V.V.2.--Rachel & things

[Thing]

I don't know if we noted that Rachel Owlglass is quite
different now. The car, the MG, the bragging about the men
she dated, her trivial suburban life, now seem almost the
story of a different character. The inexplicable
relationship with Benny, that 
"umbilical tug", that centering navel connection that sends
and returns Benny around   Rachel is the same, but Rachel's
move from suburban land to upstate NY to the City  changes
her and now she is working in Manhattan at an employment
agency, connecting people with, well, with what? Jobs?
Things? 

Stencil says job, not in the puritan sense. 

Rachel's ability to walk in heels is a definite sign that
she is a city girl now.  Her walking is a sign of some kind
of drive, some confidence, some conviction perhaps. Can you
imagine the girls with daddy's MG walking into Schoenmaker's
office and telling him that men like him kill themselves and
have bad dreams? Can you imagine the egotistical girl who
dated the captain of the Harvard crossbow team walking into
an office on fringes of german town and calling a powerful
and rich doctor a hypocrite? What is it about NYC, or maybe
her  involvement with the people in NYC that changes her?
Her relationships, particularly with  Esther, have changed
her. She even begins to  wonder about the long daisy chain
of victimizers and victims, screwers and screwees. And she
also wonders who it is that she might be screwing. We get
some information from Slab, he contends that Esther needs
Rachel for money, that Rachel needs Esther to "feel like a
mother, " and that lending Esther money is like adding a
strand to the "umbilical cord." 

The umbilical cord, Benny to Rachel, Rachel to Esther, the
daisy chain, the long unbroken chain to Eve, the idea of
family, of mother and father and children and the idea of
blood, genes, nationality, the human family, these are of
course being discussed in chapter 3 by Stencil.  The cord,
the chain, the human bond, what is it? Maybe it is not an
it, but her. Whom? Why does Stencil's father makes V. an it. 

Rachel reads a note from Paola: "proper nouns." The narrator
compares the orientation of
the two women: The girl lived proper nouns. Persons, places.
No things. Had anyone told her about things? It seemed
Rachel had to do with nothing else. The main one now being
Esther's nose. 

So Rachel is not quite changed after all. Or is she? 

Paola has changed too. She's one to watch. I think she holds
the key to the ivory sax.