GRGR(4) - Slothrop's Rape

[David Morris]

Terrance F. Flaherty:
> Can we determine if Slothrop was raped, literally raped at this point
> in the novel? Are there other factors you can direct us to further
> along in the text?

I can't back it up w/ text further along, yet, but at this point in the
novel it seems (to me) the clearest reading of this section:

While in the "real world" of the nightclub he either imagines a scenario of
being grabbed from behind or it literally happens and THEN goes on his
journey.  I'll admit it could be either.  But while down there the world
starts rhythmically jostling, where upon we're told not to forget that Red
Devil up there (as I pointed out earlier, this is also when "the White
Cocksman of the _terre mauvais_ appears, and with that title the allusion to
the common French phrase _mauvais quart d'heure_).  The implication is
clear: He's being raped, either literally or in the back of his fantasy
mind.

Consider this also: When he first starts down the tube to escape the gang,
he feels hands around his ankles over his Mom-knitted argyle socks:
-------------
(64.40) but these insulate so well, or he has progressed so far down the
toilet by now, that he can hardly feel the hands at all...
Then he has shaken them off [...] Now some folks might say whew, Thank God
for _that_, [...] but Slothrop doesn't say much of anything cause he didn't
_feel_ much of anything.
--------------
For some reason Pynchon makes a point of emphasizing Slothrop's loss of
sensation.  Why?  I think the implication is that he's snapped, has blocked
out the sensation of what is literally happening "up there" while he take
his journey.  It's clear to me that this possibility is intended.  I'm not
forcing anyone to agree.

The "transmarginal" thing is purely wild speculation.

And this from the Max:
>Dudes,
>I hate to be the one to tell ya, but the narrator, omnicient 3rd
>person P.O.V. (either in the real world, or in terms of Slothrop's drug
>induced reverie) has this to say:

How, for God's sake, did you determine that "omnicient [sic] 3rd person
P.O.V." stuff.  Talk about favorite readings!

>"Then he has shaken them off, left the last Negro touch back up there and
>is free, slick as a fish, with his virgin asshole preserved." (pp 64-65.)

The sentence which follows, quoted above, leaves your following conclusion
in doubt, especially considering the bumping landscape and the Red Devil
lines.

>IMHO Slothrop is not raped in reality or fantasy, otherwise, why
>put this sentence in the text.  We must go back to the text when we make
>claims for our favorite reading.  The text is not an ink blot.

I'd say the text makes a VERY GOOD inkblot.  I've also cited a lotta text
for this reading, so deal with THAT instead of making disparaging
characterizations.

>No offense meant.  But we really gotta have some agreement on procedures
>or we're really out on uncharted seas, each navigating by his own hunches.

Dude, You have GOT to be kidding! "agreement on procedures"?????????

Wow!
Never knew I'd shake YOUR world so hard.