The Gatekeeper's Middle-Ground

Place a riddle-setting monster at the gate.

An amalgam of opposites—

Janus, two-faced overseer of beginnings,

Or the sphinx of Thebes—human head

On a beast`s crouched haunches (Alice Major “Set the Gates Open”)

                Unfortunately I was unable to attend class on Thursday, so I figured I would utilize my blog as an opportunity to discuss Alice Major`s poem “Set the Gates Open.”  To provide some context, in Roman religion and mythology Janus was the patron of concrete and abstract beginnings of the world—as such, he was often portrayed with two heads; one facing forward and another facing back (Wikipedia).  The sphinx of Thebes, moreover, was a mystical creature that guarded the entrance to the Greek city of Thebes.  She protected the gates by asking travellers the following riddle:

                Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?

As legend goes, the sphinx devoured anyone unable to answer; that was, at least, until Oedipus solved the riddle by answering:

                Man—who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and then walks with a cane in old age (Wikipedia).

The sphinx, bested at last, then throws herself from her high perch and dies...

                Alice Major`s utilization of these ancient allusions proves to be quite successful in offering parallels to Alberta`s current economic and environmental situation.  While both of these figures undoubtedly represent a “changing of the guard”—that is, from the classical (Egyptian) religious practices to the new, Olympian Gods (Wikipedia)—their true nature within the poem is only discovered when contrasted with contemporary humanity.  For example, the excerpt, ``To get oil from underground, the drillhands say, / ‘you have to keep it alive,” demonstrates our connection with the natural (exhaustible) world.  Even though the oil and natural gas industry is responsible for Alberta’s current economic situation, one cannot forget that such resources are finite.  As such, the symbolism elicited by “the metal bones of some strange beast / trapped in a tar sand” draws one’s imagination to the prehistoric fates of the dinosaurs—focalized by their destruction, entombed by their tragedy.  It seems as though Alice Major is suggesting that keeping the oil and gas industry “alive” will eventually lead to economic stagnation and environmental deflation.  The consequences of which (though romantic and arguably hyperbolic) could parallel those of the dinosaurs.

                In my opinion, both Janus and the sphinx of Thebes are representative of the middle-ground between past and present—it is their prerogative to allow, or prevent, time’s linear progression.  If one considers that “the monster is a mirror of ourselves,” then one must also consider humanities role in “new beginnings.”  Similar to the riddle posited by the sphinx of Thebes; the answer lies with human beings.  To escape the throngs of our history, it seems we need to start asking the right questions.  After all, we as a species hold the key to our fate, we are the gatekeepers—as such we have to ask:

                Who comes to enter through these gates?

                What brings you? What do you bear?

                What will you bury here?

                What will you keep alive? (Major)