Opinionator | Summer Game: Can You Guess What This Is?

RULES
1. Player has not seen the photo beforehand.

2. Player must try to give context for the photo.

PLAYER
George Saunders is a professor of writing in the M.F.A. program at Syracuse and the author, most recently, of "Tenth of December: Stories."

PLAYER'S GUESS
Although this looks like an eye in an earring box, near the knife that cut the eye out, displayed on a picnic table, in fact, the photographer has done an interesting thing with scale. In reality, that knife is over 3 million feet long, that "jewelry box" is actually "the totality of the cosmos," the white puffy stuff is "the measureless cloud of eternity," and the eyeball is "the very Godhead, infinite." If you look closely, you can see Newark — a slightly darker red blop near the tip of the knife.

ANSWER
This glass eye belonged to a man who lost his real eye as a boy in 1910, when he was tying his shoe with an open pocketknife in his hand. The lace snapped and the blade poked his eye.

The knife and glass eye can now be found at the Museum of Appalachia in Clinton, Tenn., displayed in its treasure-filled "Hall of Fame." To be honest, I didn't look that closely at the white puffy stuff, so it could be "the measureless cloud of eternity."

On Thursday and Friday, readers submit their guesses. See them in the comments below.

MY FAVORITE COMMENT
"Set of a Wheat Thins commercial starring Sandy Duncan."
— Mat Cerletty, Brooklyn, N.Y.

MOST ACCURATE COMMENT
"In 1910 when Gol Cooper was six years of age, he was tying his shoe and he had this open pocket knife in his hand. He was stooped over, pulling tight the string, when it broke, thrusting the knife blade through his eye … Gol's father had an eye made for him and he wore it 'til he died in 1979 in Norris where he had been employed by the Bureau of Mines for many years. The eye and the knife were presented to the Museum by Gol's daughter…."
— Amosg, NYC

Come back next week to take a guess on a new clue.

Tamara Shopsin is a graphic designer, illustrator and author, most recently, of "Mumbai New York Scranton."