MDDM Gershom's Intervention

[jbor]

on 3/7/02 7:02 PM, Michel Ryckx at michel.ryckx at freebel.net wrote:

> "Civility, Sir! The word you have employ'd, here in this quiet Pool of Reason,
> is
> a very Shark, which ever feels its Lunch-Hour nigh."

The exclamation "Civility, Sir!" is an admonition to be civil, to speak
civilly. George is berating the man for uttering what he considers to be a
profanity, in other words. The shark metaphor George follows up with
indicates that he believes that it is a vicious, voracious label, one which
incites racism and cruelty, for example.

Attributing spoken dialogue in Pynchon's work is usually pretty
straightforward, as is the case here.

best