MDDM Ch. 72 Dixon and the slave driver

[Bandwraith at aol.com]

In a message dated Sat, 24 Aug 2002 11:33:47 AM Eastern Standard Time, millison at online-journalist.com writes:

> Pynchon's Dixon starts out with a desire to whip the man 
> and then realizes
> he can't do it, simple as that


>From a strictly legalistic pov, I don't think
it matters a great deal if the whip came down,
although morally and argumentatively that point
may be the most provocative. Either way M&D are
in trouble with the law.

Nor does the Driver seem all that chastened
by the physical assault, at least not for long.
His main concern and hurt is over the loss of
his "Merchandise." 

In the preceding section a point is made about
the whip embodying much more "ill feeling" than
ever exists between Master and Slave, changing
the (in)equation somehow to that of monger
and merchandise.

The comparison with Washington and Gershom is
interesting in that regard. Not that the whip
somehow causes an otherwise "benign" master/
slave relationship to become hateful,i.e.,
blaming the whip, but that the application of
that technology allows for a whole nother scale
of oppression, as well as, increasing the
physical separation between S&M.