GRGR (17) - The State of Peoplelessness

[David Morris]

>From: Doug Millison <

>How does being alone and having no people make Slothrop like Enzian, who is
>not alone, who is surrounded by his tribe and nation? The difference
>couldn't be clearer.

Only on the surface, Doug:

Enzian and all of the Zone Hereros are peopleless.  Their people have been 
exterminated and the remnants have been dislocated from their culture and 
their land.  Remember those untied umbilical chords?

The empty ones have recognized their free agency and have decided to "quit 
the game."  This is an act of ultimate personal responsibility.  They have 
recognized the weight of their freedom and have decided to get off that 
"somebody else's voyage."  In this regard they have chosen a faultless path. 
  It is their own now.

Slothrop has flashes of the meaning of this kind of freedom, but he keeps 
falling back into patterns from his cultural past, like those comic-book 
characters, and continues on paths set by others.
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