Keith's question re MDMD Dixon's act of nonviolence

[s~Z]

>>>"Places" would seem to indicate a deliberate action by Dixon
here,<<<

It definitely indicates deliberateness. The word is "places."

>>>Dixon's placement of his fist seems to be either (1) the
physical result of extending his arm and hand to take
the whip from the driver, the fist formed as he grips his fingers
and thumb around the whip's handle,<<<

This is stretching. And it leaves out that regardless of how the
fist was formed, he chose where to place it.

>>>(2) a deliberate act on Dixon's part, in the
heat of the moment he decides to let the driver run into his
fist<<<

Again, you're leaving out that he 'placed' his fist in the path of
the face. He is an intelligent man who knows the face will hit
that fist. Had he not placed it there, no tooth would have been
broken.

>>> -- a violent impulse<<<

A violent impulse with a violent action and violent verbiage.

>>>that, later in this episode, he appears to intentionally
back away from when he chooses not to beat or kill the man.<<<

True, he didn't kill the man.

>>>Again, Pynchon leaves it ambiguous, leaves it to the reader to
attribute an intention to
Dixon's action.<<<

But, it seems fair to remain true to the words in the text in
attributing intention regarding the making of a fist and the
placement of said fist. You're adding ambiguity regarding
specifics that are not at all ambiguous, because, if you don't, it
violates your presupposition that Dixon would not commit a violent
act. There is no ambiguity. He actively created a collision
between his fist and a face, which broke a man's tooth. He did not
kill the man.