Benny's job ("kook")

[Terrance]

> 
> The WSC is, in fact, in many respects a prototypical counter-culture. I like
> the way that the gang rally to Stencil's aid when he is shot, and the vague
> fear that Stencil has of being spotted by that "cop off duty" in the
> *Hungarian* coffee shop.

Right! prototypical, but not of the 1960s and 1970s American
counter-culture, the Vietnam era. Yes, the Poles, the
Hungarians, the Suez Crisis, the American cops off duty, the
Alligator Patrol Parody, the fantastic Fairing, the
homesickness for the Depression, 1930s and 1950s. 


> 
> I also wonder about the usage of the word "Sick" in the Crew's name, which
> has come to pass in the contemporary vernacular as a synonym for outstanding
> or excellent.

I posted some *West Side Story* here. The then contemporary
vernacular was not quite synonymous with Excellent, Dude. I
also posted comments on the use of the word delinquent,
delinquency, juvenile delinquent. If Benny was born in 1932,
he was a teen or in one sense at least, a "juvenile
delinquent" during WWII, when Fathers were at War, Moms were
at work. I think "Sick" here is in fact, like delinquent, at
least in one very important sense, "healthy."  There are
several examples of the crews "Care", they rush out to pick
up the old fart, yes, shot in the ass, Fu making jokes about
how the clues were bound to bite back....Rachel, another
teen of that War period Mothers Esther, Esther sneaking out
the door with her "mom's" or "big sister's" or "roommate's"
coat on, Rachel paying her bills, the passing of the hat for
rent or  the collection for Esther, but there is also
sickness, the TV cops, the love of objects, the TV consumer
wind up plastic world, the mechanical bride (Rachel) Benny's
meets for the "first" time and the MG girl from Five Towns.
Might be interesting to compare the Playboys, the "gangs" in
V. with the "gangs" in West Side Story.   



> 
> I don't think that the names "Kook" or Cucarachito, when used by his friends
> and family, are either meant or taken offensively. 

I'm not sure. Perhaps P has selected this name to play off
the stereotypes. So the name, cucarichito (only noted once)
is not so much part of the story, as a subversive naming by
the author.  It could be a name affectionately given to the
boy when he was tiny. "My little mouse", "my little bug." We
can't say. But, while Pynchon may like bugs, cockroaches,
little or big, are not well liked in NYC. 


The sympathy that Angel &
> co feel for the poor old blind alligators is simply fellow-feeling for
> another group of large preterite beings (cf Slothrop and trees), and the
> words they use which both lure and assuage the beasts have a certain cooing
> gentleness about them. The tenor of the word "gook", however, was and is
> that of a racial slur. It does not appear in this text.
> 
> best

They even have this "care" for the rats.