GRGR(11) - Children learning to die

[andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk]

Murthy Yenamandra writes:
> Andrew Dinn writes:
> > Children Who Are Learning To Die
> > --------------------------------
> > 
> > Why this title? Well, that's what Part 1 is all about, us, chidren
> > that we are, picking up on the fact that we, yes you and me, are also
> > going to die.
> 
> I'd change this to read "Children Who Are Realizing That They Are Being
> Sent To Death". It's not the death itself that's the point of the
> dawning realization, but the fact that it's the direct result of Their
> goals and actions.

No, I think questions of who is to blame are somewhat by the by. A-and
I guess this is why Pynchon manages to be so ambivalent about all the
Them and Us stuff. The important thing is not to realize that someone
is out to get you - we all know that and we all know that such
knowledge is paranoia no matter how true it is - nor even to identify
who They are - does it really matter in the end?

No, the important thing is to learn *how* to die, not *why*. `Why' is
just . . . how can I put this . . . err, `secular history'. But `how',
now that's the stuff of life.


Andrew Dinn
-----------
And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.