GRGR(7) - Pointy's Obsession

[David Morris]

(90.10) Pavlov believed that obsession and paranoid delusions were the
result of certain [...] cells [...] being excited to a level where, through
reciprocal induction, all the area around becomes inhibited.  One bright
burning point, surrounded by darkness.
----------
(141.38)  he [Pointy] thinks he feels patterns on his cortex going dark.
----------
(144.35) "Whatever we may find, there can be no doubt that he [Slothrop] is
[...] a monster.  _We must never lose control._  The thought of him lost in
the world of men, after the war, fills me with a deep dread I cannot
extinguish..."
----------

Pointy has clearly "lost it," even by his own definition.  He is obsessed
with the monster (Minotaur) which is Slothrop, and thinks that the (Nobel)
prize (for Theseus, the prize was Ariadne herself, and he treated her like a
trophy, leaving her solitary on an island) will be his when he slays that
beast.

----------
(141.22)The Prizes... what could compare!  _Later when you're older, you'll
know_, they said.
----------

What could compare?  How about a little "humanity", or even "sanity."

Of course, Pointy's worst fear eventually happens.

More on Theseus and Ariadne later...

David