MDDM Ch. 72 Dixon and the slave driver

[Terrance]

s~Z wrote:
> 
> Not really. In the slave-driver scene the description of Striking wildly
> with the whip is the visual image given as context for the italicized
> 'fuck'ds.' I'm not adding that visualization. It is in the text. 

Right. It's the Slave driver whipping, mostly the air. 



The phrase
> "You broke my Tooth!" occurs immediately after Dixon raises the Whip and
> says "Turn around. I'll guess *you've* never felt this," not immediately
> after the fist placement. Thus, reading the 'youve' as an utterance
> evidencing a whiplash which broke a tooth is not a stretch at all. In both
> cases (slavedriver & Dixon), description of action involving the whip is
> followed by verbalizations using italics. Reading Dixon's usage of the Whip
> and italicized 'you'ves' through the lens of the passage describing the
> slavedriver's usage of the Whip and italicized 'fuck'ds' is perfectly
> consistent with the text, perfectly consistent with the historical record,
> and perfectly consistent with Dixon's character.

I can follow this, but it doesn't add up. 

Dixon wants the Diver to turn around so he can whip him face to face. 

Bottom of 698

Dixon      "Turn around. I'll guess you've (P's italics but no whipping)
never felt this." 

So at this point Dixon has not whipped the man. 

Driver    "You broke my tooth." 

Dixon still has not whipped the man. The tooth broke when Dixon stuck
his fist in the man's face, not at ""I'll guess you've (Italics, but no
whipping) felt this. second to last line of page 698. 

How do we know this? 

Well, we can argue this till the cows come home and never agree, but
Dixon is still demanding that the man turn around at the top of page
699. The italicized YOUs continue. Is Dixon whipping the man on the
back? 

Dixon does say, "....make it easier...." and this could indicate that
the whipping is in fact taking place on the man's back. 

However, he says, "...or must I..." 

Must I continue to whip your back or must I, once I start whipping you
to death, whip you the hard way, on the back? 


That being said, it is not out of character for Dixon to whip a man or
kill one. 





> 
> Your reading requires an interpretation of the fist placement phrase that I
> really do not buy, and once you allow that Dixon hit the guy, reading the
> rest of the passage as an artistic rendition of the historical whiplashing
> is no stretch at all.