MDMD(8) Christ's true Pity

[Steven Maas (CUTR)]

> 231.16 - 231.18  "for Christ's true Pity lies so beyond us, that we may
> best jump and whimper like Dogs who cannot quite catch the Trick of it."
> What is Christ's true pity?  What does this remark reveal of Fr. Maire
> and Pynchon's attitudes towards him?  (It is significant to consider
> this question in terms of Dogs we have encountered.)

I don't think part of this question has been directly addressed.

> What does this remark reveal of Fr. Maire

Looking at the whole paragraph of which this is a part, it appears Fr.
Maire [to Doug M.--I think it's Fr. Maire saying this, not Emerson] is
parroting some standard Society of Jesus justification for pitylessness.
If human attempts to show pity make us look like "Dogs who cannot quite
catch the Trick of it," i.e., if they are insulting affronts to Christ,
then the Christly thing to do is to show no pity, nicht wahr?  As Dixon
says, "What a relief....Whoo! No more pity? Eehh, where's me Pistols,
then...."  Apparently Maire was slow to learn this SJ maxim--as he says,
he is doing penance "for having once or twice...unreflectively shewn an
instance of this Pity...."  He now seems to know better than to do so
again.

The use of Dogs in Maire's analogy may allude to the L.E.D. or to the
gospel story mentioned by Vaska, or to both, but I wouldn't go so far as
Vaska's claim that "Fr. Maire...is definitely referring to that New
Testament episode." 

	Steve Maas