Posted by Andrew La Bruja is using a deck of cards to tell Clo-Clo's fortune. The former keeps reshuffling the cards and tells Clo-Clo: "It's dark and that means some kind of trouble. It's a four card. It's the four of spades and it's right over you." The reason why this passage sticks out for me is because of my Chinese descent. The number four in Chinese culture is considered unlucky in the same way that thirteen is said to be in Western culture. This is because the Chinese word for four is a "homonym" for the Chinese word for death. (If you pay attention to elevators in China and Taiwan, and other countries with significantly large Chinese populations, you'll notice that elevators omit, not the thirteenth floor, but the fourth.) This passage is the first time I've seen a reference to the number four as being unlucky outside of Chinese culture. Is this something that Woolrich just made up, or is there a validity to this outside the text? Pardon. I know this is trainspotting on my part, but it just caught my eye.
on 3/24/2004, 9:46 pm
203.131.183.172
I'm currently reading Black Alibi and am on page 107 of the 1982 Ballantine mass market paperback.
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