"Morality" in *GR* (cont.)

[Terrance]

jbor wrote:
> 
> ----------
> >From: Terrance <Lycidas at worldnet.att.net>
> 
> > The allusion to Conrad's {we are in the Zone in most of
> > scenes being discussed) Heart of Darkness on the first page
> > of the Zone provides the answer to this reader.
> 
> Except it's Slothrop's ancestors, his "own WASPs in buckled black" who
> "reassert themselves", *not* the "quaint superstitions" of "Darkest Africa"
> at all. (281)

The WASPs in buckled black, yes, these are both positive and
negative, the bibles and the trees, the rocks, the stones.
The ancestors and signs of Katje and doubles too, like the
girl in the communion dress. 

But the quaint superstitions of "Darkest Africa" *do* quite
literally take over Slothrop. These are not literally
African in Conrad or here in the Zone, though African
superstitions are included, the Darkness is the mystery of
evil in the Heart of Man. In the Zone, for a brief moment,
anarchy prevails, Darkness and Light are mixed and the zones
multiply and combine, the walls come down, the "other side"
is present on this side, the poles are quite literally
reversed (a favorite Pynchon device) and the earth has
turned over,  and there is no good and evil on the other
side. That's why Geli fears it.