Saturday 11 July 2015

Clue 6: Tarry scant with marvel gaze.

Tarry scant with marvel gaze.

The phrase ‘Tarry Scant’ stands out in the poem because the two words have an odd structure within the flow of text.  Their positioning suggested that Forrest had tried hard to conjoin them while maintaining the rhythm of the poem.  There would have been other ways he could have achieved the same meaning, with the same poetic metering, for example ‘do not stand in marvel gaze’or 'tarry for scant while to gaze’

I believe that Tarry Scant is rhyme for Cary Grant.  The character of Cary Grant appeared once in Marvel Comics (‘with marvel gaze’) where Spiderman was unmasked as Cary Grant.


Cary Grant as Spiderman.


The actor Cary Grant is mentioned in the Foreword to Forrest's book Seventeen Dollars per Square Inch.

Forrest has mentioned the novel Catcher in the Rye on many occasions.  This book influenced him to write his memoirs.  The name ‘Cary Grant’ stands out as a random reference within the text of Catcher in the Rye.

In Scrapbook 178 Forrest talked about meeting Cary Grant at the Fenn gallery in Santa Fe.  The piece was accompanied by a picture of Cary Grant.  Forrest stated the film To Catch a Thief starring Cary Grant was one of his favourite movies.

In the Moby Dickens bookshop video, Forrest in addition to mentioning Catcher in the Rye mentions the actor ‘Clark Gable’.  Clark Gable was a contemporary of Cary Grant, with the same initials.

I believe the answer to this clue is ‘Spiderman’.

Spiderman was a native American trickster spirit the Lakota called Inktomi.


It seems the line in the poem ‘look quickly down’ is there to justify inclusion of the subsequent (somewhat jarring) line ‘tarry scant’.  At first glance many readers may have concluded the opposite was intended.

I have previously indicated that some of the clues in the poem reference cartoon characters.

After solving the above clue and the clue ‘the home of Brown’ (see previous post) I thought more answers may be related to comic, cartoon or fictional characters perhaps with native American connotations.  It turned out that another couple of clues were related to fictional characters.

I believe the use of comic characters and characters from illustrated books is the basis for what Forrest referred to when he made the statement ‘kids may have an advantage’ in relation to the Chase.

Regards.

The White Knight

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