MDDM Ch. 72 Dixon and the slave driver

[owen j mcgrann]

>Until the mine explodes (active).  Dixon's fist can
>remain where he placed it, stationary and passive, and
>do the damage reported in this episode, as a result of
>the slave-driver coming after his whip, no further
>movement or action necessary by Dixon's fist.

the mine itself has no agency; dixon has.  dixon, unlike the mine can 
intend - and by placing his fist (which you seem to want to call an passive 
act) in the "way of the oncoming Face" it appears pretty clear to me that 
dixon knows full well what will happen by holding his fist in the path of 
the slave drivers face: he intends to injure the man.  the mood of the 
whole passage makes it evident that dixon is the aggressor: he "seizes the 
Whip"; when the slave driver falls away, "Dixon follows, raising the Whip."



- owen

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