V. ch. 2: uptown taking over the world

[Terrance]

Just another shot here, but Uptown taking over here could be an allusion
to Prostitution. The daisy chain here is all very Platonic, very
inanimate, very much a clock work bereft of any sexual intercourse. 
Isn't it? This is a novel written at the end of the 50s and early
sixties. One of young men is all points, sharply dressed, but is an
angel face, baby under all that tough garb. This tough guy, bad guy,
often with cross dressing--high-heeled shoes and leather jackets, stuff
is all over the book and will, of course, be more interesting in
Mondaugan's Story and in GR. Dave Monroe commented on the boy's rings,
but I can't recall how he tied the ring motif to this guy. Anyway, the
girls in the circle jerk are just parts, disposable, expendable.
replaceable.  Stencil carries this image into Chapter 3, see the end of
Part VI, where the Sun God vs. the Moon God is also at play. Uptown is
taking over the world, the boys say. The girls don't like it. Hard to be
a Virgin, a Dynamo, a Prostitute, a Mother, on the Streets of the 20th
century. Inless you're Paola, that is. Parsonical disguises indeed. 

Mark Wright AIA wrote:
> 
> Howdy
> I don't know of course, but I'll take a shot:
> "Uptown" is Harlem, Jazz, and the Cool. And a lot of
> empowered-yet-victimized Black Americans. And would that it _could_
> have taken over the world, no? "Ha Ha, said one of the girls."
> Mark
> 
> --- Prokopis Prokopidis <prokopis at ilsp.gr> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > V., chapter 2. We are at the party in Mixolydian's appartment and ...
> >
> > > Stencil shrugged irritably, rose from the sink and found his coat.
> > On the way out he touched a knot of six: Raoul, Slab, Melvin and
> > three girls.
> > > "Man," said Raoul.
> > > "Scene," said Slab, waving his arm to indicate the unwinding party.
> > > "Later," Stencil said and moved on out the door.
> > > The girls stood silent. They were camp followers of a sort and
> > expendable. Or at least could be replaced.
> > > "Oh yes," said Melvin.
> > > "Uptown," Slab said, "is taking over the world."
> > > "Ha, ha," said one of the girls.
> >
> > Can someone provide some context to Slab's "joke"? Why is it that
> > uptown
> > is assuming control of the world? And why does this make Esther
> > laugh?
> >
> > P.
> 
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