MDMD: 'Twas so sincere ...

[Paul Nightingale]

Terrance,

My reading of Blinky was that the scene depended rather less on that kind of
psychological realism. You're right to emphasise Capt. Smith's disposition:
does he, perhaps, 'reinvent' the Learned English Dog? After all, he "does
not consider his best game to be war" (a very Foucaultian phrasing); he
doesn't "bark" when replying to Blinky. It all begs the question: what is he
doing here, in this "tidy corner of Hell"? He is another of Pynchon's social
outcasts. I agree with the point about miscommunication: this is an
incompetent bureaucracy, which encourages the view that Smith has been
abandoned. Cherrycoke, wishing to make himself useful, implies that Smith
would like their help in moving on to a better posting (or even another
career altogether?). The chapter ends with the aftermath of a pointless
battle. Smith is angry at the loss of life, perhaps angry also at his own
wound, "a great Splinter in his leg": preferable to having your leg blown
off altogether, this is not the kind of wound one might wear with 'pride'.
The captain at sea would derive authority, in part, from sharing the crew's
experiences of war. However, this will bring him down to their level (ie
anyone might be wounded or killed, there is no safe distance).

Performance continues to be an important theme; Smith's intention had been
to impress Mason and Dixon with "Sallies of Wit and theories about the
Stars". The scene with Blinky appears as a flashback, after the
miscommunication scene; it explains his approach to being a captain, his
desire to define his status in terms of knowledge and the kind of
intellectual labour that would be beyond the likes of Blinky.