MDDM Ch. 70 Scalping Lord Lepton
Terrance
lycidas2 at earthlink.net
Tue Aug 20 10:12:21 CDT 2002
Coffee break at Postmodern Parrots Inc.
jbor wrote:
>
> Although, and I think this is something you have overlooked, consider
> Catfish's judgement:
>
> "... He was a very bad man. Even White People hated him." (681.1)
>
> So I don't think it's as simple as Native Indian = "good" such that White
> Man = "bad" in Pynchon's text. Recall that giant hemp tree, for example, and
> the way it motivated a distinctly capitalist type of greed and exploitation
> amongst the tribes (654-5).
Agreed. Although (and I could be misreading again?), I think this is one
of Bandwraith's points as well. That is, that the simple White hat
(Marvy sports a White Stetson hat and more cartoonish, also a Southern
stereotype--see TRP's comments on Farina's dislike of Southerners in the
Intro to BDSL and see P's first attempt to draw a southerner, MMV)
versus Black hat is problematized. I think Bandwraith's other point,
that is, that Lepton (even if it is not his scalp and the text is
deliberately indeterminate on this) is more a "scapegoat" for Dixon and
Mason, more salient, both in his post and in the text.
But, yes, the invisible hand of evil can touch any man or woman, making
Europeans and "even savages" its creatures. MD.411
>
> I'm pretty certain that it's meant to be the scalp of Lepton, and his rifle:
>
> He cannot release his Grasp upon the thing. (428.32)
Who can't? Lepton is not present. It can't be his Grasp. Although it
could as well be his as any invisible hand I guess.
>
> " ... a Monomaniack ... " "--looking for that Rifle back." (681.14)
Obviously the scalpless one, but monomaniack could describe anyone.
>
> And I don't think the encounter is meant to be "staged", except by Pynchon,
> of course, tying up another loose sub-plot.
Seems to me that the fact that they run into Catfish, Nephew and others,
is no coincidence.
>
> I think that Mason is worried about the "evil Powers" of the inverted
> Pentacle (a Satanic emblem), and warns Catfish to prise that out. I don't
> think he cares about Catfish's possession of the rifle, and both he and Jere
> were pretty impressed by it back at Lepton's (cf. also Mason's praise of
> "[t]he Lancaster County Rifle" at 663.2).
Yeah, it's the devil's emblem he's worried about, another INVISIBLE
connection Mason has in mind. Mortality, Death. MD.429
And they are attracted to it. Like there is something ancient and
magnetic about it. Hell, it's America, everyone has got to have a piece,
even Quakers. Of course, Dixon got his piece of Lepton, at least Mason
fancies that he did, under magnetic forces ancient, if not quite as
evil. And Dixon is right, it is, technically, an American gun.
>
> My guess is that D & M remain silent about knowing Lepton so as not to be
> mistaken as an ally of his, something which I'd say they certainly aren't.
Well, maybe they are silent because P wants us to guess. Catfish and Co.
know from whom they took their prize and so do Dixon and Mason, so it's
likely that while they don't say it, they know that they know.
In terms of allies. Mason might feel differently if he had managed to
break the bank in the Lepton Gambling room. He sure seemed interested in
making himself and ally/alloy despite Being very near the bottom
(Wasteland) of the chain of evil.
>
> And, banal though it is, the LL of Lord Lepton, "drooling and sneering,
> multiply-bepoxed" (416.20), seems a conscious precedent for the MM of Major
> Marvy. Type and prototype.
Fopple and comes to mind. And the the father at the cape, a double.
>
> I think that it "not feeling complete" to Mason was his simple expression of
> disbelief in mortality, coupled with a eulogy for Lepton which is thoroughly
> drenched in Schadenfreude.
>
> best
>
> Bandwraith wrote:
>
> >
> > In a message dated 8/15/02 18:31 PM, jbor at bigpond.com writes:
> >
> > <<This brief scene with Catfish showing off Lepton's rifle, and Lepton's scalp
> > still dripping blood (680-1) reminded me of the castration of Major Marvy
> > in
> > GR, although it's even more gruesome, less darkly comic than the episode in
> > the earlier novel. Here Pynchon's brutal stroke of poetic justice is
> > directed against a character probably less cruel than foolish, and
> > certainly
> > less cruel and despicable than Marvy was. >>
> >
> >
> > Yes, and it probably is Lepton, although it might not
> > be. But what about the reaction of M&D, for whom this
> > encounter is surely staged? M finds it less than complete,
> > and there are numerous documentations of survivors of
> > scalpings, both in the historical and the medical literature,
> > although the exception rather than the rule. Neither was
> > scalping solely the practice of the natives. And Dixon
> > envisions the scalpee to be more concerned about "the
> > piece" than his missing topper. M&D are not sanguine
> > about the possibility of the owner of this rifle having been
> > murdered by Catfish, to the point where they are not
> > satisfied with only bearing witness to his blood-dripping
> > scalp. They want him separated from the rifle permanently.
> >
> > And yet, how can they, if but only in the deepest recesses
> > of their mutual "sentimental horizon", not but picture their own
> > fates- this far west of the Warrior Path- to be similar to that of
> > Lepton? They must simultaneously feel kinship with him as they
> > despise him. Isn't that the functional definition of a scapegoat?
> >
> > In that sense, I agree with you about the similarity with Marvey.
> > Lepton also functions as a scapegoat, not so much for white
> > male readers, like Marvey, but for M&D themselves. It is
> > interesting that "revenge" and "that rifle" are what M&D picture
> > the scalped Lepton as missing most, but that certainly is
> > "in character" for both of them.
> >
> >
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