The Whole Rotten Lot

[Terrance]

Mark David Tristan Brenchley wrote:
> 
>         Personally, I think you're reading far, far too much into one
> phrase. I think "whole sick crew" pretty much stands for itself. Perhaps
> the reason it doesn't make complete sense in that though its specific it
> doesn't actually refer to anything concrete.
> 
> Regards,
> MARK

Right, and it also has different meanings depending on where
the phrase appears in the text. 

This can be so maddening in GR, the puns and puns of
contradictions complicated by Kapitlaizations and alternate
Spellings, that going through this exercise of looking at a
particular  phrase or word even, 

say R(r)ocket or W(w)hite or dialectical or dispensation or
"P(p)aranoid, or "Kute Korrespondences"

through various etymological lenses and prisms perhaps
becomes a tedious and arduous task. 

Unless of course you do it for fun with cyberfriends at
Pynchon-l. In which case, it helps to discuss the term, the
word, the phrase, in context. 

Delinquent means something different at the beginning of the
Nose job section than it means at the end. 

P's play on the word chase(d) in here is almost what critics
might say is "overdetermined", but it's not the case. Chase
them out and you will see that P overwrites his novels, he
can't help it, it's how he writes. He does it in every book. 

Yes, he often sets the reader up with these word sometimes,
playing on the reader's  prejudices and fears and subverting
them later in the text.  Some call this a reader trap or the
dead ends, red herrings, cul-de-sacs,  and  S&M game, kinda
like Darlene or the hundreds of other contradictions and
unsolved mysteries, but this is only the half of it. 

So, I can pull out passages, say Winsome's statements about
the Crew being Sick, or Stencil's observations, where there
seems to be little doubt that the Crew is unhealthy (of
course these are two Pots calling the kettles white). Where
is the harm that comes with this sickness? There is a lot of
care, as jbor noted, but of course we should remember that
this care is also unhealthy, Rachel is concerned about
Things, Ester's nose has replaced her MG, later she will
bitch that a man has been driving poor Esther all around
town, first banging her up, fender benders,  and now heading
for a crash, kinda like what she did to her MG, but she is
also a pretty good Mother figure for Esther. These are after
all, the juvenile delinquents ten years hence, so they can
get into even bigger trouble, pregnancy, drugs, drink, bad
business, shoot themselves or even some one else in the
balls. The whole crew, every last one, is Sick, unhealthy,
but 
these kids got nothin on the sick history P keeps us at a
safe and healthy distance from. As I noted in the early
chapters, I know this is an unpopular position, but even
Sphere is none to healthy, but Paolo, all the characters
want her, there is something very healthy about this very
sick young girl. And all the men that lust after her are
described as Pigs.