GRGR(22) - Jonah

[David Morris]

>From: Lycidas at worldnet.att.net
>"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's
>belly; so shall the son of man be three days and three
>nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40)
>
>I can't make much of this "face of Jonah" allusion (GR.480).
>
>Later, GR.501, "Barracks have had their roofs blown away:
>spinal and ribwise and sunwhite the bones of these creatures
>that must have held in their time half the Jonahs of falling
>Europe.
>
>So what does she mean by the face of Jonah?
>
>My guess is she means that Slothrop is not really a party
>animal like the  others, or he is simply the bad luck guy
>here, the guy  that draws the lot, the guy God or other
>forces of great wrath are after and that may not be the best
>thing for the rest of the mariners aboard the Anubis.

Yes, Stephania sends Slothrop to patch things up with Greta because "We 
don't want anything to happen."  She want's to maintain the status quo, and 
Slothrop has proven to be a destabilizing agent.

There are other parallels with Jonah:  They are in the midst of a raging 
storm, and Slothrop does go over the side.  The Jonah parallel with Christ, 
which you reference, is also applicable to Slothrop.

The soldiers that have passed through the now bombed-out barracks being 
called "Jonahs"  is less clear.  Like Jonah, these troops have been 
"drafted" by a force which they can't resist for a mission to a foreign 
land.  Slothrop was "sent" from the Casino to cultivate an "_Imipolectique_" 
and now that he's had the Greta-revelations he knows this greater force 
(those sub-Slothrup needs) are directing him, no matter where he runs.

>As Jonah could not escape  by sailing away, neither can
>Slothrop escape, and perhaps like Jonah Slothrop is simply
>directed and his actions will not produce the outcome he
>desires.

Yep.

DM
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