GR(28) - Some Themes

[David Morris]

In this last quarter, "The Counterforce," The physicality of the text, as 
Jere put it earlier, becomes less and less substantial.  Any described place 
or person is apt to pop in or out without segue or plot-logical sequence.  
At this point time and place seem subservient to _Themes_.

So, starting with the Kazoo we find ourselves surrounded by Music, which we 
shall see is not so much a Message, but a Medium:

We first encounter the _Sounds of The Counterforce_, which disturbs even 
Slothrop from his slumber.  The Counterforce's music is a purposeful 
intrusion upon the comfortable world of the Comfortable.  It is the Bronx 
raspberry!  This is a pure "Fuck You" sound.

Next we get the continued music-debate between Saure Bummer and Gustave.  As 
has been said, the arguments are well-worn, but SB & G never seem to tire of 
them.  How can we characterize them:  Old Fools vs. New Turks?  Sensuality 
vs. Rationality?  Natural vs. Artificial?  None of these really works.  All 
are too simplistic.  We have an endless round-about, neither side "Good" nor 
"Bad."  These are old friends who LOVE to argue about _MUSIC_.

Next we are treated to the musical stylings of Orpheus-Slothrop.  His 
Albatross-harp has been well-plucked, but not yet dismantled.  His special 
skill now is the ability to find and channel forth the spirits of lost 
harpmen, and he is honored for this sacred ability with anonymous food 
offerings.

At this time Slothrop's temporal band-width is very slim.  So slim that his 
very "will" is continually in question.  Each day he is a new individual, 
distinct and cut-off from those before and after.

[insert quote]

He is besieged from within by the 5th against the standard FOUR.  He is 
ready to burst.  So he scrawls his Rocket-mandala.  It is a hex, a tool for 
his keeping himself together.  At the center of the mandala is God, the 
crossroad which he later becomes, HOME.

What IS this crossroad?
1.  The Rocket seen from below.
2.  The four F's of the swastika.
3.  A place where he can hear traffic from the other side.

Slothrop _becomes_ the mandrake root, the living manifestation of the 
PRETERITE crossroad, the place of the condemned.  As the Mandrake Slothrop 
has again become a medium.  "Medium" here is "a means of conveyance," for 
either a messenger a spell.  The mandrake root is a potent ingredient for 
magic, and it is multi-functional.  Choose your spell.

With this we come full circle to the music theme:  Music is a medium, much 
like the mandrake.  But what is the message?  Does the medium have inherent 
values?  Is it Natural, or Devil-made?  Tonality or Row?

But, Oh Shit, here comes the CIA:  the Committee for Idiopathic 
Archetypes!!!  Their purpose is clear:  CONTROL.  Archetypes must be kept in 
check, or who knows what kind of Magic might happen.

Magic/Music will happen.

Bullwinkle:  "Rocky, are they friendly Spirits?"

Rocky:  "Just Listen."

David Morris

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