more re MDDM Dixon's act of violence

[jbor]

Scott:
 
> Seriously, I can't quite picture Dixon actually killing anybody, but my
> sense is that in the heat of this moment, he wants to, *believes* himself
> capable of and feels that it is the *right* thing to kill the slave-driver.

Yes, I think that's about right.

> A sudden questioning of the ethics of that course of action given his
> enthusiasm to that point, especially as he threatens, however impotently, to
> kill the SD at the next available opportunity, seems a little inconsistent
> to me.
 
I think that both Dixon and the slave-driver realise that it's an empty
threat. The fateful moment has past.

> I concede, though, that if Dixon, in his passion, did manage to
> strike a fatal blow (although, with a whip and/or fists, killing someone
> would be a rather prolonged business, I think) I would expect Dixon, then,
> to experience guilt.

Yes, I think he would, and I think the narrator's rhetorical question
reifies the precise moment when Dixon realises he's at the point of no
return, what the consequences of either continuing with the assault or
walking away will be, and that the consequences of *both* options are
unsatisfactory. 

Like the vast majority, I don't buy the fist is there "accidentally"
argument at all, and I believe it's pretty clear that Dixon is physically
assaulting the slave-driver from 698.33 to 699.7 at least. I think it's easy
to tell from the slave-driver's responses what's happening in the encounter,
and that this is Pynchon's way of conveying to the reader the action in this
scene. When it's just Dixon's words (at 698.27 and 699.20) the
slave-driver's not afraid at all, he's downright arrogant and superior. But
there's a total change in between. He goes from surprise and disbelief ("You
broke my Tooth!") to being a snivelling coward cowering in the mud. Stern
words alone could not have provoked such a turnaround in the man's emotions
and demeanour. When Dixon begins assaulting him he's totally shocked and
sincerely fears for his life. And, there's no other reason for him to be
"cringing there among the Waggon-Ruts", no way for him to have ended up on
the ground, if all Dixon was doing was making verbal threats. I think that
once the attack has stopped and the slave-driver recognises Dixon's sudden
change of heart at 699.20 he's back to his snide and unrepentant self again.
It's the changes in the way the slave-driver is responding which reveal
what's going on in the scene.

Note also that Dixon has "his Hat back" when he first confronts the
slave-driver. (698.28) I suspect he's dressed in Quaker garb (cf. "Don't bet
the Meeting House on that" at 699.24 and "Go back to Philadelphia" at
699.26), and that the initial complacence and then sudden shock which the
slave-driver experiences and expresses are caused by the almost incredible
fact that he is being assaulted in the street by a Quaker.

best