Pynchon's reconciliation of apparent opposites WAS Dixon's nonviolence

[s~Z]

>>>What's unusual, and
therefore interesting, here, is Pynchon's phrasing,
and his reworking of this event from suck likely
sources as Robinson's "Biographical Note" ... <<<

But, before Doug made a case for the pacifism of Dixon's actions,
that possibility (pacifism) never entered my mind, and my reading
of the passage was totally in accord with the historical account.
I have often heard the phrase "your face hit my fist" used as a
jocular defense of violence, so it made perfect sense to me that
Pynchon would use that phraseology to describe a violent act by
the conflicted Dixon. I agree with some of what Doug says about
Dixon's inner turmoil, but when he goes so far as to suggest that
this encounter was an example of Dixon completely restraining
himself, I don't see that in the text. I see Dixon jumping in,
grabbing the whip and committing an act of violence when the
slave-owner tries to get the whip back. I also see Dixon
restraining his desire to kill. That the even was an act of
aggressive intervention which stopped short of murder is described
in the historical account and in Pynchon's text.