Knocked Up
One thing that I’ve wondered for a while…why do pregnant women die on Craphole Island? And why was Claire able to give birth?
I’ve kinda thought the entire plotline was introduced (via Juliet/Ben) to explain why Claire was kidnapped back in season 1 (before the writers knew exactly where all of this was going). But I think they may have made “explaining why Claire got taken” and “fitting it in with the mythology of Lost” work together. Let’s see what we know!
- Women’s reproductive organs seem to deteriorate (as seen with Richard’s ultrasound, where a 20 year old woman’s ovaries looked like a 70 year old’s. I do not think the island has anything to do with Benjamin Button)
- The mothers tend to die in the third trimester
- The immune systems “turns on” the fetus as though it were a foreign invader
Ew. Well, something is off. Ben became obsessed with solving the island’s pregnancy problem (which led to his falling out of favor with Richard and the rest of the Others, and the appointment of Locke as OtherLeader). Why? Annie, Ben’s one-time childhood love. Did Annie die during a pregnancy, leaving Ben loveless, wifeless, and stuck with no one but his deadbeat dad to consider “family?” Well, it would prove a nice parallel to Roger Linus watching his wife die due to her pregnancy, albeit giving him a son he would resent. Did this loss solidify Ben’s commitment to gassing DHARMA and joining The Others?
Yup. Probably, at least.
So why would the body turn on fetuses conceived on the island? Does the island hate babies that much? Does it have anything to do with island men’s supersperm count?
Babies are new life, and the island isn’t meant to have life created on it. The island is sort of a bubble - life can enter into it if it’s already in existence, and life can die on it, but creation would mean that a new spirit would be needed. Spirits cannot enter the island. Remember what Ben said when he was locked up in the Swan: “Not even God can see this island.” I’m not sure how spiritual/religious Lost will get, but part of its deepest mythology involves the existence of spirits/souls.
The immune system turns on the baby per the will of the island. The baby cannot exist without some sort of spirit inside of it, so it is necessary that the baby die. While the island can cure maladies, it can also create them (see: Ben’s tumor). Claire was able to have Aaron because Aaron was almost fully formed before arriving on the island (and had his “spirit” or whatever). Nothing Ethan nor Tom were doing was helping nor hindering Claire.
Man of Science vs. Man of Faith…I seem to be falling into the “faith” category on this one, but science will have a lot more to do with the island-goings on later…
