“Slide the knife through the belly of the pig
Hang him next to the leg of lamb
My hands were trained for killing
For I am just a simple man”
“I did not expect to find such a flagrant and bold expression so early in the examination of the Book of Sorren. He expertly disguises his malice within the framework of his own ignorance and with an acute sense of irony. The belly of the pig can be none other than the King. A simple murder for a simple man.”
M states his purpose right from the beginning, and it is a surprise. On the second page of the manuscript, M has made a significant observation. Following a trite and insignificant statement from Sorren, M has demonstrated his willingness to interpret the text implicitly, rather than explicitly, and he does not control his wild speculation, or is it imagination? This will be shown to be his own methodology used throughout the text, many hundreds of years before the concept of textural analysis existed. The archivist has shown a sophisticated penchant for creating out of thin air, his own personal reality when one did not exist in the text. I have chosen to reject this methodology. Sorren can be seen to change over time, acquiring a wry sophistication of his own, but in the beginning he was truly a beginner, and his text can almost be taken literally and figuratively, for he was learning how to think.
This is one of the mysteries that kept me thinking about the book long into the nights. Was M possibly a spy? Was M an inquisitor? I thought not, but I knew that Kings could be ruthless, and the Church searched constantly for the evil intentions of satan. My thoughts about Sorren were then as they are now, and I could not imagine the contemplation of such a sinister character as this man called M was apt to do. The beauty of Sorren is manifest in his sincerity, his modesty, and his awakening mind. And my mind wanted to follow him into his fantasy such as it came to be connected with King Bartholomew.