The Great Divide

[jporter]

Not talking 'bout that unfortunate (and unnecessary) chasm which suddenly
appeared between Alan and Vaska- Kill file, Alan? For the crime of
innumeracy? What's next, the Tower and a long sea voyage?  Surely a little
mercy is in order, arrrf? We're all on the same side here. A little gentle
'suasion's often more effective. We don't need any more restless 'toids
haunting us. Why give the bad guys an opening for another Beer Hall Putsch?


Nor am I talkin' about that great Robbie Robertson tune (he wrote it, no?).
He being one of my favorite Canadians.

Talkin' here 'bout the Continental Divide, stretching from waaay North to
Tierra del Fuego, or so this healthy looking gal on the Today Show this
A.M. is telling me- with gorgeous Colorado backdrop. And her language
describes a natural division which could be just the antithesis of
everything involved in the surveying work of M&D, filled with a power she
can feel, that magically separates water molecules, once side by side, into
two different oceans, 10000 miles apart. Eat your heart out Maxwell.

And what I'm talkin' 'bout here is the notion of "natural demarcations" as
bandied about by Craig and Mark yesterday, concerning the equator, which
is, as Mark instructs, a natural divide.

But the ritual of intiation involved in its being crossed for the first
time by "pollywogs" is very definingly of human origin. And ritualistic
behavior, in general, is an interesting portal into our collective past.
Being from a long line of gatekeepers, myself, I am aware of these things.

Now rituals of intitiation, "crossing over," or rites of passage, as you
all know (and probably better than I) are ubiquitous in the cultures of
humans, and, I presume, unknown outside of our species. I think that's part
of what Pynchon is getting at here: a recogntion that there was a time
before rituals, when we were something else, as opposed to all the time
since. The genetic heritage of the race at some point came to incorporate
the potential and the need for ritual. We crossed over.

It is interesting that Wicks is treated as a pollywog, as well. This
recapitulation is of a time before the Christian priesthood. In fact, the
"sacred roles" are to be played by members of the crew themselves, the only
qualification being one who has already crossed over. Myth, and its
interpretation has begun to enter the picture in a loose way. Fender Belly
"is an early favorite" for the role of the Royal Baby, because of his
physical characteristics.

The choice of the term "pollywog" echoes the genetic theme of ontogeny
recapitulating phylogeny, contrasting human developement with the
developement of non-cultural species. But this image also serves as a
reminder that culture is genetically and physically based. This idea is
driven home by Uncle Lomax's contribution: "And if it goes far *enough* up
your Nose,"...,"Well. Then it's in your *Brain*, isn't it?" [emphasis, the
Pynch]. Which says to me that culture has incorporated itself into our
physical structure. [Thank you, Noam]

But Lomax is talking about the raisins in the pudding slung in the face of
the intitiates. This could be, given all the play with subatomic theory
which Pynchon has seen fit to fling at us, a reference to Thomson's "plum
pudding" model of the atom, subsequently destroyed by Rutherford, et al.,
when they flung alpha particles at zinc sulfide, at the Cavendish, and
discovered the nucleus.

Both Thomson's "plum pudding" and the ensuing Rutherford/Bohr "planetary"
models of the atom have since been proven wrong.

I will leave any consideration of why the pudding used in the equator
ritual aboard the Seahorse was Spotted Dick, to literary types, more
familiar with Melville, except to say that the leading edge of culture-
that which defines viability- involves a constant quest for the definition
of Self with respect to the Other. Some might say that with the Age of
Reason that quest became ritualized, and more significantly, perhaps, a
ritual for overthrowing *false* rituals and their "librettos"
(myths/theories) was discovered. Where will that ritual of logic eventually
lead us? The old quantum saw: Have we spotted Moby, or, sensing our gaze,
has the Whale grown spots?

"'Tell us, or you're Salt Pork,' stipulates Pliny."

I.e., taboo? profane? The twins respond to their needs to have Wicks
perform the ritual of storytelling, or the handing down of myth from one
generation to the next. They threaten him with what they've learned
already: some things are forbidden, and transgression (i.e., not fulfilling
his ritually assigned role) can lead to banishment to the land of the
profane, or at least "the Winter's Block and Blade". Although pork is okay
for these Christians, the cultural heritage upon which their beliefs are
based said it was forbidden. Somewhere, somehow, a line dividing sacred
from profane was crossed, and like most such crossings required a
sacrifice, which then became ritualized.

The equator crossing scene, and its discussion by the extended LeSparks, is
a seemingly minor sequence in the book, but I think it is important. I
think it is a comment on the racial, and probably unconscious, "crossing
over" from the time which preceded all ritualized behavior. Can't we come
up with a ritual to celebrate that passage... a ritual for the birth of
rituals?

Or, maybe we should just go fishing. If there's any fish left, that is.

jody