Misreadings

33 19 17

The numbers don't quite add up... Apparently Oates refuses to give a meaning to these numbers, so here are what two readers (or misreaders I should say) have come up with.

"Actually you guys are all half right. we did a 3 day critical analysis of this piece. You're right that the bible verse is Judges 19:17 which has the title of the book [[[And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, "Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?"]]] but the crazy math thing to equal 666 is totally wrong. He is the devil though because of the following clues:
1. ARNOLD FRIEND: they constantly listed to Rock and Roll. Take out the two R's is ARNOLD FRIEND and you get AN OLD FIEND. The oldest fiend through time has been the devil.
2. A myth states that the devil is not alowed to enter a house un-invited. Hense the reason he never enters.
3. Also, it is believed that the devil has hooves for feet which is why his feel were at odd angles and he kept tripping.
4. He was also able to know about her family that way and lure her to him"

or more chimerically...

"33 is the age of Christ at crucifixion. The missing number in the "17, 19" sequence is, obviously 18. As was previously noted the 18th letter of the alphabet is "R" and striking the "R's" from Arnold Friend yields "An Old Fiend,". Don't just add 33+17+19=69, that gets you half-way home. (And suggests a more sexually mutually consensual act). Add 10x(33+17+19) which yields 690. Now subtract the sum of the digits (3+3+1+7+1+9) to derive "24." Subtract that 24 from the previously known 690 and you get "666" -- the "sign" of the Devil. These can be seen as arbitrary moves involving "18" and the letter "R," but for this: in the time of Constantine, he converted to Christianity after believing his success was from God. To "baptize" his troops before an important battle he had them paint the letter of Christ (P) on their shields and marched them through a river. That letter in classical Greek and old Roman (the languages known to Constantine) occupied the 18th place in the alphabet. But as the alphabet changed slightly "P" moved back 2 places and was replaced with "R," which is not an arbitrary act: you are striking Christ from the story."

Obviously some people get carried away, but that is entirely understandable. Take a look at our society. Approximately 80% of Americans base their lives around the interpretations other people have made of several works of literature. People have been twisting the words of the bible or the quran or the testaments for hundreds of years. They disregard the context that quotes are from or use the language to support their crusades against other races or religions or sexualities. No wonder we read too much into things sometimes...