MDDM Ch. 66 Stig's Tale: An Interpretation

[Otto]

Of course the "Skraellings" wanted weapons because they were not peaceful,
they were fighting other Native Americans and the new technology would have
put them in an advanced position. So the formula of "this first Act of
American murder" and the way this tale is told by Stig (and Wicks) is full
of mystification, in fact the beginning of this Vineland-myth, still
prominent in contemporary America, of innocent shores free from European
faults & tyranny. There had been war, tyranny & slavery already before the
first Europeans had come.

What both groups, "Skraellings" and Vikings, had in common, had been their
belief that their God(s) favourite(s) brave fighters who have died at war.
So I wouldn't take sides concerning this tale, those "Skraellings" whose end
is tragic according to Doug were warriors first, not traders. Is there any
oral Native American tradition concerning these incidents? Doesn't Fenimore
Cooper's Chingachgook say something about it, as he says something about the
killing of the "naked Red Man" by his own forefathers? Seems no online
version of F. Cooper available.

on Cooper and his "romanticized portrayal of the Native American":
http://www.bartleby.com/65/co/CooperJ.html

Another thing -- Stig on the Vikings:
"Rogues and Projectors and Fugitives, they went without pretext. No Christ,
no Grail, no expectation beyond Day's Turning (...)." (634.13-15)

Since I first read them (in German) these lines always have reminded me of
Conrad's Marlow, saying the exact opposite:
"The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those
who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is
not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the
idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an
idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea - something you can set up, and
bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to . . ." (HoD)
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0009&msg=49394

Otto

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