MDDM Ch. 28 Notes & Questions

[John Bailey]

[I wrote...]
>At least we don’t get anyone shouting ‘Legalise
> > it!’

[and then jbor wrote...]
>But surely this type of sentiment is implicit in this scene?
>

[and now I'll write...]
Well, taking your input broadly, I suppose that yeah, I can (and would 
expect to) see this chapter as implicitly pro-hemp, and yet...

It's very complicated. At the least, there is a very sinister aspect to the 
chapter, which may be merely my response, I guess. Whilst there is some 
outright humour, the scene evolves towards a grinning, red-eyed Washington 
putting the fear into our fellows, and ends with some outright paranoia. To 
add to this, the 'stoned-colonials' aspect of the chapter is a very 
intriguing contrast to the race-relations component of the section, which 
alone is very interesting but when cast in this light becomes far more 
obtuse. Which leads to...
[me writing...]
> > -.20 ‘Where you be at, my man!’

[and jbor replying...]
>
>I think Gershom's reply - "Yes Massuh Washington Suh." - is part of a
>double-act here. George is flaunting what the Pennsylvanians think, that he 
>"talk[s] like an African" (276.15), which prejudice against Southerners in 
>general is echoed in the excerpt from Wicks's daybook:
>
>     ... They gaily dance the steps their African Slaves teach them. [ ... 
>]
>     No good can come of such dangerous Boobyism. (275)
>
>Both George and Gersh are putting on these stereotype(s) *deliberately*, to
>entertain their guests, and confound the criticisms.
>

[and the Master Juba stuff which I found fantastic, and had no idea of 
previously...]

[Later, Terrance added...]
>I agree that George and Gersh are putting on quite a show for our >boys. 
>That being said I can't believe that Gersh's is serious about
>George wanting him to invest in Swamp land.

I agree that a show is being put on, without a doubt, and this becomes 
pretty obvious at numerous points throughout the section. Read in this 
light, the scene is not so problematic, or at least, not so tricky on 
Pynchon's part. I'll save most of my thoughts on this for a longer and more 
cogent post, but I guess I'm thinking of this scene in contrast to, say, the 
Komical Kamikazes in GR, or Takeshi in VL, and the way that their dialogue 
parodies the racist 'ear', so to speak, without really indicating that we 
have some real characters doing the parodying. Having Gersh and Washington 
put on an act is different from presenting the 'act' without that 
character-driven context, ie, without giving it a source. For me at least, 
Takeshi's dialogue in VL conjures up all sorts of Western representations of 
Japanese characters in eg comics, redubbed Japanese movies from the 50s 
onwards, etc etc. But there's no sense of this as an act of Takeshi's, 
simply because, like most of Pynchon's characters up until M&D, that sort of 
psychologising, that interest in 'depth' and 'motive' seems less important. 
Does P become more 'realist' in M&D? I don't know.

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