GRGR (17) - The State of Peoplelessness

[Michael Perez]

David wrote:
"Slothrop knows he is alone, has no people.  In this he is much like
Enzian and the Zone Hereros: dislocation and thus free-agency.   
Existential freedom.  It is a valuable commodity and also a great
weight."

To which Doug countered:
"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."

And Ron wrote:
"Both are in the 'resistance' or 'paranoid' phase- struggling against
the forces 'controlling' (conditioning?) humanity (gods, how blunt, but
there you go...)"

First, we should remember that Enzian is only HALF Herero, so he is
without a people all his own.  He is "Otyikondo, the Half-breed."
[316.28-9]  It is also made clear that he and Andreas Orukambe do not
agree on how to proceed with their journey, spiritual or otherwise. 
Slothrop is without his people, if he could be said to have any, but he
was actually among his people as a stranger, if we remember he
retracing the colonial path taken by William Slothrop back to England. 
The displaced person self-identification can be compounded, and is, I
believe many times, in this book, by the characters feelings of being
alone among what are supposed to be their own people.  In this sense,
Enzian and Tyrone are very similar.  By the way, where are all the
Germans? (rhetorical) Even Saure Bummer and Margherita Erdmann are
strangers in their own lands.  It seems that the zones have
reestablished the wilderness.

Michael

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com