View source for Chapter 6

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;(Eusa Story)
:This chapter tells the central myth of Riddley's people, in which {{Ix|Eusa}} tempts fate by splitting the {{Ix|Addom}} (atom, Adam) to obtain the secret of the {{Ix|1 Big 1}}, leading to an apocalyptic war; has his family torn from him by degrees; and is doomed to wander the earth as he suffers the {{Ix|Master Chaynjis}} (changes). On one level, this is a straightforward narrative of forbidden knowledge and the fall of civilization, with strong echoes of the nuclear scientist's story in ''[[A Canticle for Leibowitz]]''. But like most other things in this novel, the Eusa Story contains multiple levels of meaning. Some of these will be made explicit in [[Chapter 14]]. There are obvious echoes of older religious stories including the fall of Adam and Eve, the suffering of Christ and Job, and the lessons of hard necessity in the Bhagavad-Gita.
:Like most things in the book, Eusa's name seems to come from many sources at once: "[[Eustace]]"; "us" (his everyman role); "use" (a manipulative, mechanistic approach to life); and also (as suggested by [http://www.ocelotfactory.com/hoban/cowart1.html David Cowart]) "USA", the birthplace of nuclear weapons and of Hoban. (The author has since denied that any of these meanings were intentional, except for Eustace. {{By|RH}})
:As [[A_29_9|noted earlier]], the Eusa Story is written in a different, earlier form of English than Riddley uses. At first glance, it is more crudely phonetic. However, it is not without its own rules—e.g., "thay" as the plural form of "the." It also follows Riddley's rule of never spelling out numbers.
:The story is divided into numbered (or No.'d) verses, a useful device since Riddley and other authorities must be able to cite verses from memory. Several {{Ix|No.|numbers}} in particular may draw our attention: 1 and 2, in an ongoing theme of duality and separation; 12, the number of points on the stag's antlers, Riddley's age, and the number of the verse in which Eusa demands knowledge from the Addom; 33, the number of the last verse, the age of both Riddley's father and Jesus at their deaths.
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