Cell: Where's Jordan from?

[hun27]

P141 (hardcover)
"The boys who didn't have cell phones have all run off. The ones who did have them . . ." Jordan said.
"We know about them," Alice said.
"I'm a scholarship boy. I lived in Holloway. I didn't have a cell phone. I had to use the dorm mother's phone whenever I wanted to call home and the other boys would make fun of me."

P208
Jordan ate surprisingly well. His color was high and his speech was animated. It consisted of reminiscences of his life at Gaiten Academy, and the influence Headmaster Ardai had had on the heart and mind of a friendless, introverted computer geek from Madison, Wisconsin. The brilliant lucidity of the boy's recollections made Clay increasingly uncomfortable…

Q: Where is Jordan from? Is there a Holloway near Madison?

[HoopyFrood]

I can't say for certain, but it sounds like it is saying Jordan orginally comes from Madison, Wisconsin and Holloway could perhaps be something to do with the school. As he is a "scholarship boy" he lives at the school and Holloway could either be the place where the school is, or even one of the Halls of residence. I don't know for definite because a.) it's been a while since I read the book! and b.) my knowledge of the places in America is, at best, abysmal!

[hun27]

That's right. Thank you. I think Holloway could be one of the dorms.

[hun27]

P348
But you'd have to wipe the phoner program first to make space for such a highly theoretical second reboot, and Jordan's idea—to hit Johnny with the Pulse yet again, like lighting a backfire—seemed so spooky, so off-the-wall dangerous, given the fact that Clay had no way of knowing what sort of program the Pulse had mutated into by now . . . assuming (makes an ass out of you and me, yeah, yeah, yeah) it was still up and
running at all. . .

Q: “Lighting a backfire” meaning in the context of an engine or a gun? I can’t see the “backfire” here having anything to do with the preemptive measure in the case of a forest fire.

[HoopyFrood]

Well, it's a smilie, it's "like lighting a backfire", and like using fire to fight fire, here they are using the pulse to fight the pulse.

[hun27]

Hey, Thanks a lot. Now it all makes sense!

[HoopyFrood]

No problem

[hun27]

Hi Hoopy,
Mind if I ask another question?

More people were now heading west, and some of them were gnawing on food that had been liberated from a grocery store, probably the Safeway Tom had mentioned. Mr. Scottoni's daughter-in-law, Judy, was carrying a gigantic tub of melting chocolate ice cream, which had covered the front of her smock and coated her from knees to nose-stud; her chocolate-lathered face made her look like Mrs. Bones in a minstrel show.
And any vegetarian beliefs Mr. Potowami might once have held were gone now; he strolled along noshing from a great double handful of raw hamburger meat.

Who is Mrs. Bones? A character from King's previous book?

[pyan]

Actually, she's from Brighton........Ooops, sorry
(Memo to self - don't just read the title of the thread in future!

[HoopyFrood]

No, not a character from his books, but a character from, as mentioned, a Minstrel show. Well, actually, it appears that it was a "Mr Bones" in the show and King has changed it to Mrs Bones beause he is referring to a woman. Or there could have been a Mrs Bones, I don't know.

Anyway, he uses this simile because the show consisted of white people who would wear make-up to look like black people, hence using it to describe the woman who is covered in chocolate.

Here's more information about the minstrel show, anyway:

Minstrel show - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Ha, Pyan, you nutter )

[hun27]

Hi Hoopy,
You saved my day again!
I knew nothing about this "minstrel show" business until now.

[HoopyFrood]

It's quite all right, I'm happy to help!

[pyan]

More about the Christy Minstrels

Amazing - this was classed as "Family Entertainment"!