MDMD Horse

[Terrance]

The sea horse (ship), the flying horse (Sphinx). And  one thinks of
Swift again, talking horses and cannibalism (body of christ), stables...
and here in chapter 4, the great Salim. Why would an arms dealer in
America have dealings that involve a horse named Salim? 

Horses will show up later, that's "a horse of a different color." "Toto,
Am I dreaming or is this the land of OZ? 

One thinks of the riders (stars), Rilke, and the metal man and his
horse  in GR. 

What are Dixon and Mason off to see? A quest for a heart, a brain, some
courage, Home? 
Political film that Wizard of Oz. The timing of it. 


"She had to find out for herself." 
                --Glinda, The Wizard Of Oz

Dixon and Mason are on quests. Slothrop, like Stencil
and Oedipa, is on a quest. The quest theme is a Pynchon
favorite and it is pervasive in GR: cowboy, detective, love,
picaresque, etc. and occurs in Sacral (Kabbalist, Masonic,
Gnostic etc), Mythic or Magical (Grail, Tarot, Astrological,
etc.), Scientific/Technological (psychology, mathematics,
aerodynamics, rocket engineering, etc.), and in variations
of these assimilated. The Scentific/Technological quests
(Faustian) are presented as Profane or corrupt versions of
the Sacred, Mythical, and Magical, while the Sacred,
Mythical, and Magical, are Carnivalized. So, sometimes
characters are not sure if they are on a quest or if they
are running for their lives (kinda like Dorothy--"I'll get
you my little Tyrone and your little Penis too!"). And like
Dorothy, the goal (spiritual and material) of the quest keep
multiplying ("some place where there isn't any trouble",
"get out of OZ", Emerald City, Home, Heart, Brains, Courage,
OZ, Wizard, WWW's broom, Kansas, and of course "the land of
E Pluribus Unum"). Some characters in GR, like Slothrop, are
on a quest for a whole bunch of things, like, Self or
Identity, lovers, relatives, ancestors, doubles, drugs,
information, money, technology (Imipolex G, S-Gerat)
discharge from the service ("ruptured duck" GR.61 and
GR.526), Jamf, and so on.

Characters change their interests rather haphazardly,
abandoning one set of objects or goals and adopting new ones
as the story moves along, parody after fantastic parody.
However, and this is one of the reason I consider Pynchon a
traditional Modernist (GR has all 14 elements of Bakhtin's
formulation for Menippean Satire, including the quest motif
and parody of various genres), who mocks novelistic
conventions even as they make up large portions of the
narrative. Motivation is an essential element in Pynchon's
fiction. 

However,  Pynchon subverts traditional character
motivation, thus subverting both the quests and questers,
characters are not where we will find the "traditional"
maturation, evolution, learning, etc. as we do in say,  Pip
of "Great Expectations",  or Jude of "Jude The Obscure" or
Tom Jones of Fielding's masterwork, the protagonist's
journey to maturation, bildungsroman, is
still represented, as is motivation, only what motivates
characters are various Forces. This is what Pynchon is
concerned with, the forces of consciousness, though
consciousness is not individualized nor is it separate from
the forces "outside" consciousness.  

But, the single force motivation in GR does not change. All
quests promise some sort of redemption from an insufferable
predicament and characters try everything on Earth to
"transcend" the human condition. Most fail either because
they cannot get to their goal or when they do, they find
annihilation. What's interesting is that when questers
succeed in GR, they succeed only in protecting or redeeming
others, Geli, for example, prevents murder with magic. 
One of thinks of Dixon. On the other hand, when questers fail, 
they fail for all sorts of reasons: they are late, 
they are on the wrong track, the
wrong train, the wrong ship, moving in the wrong direction,
they forget, they are afraid (like Stencil is afraid to got
to Malta), etc.

What motivates Dixon and Mason? Mason could make more money walking the
land at home. 
Mason has many reasons why he should be at home. What are they off to
see? 
Is it America? Perhaps, maybe, had they, head I, had he, could it have
been the fork in the road? 

Scarecrow gives directions. 


PS sorry about that mix up with V. and CL49.