GRGR(10) - That Futureless Look
David Morris
fqmorris at hotmail.com
Wed Sep 22 23:27:02 CDT 1999
(209.2) Hasn't he seen, in her "futureless look" some link to his own past,
something that connects them as lovers? [...] all her bets are in, she has
only the tedium now of being knocked one room to the next, [...] till
inertia brings her to the last.
----------
Slothrop sees Katje as a victim. He is also, but there is a difference.
She has reached the end of her "own" life, and is now in Their corridors,
now passively knocked from room to room, waiting for the last. Who cares
what's the number?
Slothrop also has been placed in Their corridor's wheel. He too is a victim
of the past. This past seems to include generations of wiring, built-in.
The Past's plans may go back to before history, before consciousness.
Aren't we all helpless, hopeless?
Yet the two, Slothrop & Katje, are opposites. Where Slothrop is the great
naive, Katje is encrusted by the patina of the expected end. They are
lovers which compliment.
What makes them different? It is their take on an Age Old theological
question (stay tuned). That question challenges the issue of Control.
Presumably They/God/The Past have got a lock on Control. Katje knows the
score, right? The Casino is the temple of determinacy, destiny. Does
Slothrop stand a chance against this Evil Empire?
What does the script say? Will he ad-lib? Where's that joint?
Age Old Question: Free Will Vs. Predetermination; That Calvanist seed sown
in America. Slothrop represents...
Are the Saved and the Damned already known in the Mind of God? Of course
the question remains, even after we have dispensed with God: Controlled Vs.
In Control. Obviously both sides are true, to varying degrees, moment by
moment, even though the cards are stacked, the tables rigged, there may be a
chance... "Fuck You" is a needed curse.
Slothrop is our Hero. He may be doomed nonetheless. But he introduces dust
into the servo-mechanism, humidity into the fuel mix. He is our hope. My
hope.
Amen
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