Safe Sex is No Fun

[Hartwin Alfred Gebhardt]

RICHARD ROMEO asks:
> 
> Two questions:  How is Slothrop's sexual activity with Bianca not 
> brutal-I mean how old is she?

The age of consent varies from country to country. In some it's 
sixteen, in some fourteen, in a few even twelve. Who's to say which 
is 'brutal' and which not? What makes the Slothrop/Biance sex 
troubling, IMO, is not the sex itself, but Slothrop's inability to 
help her (escape? hide?) afterwards. (This might be TRP's attempt at a 
definition of responsibility.)

> 2nd question:  Doesn't Pudding die from his "life-affirming" appetites? e 
> coli poisoning?

Only because he forgets to take his antibiotics. An old man's 
regrettable slip of memory, not much of a tragedy since his death does 
not negate his "life-affirming" actions. What for me was central, was 
that TRP managed to convey Pudding sympathetically. While his 
turd-munching might inspire a gag-reflex, Pudding the character did 
nothing of the kind (for me).

hg
hag at iafrica.com