grgr1

[charles barone]

O.K., here goes.

The first time I read he opening scene the transition between "The 
Evacuation" and the "maisnoette" was abrupt.  And in some ways, it 
still is.

The former suggests an ambiguity about whether the passengers are 
"chosen" and have been "saved" from what I assume to be a calamity 
related to a falling bomb, or whether they are amomg those being 
"discarded" (the "preterite"?).  My sense is that the depiction leads 
one to conclude that it is the latter ("green-stained VIP faces" "speed 
through the city" "behind bullet-proof windows" "as half-silvered 
images in a view-finder").  Any sense of salvation may lie in the 
delusions of the passengers, among whom there is great passivity.

The segue into the "maisonette" might lead one to believe that the 
residents are also members of the "passed over" or "disregarded".  
However, there is a contrast, at least to some extent, with the 
passivity present on the train (Prentice's success in growing bananas 
in a rooftop hothouse and using them to create innovative culinary 
delights is the best example).  Still, there is a sense of the beaten 
down, the struggling, the self-destructive amomg the other residents.

No conclusions.  But of couse that seeems wholly consistent with the 
"progressive knotting into" rather than a "disentanglement from".