believes that Charlie is infected with this sickness? Ethan (or someone) hung Charlie - that's a pretty radical thing to do! I cannot imagine her cooperating in any way with a stranger, especially one at which she looked at with such fear at the end of "Raised By Another".

lauradelenn

Re: charlie

I don't think it was ethan that hung Charlie. I think that Locke and the others are working towards teh same goals, Ethan is working against them. He whisked Claire away to keep her away from Locke. I don't know whether the others found all 3 of them and captured Charlie or whether Charlie was sent away by Ethan, but I really don't think Ethan is the one that hung him. And by Charlie's own statement, "all THEY want is claire". I don't think he will have any recollection of ethan at all when we get another episode.

KillBuckner

Re: charlie

Still might be a Peter Pan syndrome working here. Remember in the movie Hook, when they were hungry the played the imagination game, and got a banquet of goodies? Children may be the ultimate power on the island

rottenralf

Re: Children & the Island

I think you are right on target with this, lauradellen. I think the "others" can read minds, which is how the castaways' fears and desires have been manifested), and that children are more susceptible to this process.
I also think these psychic powers are related somehow to the "sickness," which is why Claire's baby will be so powerful. It will have been exposed to the psychic sickness since the womb.

awsecond

Re: Children & the Island

Sooo.....does that mean that Ethan has that super strength because he is descended from Adam and Eve (who have been mentioned as possibly being Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan), so is a child of the island. Did the children of the Island kidnap Alex and Claire's soon to be born baby to expand the gene pool, you can only marry so many cousin before defects start to occur. Is the island reaching out to grab airplanes and boats? So many theories...so little time....

rottenralf

Re: Children & the Island

i agree with you that children seem to have a "special" connection with the island -- walt's hopes and fears seem to manafest themselves somewhere in the plot of the story. Children may have an easier time to harness the power the island gives them because they have a much larger imagination and their mind is clear of the clutter (and sence of reality) that adults have. But many of the adults have had expirences with the supernatural. Claire's baby suddenly started moving again. Locke could suddenly walk. Jack revived charlie. when the adults are having these expirences, they seem to be very deep, very intense feelings that create the impossible to happen.
Mabye there is a connection the island seems to have with people -- and the adults have not figured it out yet. But "the others" have. Mabye that is why they seem to have super human powers, which have been discussed in other areas of the board. once our group begins to realize the powers that they have, then there can be a fair fight between the two -- between, apperently, good and evil (the black & white theme we have all noticed). Just a theory.

Mr. Bigglesworth

Re: Children & the Island

Mr Bigglesworth, I agree that IF there are some "power" or enhanced abilities on the show, all the castaways have some access to them. It seems to me as well that these Others have figured that out, and our protagonists (except perhaps for Locke, who's "seen the mystery") haven't yet.

drabauer