Gemini.Finnegans.Wake.41
And admiring to our supershillelagh where the palmsweat on high is the mark of your monument. All the toethpicks ever Eirenesians chewed on are chips chepped from that battery block. If you were bowed and soild and letdown itslef from the oner of the load it was that paddyplanters might pack up plenty and when you were undone in every point fore the laps of goddesses you showed our labourlasses how to free was easy.
The mourners continue to flatter the risen Finnegan, now shifting their argument to justify his life’s work and his great “fall.” They reframe his struggles and his public shame as noble, foundational sacrifices made for the benefit of all Irish people.
## The Monument of Labour ⚒️
First, they praise the physical evidence of his hard work, turning his labour into a sacred monument.
- “admiring to our supershillelagh”: A shillelagh is a traditional Irish club. By calling it a “super-shillelagh,” they elevate it into a giant totem pole or monument. This could be his builder’s ladder, a phallic symbol of his creative power, or the Tree of Life itself.
- “where the palmsweat on high is the mark of your monument”: The sweat from his hands as he worked is not just grime; it’s his signature, the sacred mark that consecrates his work as a monument.
- “All the toethpicks ever Eirenesians chewed on are chips chepped from that battery block”: This is a powerful image. The “Eirenesians” (a grand name for the Irish people) use toothpicks—mundane, disposable items. The mourners claim that every one of these is a tiny splinter chipped from his great monumental work. This means that every part of everyday Irish life, no matter how small, owes its existence to him. He is the source of the entire culture.
## The Fortunate Fall: A Noble Sacrifice 🌾
Next, they explain why he had to fall, presenting it as a Christ-like sacrifice for the good of his people.
- “If you were bowed and soild and letdown… it was that paddyplanters might pack up plenty”: They argue that his suffering—being bent (“bowed”), dirtied (“soild”), and brought low by the “oner of the load” (the onus, or burden)—was not a failure. It was a purposeful sacrifice so that the “paddyplanters” (a term for the common Irish farmer) could prosper and gather a plentiful harvest. Like a sacrificial king of ancient myth, his downfall ensures the fertility of the land and the prosperity of his people.
- “…when you were undone in every point fore the laps of goddesses you showed our labourlasses how to free was easy.”: This is the most radical part of the argument. It reframes his public, sexual transgression. Being “undone in every point” means both being ruined and being literally undressed. His fall, which happened “fore the laps of goddesses” (in front of women in the park), is spun as a lesson in liberation for the “labourlasses” (the working-class women of Ireland). His moment of shame is reinterpreted as an act of teaching them how to be sexually and socially free.
09/09/2025, P25.21, to be continued.