VV - Chapter 13.I&II - SOS #2

[David Morris]

The great debate continues throughout this chapter, but in the mean time...

I: Prelude to Passage

Pig and Profane come home (Rachel's), "rollicking in late," and Profane proves
he has more dependents than he'd like to admit:  He saves Paola from Pig's
Penis. Cut to the end of Ch. 13.I: Another female (Paola) gives Benny a clue
that his self-image is wrong: "'Then why did you make Pig go away?'  He thought
about that one for a few weeks."

Profane's heroic power over Pig has its genesis in the story of "the biological
effects of r-f energy."  It is essentially the story of male bonding and
brotherly love, which is also the source of Pig's code of honor, momentarily
lapsed in his jump of Paola.

Oh! I almost forgot! Chapter 13 starts with, "The passage to Malta took place
in late September [...]” This whole chapter tells us how Profane "accidentally"
ended up going to Malta, which we'd had no clue was in his future.  This is
intended to prejudice our reading of this chapter.  "The ship was the Susanna
Squaducci, which had figured once before in Profane's long-interrupted
guardianship of Paola."  No dependents indeed!

[side:
http://listeningroom.lycos.com/fan/bands/readitagain/Band.html
Album: High Susanna Squaducci
Genre: Alternative - Indie 
Band: Cordelero  ]

II: "All things gathered to farewell."

Profane goes home to Mom (and Pop, but who cares about him). "Profane was sure
that the world would be worse off without Mothers like that."  "That?" 
Shouldn't he be saying "his?"  This pronoun usage hints at the possibility that
this entire sub-chapter is a flight Profane's idealistic imagination, not a
literal visit to Benny's home.  "They'd know he'd been there."

Back to reality, Benny and Rachel argue some more.  Benny smokes pot, which
makes him "less of a man" for Rachel.  "Fun," it seems for her, is an ignoble
goal.  "Living" (noble) vs. "Experiencing" (masturbation) is Rachel's
moral-yardstick, which Mother Superior will break over your raised hairy palms.

Benny proceeds to "put Rachel down" by dabbling in WSC membership (The WSC
refuses to "grow up" and thus not adult, i.e. "a man").  But to keep Benny
Rachel will accept all the "putting down" Benny's got. "Only pretend to love
me."

Meanwhile Stencil lurks in the shadows with "Machiavellian" designs.  His
manipulations identify him with the female aspect of power and may account for
his earlier premonition that he is actually looking for his "Soul's
Transvestite."  Stencil admits to Benny that he is searching for his own
motive, and that of mankind: "If one knew why there'd be eternal peace."

Stencil then lures Benny into a comic crime and into a passage to Malta.

David Morris


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