GRGR3: Discussion Opener for Section 3

[Murthy Yenamandra]

Joseph CERRATO helpfully points out:
> [Re: the invisible hand] To me the passage expounds the ambiguity of
> the conspiracy theory issue.  Reality being no longer controlled by a
> transcendental invisible ruler ( the less harmful illusion) the
> alternative, believing in some form of hidden control from within,
> let's call it "they" or perhaps the  "Rocket cartel", might just be
> paranoid self-deception as well for those who( think they) are its
> victims as for those who( think they)'re in control: "no one can do"
> (30.36). Everyone or should we say everything, one becomes "parts" on
> the following line, is being carried away by a system which has gone
> amok...

And Craig Clark observes:
> This also expands the focus of the novel way beyond being a novel 
> about chasing V-2 rocket technology in post-war Europe to being a 
> novel about the issues of control, manipulation, power, socialisation, 
> brainwashing etc in the Twentieth century world.

Both touch on something that I was struggling to say in my previous
posts, but didn't manage to. It is that nice progression of the
Situation in V->COL49->GR->Vineland: inkling of the other, proto-Them ->
"Do They exist or am I imagining this whole thing?" -> "Well, here They
are and what do We do about it?" -> "Hey, whose side are We on?"
(Of course, we'll ignore the majority(?) opinion on this list that
Vineland is a senile aberration from the Master and that COL49 contains
all :-))

The irony of the situation is that once the "system" is in place, you
don't need all-powerful hands, visible or invisible, to control the
proceedings. We are at the point where we don't exactly resist, but
lend our own hands and make up the great 'invisible hand'. Even in GR,
one can see the cooptation in progress - Prentice craving Their
approval even while wondering why he wants it, Roger cooperating with
Pointsman and unsure about the reasons why he does. The painful fact is
that each one of Us would go over to Their side when we're offered that
exact thing that we crave and They know what our innermost fantasies are
- in fact, in spite of our illusion that We are separate from Them,
aren't We on the same side?

I'll stop before I'm entirely depressed.

Murthy

-- 
Murthy Yenamandra, Dept of CompSci, U of Minnesota. Email: yenamand at cs.umn.edu
"Always there's that space between what you feel and what you do, and in
that gap all human sadness lies." - _Blue Dog_