MDDM Ch. 28 Notes & Questions

[jbor]

on 16/1/02 5:34 PM, John Bailey at johnbonbailey at hotmail.com wrote:

snip
> 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.

I found this meeting with George and his family far less sinister than the
one they had with Franklin in the previous chapter. I thought for a moment
that perhaps George had got Cha. and Jere. stoned deliberately in order to
put them at a disadvantage, but when I went back to the text to verify this
I noted that it was in fact Dixon who "blurts" a question about the smell of
dope (278.12), even though he knows "quite well, from the Cape, what it is."
And George responds by remarking his own inhospitability and offering a
tote. It's an entirely natural and gracious gesture, and they all seem to be
at their ease and talking freely throughout the interview.

The other thing I'd remark at this point is that Gershom, even though
explicitly George's man-servant, is not treated as an inferior: he is
naturally included in the dope and bull session on the porch. He needs not
ask before accepting the pipe. (279-280) And the way I read it, George tries
to wave Gershom back inside the house at this point because he has just
spilt the beans on the real estate "opportunity" George was going to spin in
the Englishmen's direction.

The thing with the *Yarmulke* on the Peruke on the slave is that it is
actually a curious display of black on white *on black*, though neither
Mason nor Dixon nor Pynchon make anything of the *colour* of Gershom's
person.

best