Enoch Root, also known as Enoch the Red, is a recurring character through The Baroque Cycle, Cryptonomicon, and Fall, or Dodge in Hell. Although he is not one of the main protagonists of the books, he often appears at crucial times and places. Enoch Root appears across many centuries, suggesting that he is a long-lived or immortal being. Some of the truth of Root's origins and goals is revealed in Fall.
Appearance[]
Enoch was "a man of indefinable age but evidently broad experience, with silver hair queued down to the small of his back, a copper-red beard, pale gray eyes, and skin weathered and marred like a blacksmith's ox-hide apron."[1]
Activities[]
Enoch is a member of the Societas Eruditorium, a shadowy organization to which it seems no other character in either Baroque Cycle or Cryptonomicon belongs, with the possible exception of Solomon Kohan. The society appears to be related to the study and advancement of alchemy, and Enoch travels around the world seeking knowledge and supplies from those who share his interest in the topic.
There is more to Enoch's secrets than mere mysticism, however, and Enoch appears able to recognize talent and potential in individuals he encounters, and is also able to subtly do things to encourage them to realize that potential. Enoch seems to have encountered Gottfried Leibniz, Isaac Newton, Daniel Waterhouse, Eliza, Ben Franklin, and in Cryptonomicon, Alan Turing. Bobby Shaftoe and Randy Waterhouse, and found ways to get them to advance the growth of knowledge in their respective fields of genius. He procures necessary items and meetings for characters when necessary to advance the plot, and shares the hardships of most of Jack Shaftoe's cabal on their eastward voyage around the world.
Supposed immortality[]
Out of all his acquaintances and friends, only Daniel Waterhouse seems aware that Enoch Root is somehow immortal, or at least has found a way to avoid aging, something which Daniel views critically. Root responds to Daniel's confrontations with great embarrassment. Another character associated with alchemy, Solomon Kohan in Peter Romanov's entourage, may also possess Root's secret to immortality. Daniel speculates this based on statements made by Solomon, and Solomon's seeming lengthy acquaintance with Enoch Root, and wonders if Solomon may not have other secrets besides. If Daniel's wilder speculations turn out to be true, this would suggest that Enoch Root is literally thousands of years old.
Speculation[]
Both hip and wise, Enoch Root is much like the author himself and is responsible for some of the most incisive remarks in the books. For example, in Cryptonomicon he has himself placed in a Filipino jail in order to converse with Randy Waterhouse. The conversation, a highly illuminating riff on the differences between Athena and Mars, becomes a metaphor for the Good Guys and Bad Guys of the world. His initial appearance in Fall, or Dodge in Hell, is perhaps even more dramatic than this.
Clues to Enoch Root's identity and role in The Baroque Cycle might be found in references to the Biblical figure Enoch. The Bible's Enoch is only a few generations removed from Adam, the son of Seth and so the grand-grandfather of Noah. The text reads — uniquely in the Generations — that Enoch "walked with God: and he was not; for God took him," avoiding the mortal death ascribed to Adam's other descendants. So the biblical Enoch is immortal - so is "Enoch the Root." Although the flood story in Genesis speaks of only Noah and his family surviving the flood - rendering Noah the "root" of mankind - Enoch is immortal also Enoch can be considered as Root and may be of an identity with Noah. Three apocryphal books are attributed to the biblical Enoch; in one book Enoch was also seen as the inventor of writing, and teacher of astronomy and arithmetic, all three reflecting the interpretation of his name as meaning initiated. Similarly, Enoch plays the role of teacher or mentor in The Baroque Cycle. Enoch's appearances in Cryptonomicon and Fall also suggests his name may be a reference to the computer term root, a privileged user who has access beyond that of normal users.
References[]
- ↑ page 13, "Boston Common", Quicksilver