GRGR(8) Discussion Opener

[Joe Varo]

Okay folks, here's the Discussion Opener for GRGR(8) which begins
on page 114 with "It was very early morning" and ends on page 136
with "...whatever seas you have crossed, the way home...".

Discussion of GRGR(9) will run from 24 Jan to 7 Feb and will consist of
pages 136-154, beginning with "Paradoxical phase, when weak stimuli..."
and ending with "...the slum courtyards of Berlin at sunrise."

Besides being submitted late, it's not exactly complete nor
especially well done.  Work and personal demands have been a killer
these past few weeks and I've had hardly any time to really work on
this.  But...here's what I've got:

---------------------- GRGR(8) Discussion Opener -----------------

We start off on page 114 with Tyrone having been (sooner than he'd
expected) released from The White Visitation. Apparently he'd been
hoping that this little TDY would get him a Section 8, but no dice.

Upon emerging back into London, Slothrop determines that he's being
followed, though there seems to be some ambiguity about this.  Take
the passage:

     "But something's different...something's...been *changed*...
     don't mean to bitch, folks, but -- well for instance he could
     almost swear he's being followed, or watched anyway.  Some
     of the tails are pretty slick, but others he can spot, all
     right."

With the "don't mean to bitch, folks" the narrator becomes quite
obtrusive.  First we're told that Tyrone "could almost swear he's
being followed," which would mean that he's not certain that he's
being followed.  Then we're told that he is able to spot some of
the tails.  Well, which is it?  Does Slothrop know that he's being
followed or not?

Eventually, Tyrone runs into Darlene who takes him to the house of
a Mrs. Quoad, where she is staying.

By the way, in latin, "quoad" means "how far?, as far as, as long
as, until".

Mrs. Quoad suffers from several skin ailments and according to "A
Gravity's Rainbow Companion" they are as follows:

Greensickness -- an iron deficiency which turns the skin green.

Tetter -- a generic term for a variety of skin diseases such as
herpes, eczema, pimples, pustules, blisters and milk-blotches.

Kibes -- a reddish inflammation or chillblain of the feet.

Purples -- livid blotches

Imposthumes -- open skin abscesses.

Almonds in the ears -- swollen lymph nodes

Scurvy -- vitamin C deficiency with subcutaneous bleeding,
especially at the lips.

All in all, Mrs. Quoad is one hell of a hag.  Is there an echo of
Katje/Gottfried/Blicero here?  Are Tyrone/Darlene/Quoad yet another
Hansel/Gretel/Wicked Witch?

We then go into, what will be called (on page 118), the Disgusting
English Candy Drill.  At first I really couldn't determine any
great significance in this scene; it just struck me as an instance
of comic relief.  But when the DECD is over and Tyrone and Darlene
are in the sack, the narrator briefly takes us back to the DECD to
inform us that "...the one candy he did not get to taste -- one
Mrs. Quoad witheld -- was the Fire of Paradise, that famous
confection of high price and protean taste. (p. 119)

So can we look at the DECD as some kind of allegory for Slothrop
going through some kind of hell in order to get to Paradise, only
to be turned back at the gates?  Isn't this the gist of the Tibetan
Book of the Dead, that you have to deal with all of these demons on
your way to Nirvana?

Also, do the English really make such awfull candy?  Where's Andrew
when you need him?

At the end of this section Slothrop & Darlene are in bed and Mrs.
Quoad is in the parlor dreaming of being healed by "Yrjo".  A V-2
strikes, apparently not far from their location.  This stimulates
Tyrone into another erection and he and Darlene got at it again
while one of Tyrone's "tails" looks on through the window.

Is there anything significant about the name "Yrjo"?

At this point (p. 120) we have one hell of a segue into the next section: 
we go from Tyrone & Darlene, with Tyrone responding, in usual fashion,
before the stimulus arrives, to the V-2 which "comes" before you hear it
arriving, to Roger and Jessica in bed, where we learn that Jessica came
"...before cock was ever officially put inside cunt...." Three parallel
instances of response preceding stimulus. 

For Roger and Jessica, "...this is important to the both of them,
thought neither of them has figured out why, exactly.  Whenever it
happens though, the light always gets very red for them." (p. 120)

Why is this so important?  What "light"?

Does anyone have any thoughts about TRP's use of the word "cunt"? 
Every female I've ever met utterly despises the word.  It does have
a harsh, almost aggressive sound to it and is the word of choice
should one wish to denigrate or insult a female but find "bitch"
not to be sufficient.  Why did TRP choose this word rather than one
of the others such as pussy, quim, muff, etc.?

P. 122 -- "...pictures, well scenes, keep flashing *in*, Roger.  By
themselves, I mean I'm *not* making them..."

P. 123 -- "Through rain..then through dreaming glass..."

Is Jessica having visions?

P. 122 -- "The night room heaves a sigh, yes, Heaves, a Sigh --
old-fashioned comical room, oh me I'm hopeless, born a joker, never
change, flirting away through the mirrorframe in something green-
striped, pantalooned, and ruffled --..."

Who is the "I" of this passage?  The room?

P. 125 -- "...maps (and the chief one, red pockmarks on the pure
white skin of Lady London, watching over all...*wait*...disease on
skin...*does* she carry the fatal infection inside herself..."

This kind of makes London sound a bit like Mrs. Quoad, doesn't it?

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This is as far as I've gotten.  I realize that there is a hell of
a lot of stuff that I've left out, but it's about 2:00 AM and I've
got to get to bed.