According to astronomers, the probability of getting hit by a meteorite is one in 700,000. And while millions of meteors enter the earth’s atmosphere continuously, there exists only a 50% chance that celestial rubbish will come from nowhere and smack you upside the head.
Armed with this information, I was astonished when two characters were killed by meteor strikes within a matter of days – Asterios and Max.
I mean characters literally. The title character of Asterios Polyp and Max Delius of The Discovery of Heaven
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.Interestingly enough, these wanton rocks didn’t put either man out of his misery. Instead, it blasted their happiness into a gazillion pieces. Asterios was about to live happily ever after, or as best he could recognizing his personality; and Max had just discovered heaven. Yes, as in God.
In these two of 700,000 instances, the meteorite was the dues ex machina. Used widely by Euripides and other Greek tragedians, the god out of the machine solved the problem when the plot line came to a stop sign or perhaps a dead end. Evidently the authors found Asterios and Max lost in the labyrinth of the story with no easy way out.
With Asterios, I saw death by meteor as a clever way to use his own words against him. Therefore, it was brilliant, and you’ll have to read it to see what I mean. However with Max, it was a disappointment. Not due to the ironic fact that he’s an astronomer, but because I enjoyed him and became quite fond of him over those several hundreds of pages. I didn’t just think it was an easy way out. Frankly, I thought it was a cop out. If he was to die, it should have been more…I don’t know, real. He deserved better.
The improbability of getting struck by a meteor is used more frequently than I had realized. In the same span of a few days of finding it in these texts, it was also hurled forth by a news commentator trying to make a point. What hit me was the synchronicity of these pebbles colliding into the earth in such a short time span.
The truth of this meteor shower is that an otherworldly force doesn’t exist to step in and answer the question of ‘what’s next?’ or to solve that age-old problem of ‘what do I do?’ There is no crane to lower the answer onto the stage and wrap things up or move them into a new direction. As much as I would like that to be so, it isn’t.
But, I do believe in random things colliding and the universe conspiring. I can’t say that I’ve ever thought of one of those blissful moments as having to do with getting permanently KOd by a rock – well, a pebble actually – that’s the size of most of them.
Anyway, in the end, we’re not in total control. Whatever comes is a matter of our own doing, or the result of someone else’s actions, or it’s the mighty scriptwriter making those last minute edits. You never know, but I’m betting on the odds.
