MDMD Washington

[Doug Millison]

I do find P's characterization of Geo. Washington far from flattering.

The encounter between Mason and Dixon and Washington is framed, on page
275, with a passage from Cherrycoke's diary that begins, "In their
Decadency these Virginians practice an elaborate Folly of Coutrly Love",
concludes, "No good can come of such dangerous Boobyism. What sort of
Politics may proceed herefrom, only He that sows the Seeds of Folly in His
World may say."

Enter Col. Washington, already a figure of fun, the way Pynchon sets things
up. Cherrycoke next pays the Father of Our Country a decidedly left-handed
compliment  ("In this Provinceof the Unreflective, if the Colonel serves no
as a Focus of Sobriety, neither is he quite the incompetent Fool depicted
in the London press") and suggests we cut the guy some slack despite all
appearances -- sort of like the way people who don't like Bush Jr. talk
about his dip-stick not reaching his oil,  lights-on-nobody-home, that sort
of mockery. Then Washington launches into a  real estate investment pitch.

Booby, real estate huckster ("Dismal Swamp Land Shares") , paranoid pot
smoker not quite right in the head,  as W.C. Fields  ("my Treasure"; "my
Nosegay of Virtues") inviting us to compare Washington to a well-liked
comedian equally well known as a child-hating drunkard....  Yeah, Pynchon's
layering on the respect for the Father of Our Country.

Washington's quip, "My man" and the response of the "African servant", "Yes
Massuh Washington Suh" may wring a laugh but also reminds us the latter is
the property of the former, hardly a flattering situationfor Washington at
the time Pynchon's writing.  A singing bird in a cage is a prisoner no
matter how its master dotes on the entertaining creature.

I read this against the backdrop of the black/white race politics material
in GR, those black musicians entertaining the rich drunk white college boys
with their sphincter-tightening fears of black shoeshine boys, beginning on
page 62 of GR. The closer you look at it (Washington and his slave) in this
broader context, the less attractive Washington appears, in my view.

This whole chapter is funny, of course, but not in a way that adds to the
stature of Geo. Washington, in my view.

I suppose you can get to the position of benign or even affectionate
respect you seem to read in P's portrait of Washington, but only by
throwing overboard most of the darts Pynchon actually shoots.

jbor:
>Is there any textual evidence of this in _M&D_, or are you just pissing your
>name in the snow?

What a curious way to answer an email  -- is that really what you see
yourself doing, Rob?