GRGR 5: Hey, Wait Up for Me!

[Skip Wolfe]

>13) "Pass the talcum to me Malcolm" (64.19) So we finally get our main
>    hint that Red Malcolm is that Malcolm X. Along with "popping that
>    rag" and "extravagantly conked" this is a dead giveaway to anyone
>    who has read the Autobiography. 

My first thought on reading this passage was, "Hey, that's Malcolm X!"
and then I felt pretty hep for having recognized it.  When I read it now,
though, I get the uncomfortable feeling that Pynchon might just have been
showing off -- the way he keeps dropping hints about Red's identity. 
Does it matter that it's (the future) Malcolm X and not some anonymous
black shoeshine boy?  There is the chickens coming home to roost
connection with JFK, but does that really lead anywhere either?  Maybe
I'm just tired . . . somebody show me the way . . .