Pynchon as propaganda

[s~Z]

>>>The chaplains preach salvation and redemption. But the soldiers just die.
There it is. <<<

Nope. you are inserting the word 'just.' It's not in the text.

> It states an obvious fact, that the soldiers
> are dying and facing death. This is not an advocation of atheism.

>>>disconnect between what the chaplains preached (Death,
Redemption, Salvation &c) and what actually happened to the soldiers right
afterwards. (Death.)<<<

To say that someone died without mentioning they were redeemed and saved
illustrates nothing. Salvation and redemption do not prevent soldiers from
dying from even the most fundamentalist Christian perspective.

>>>Not only do they do *just* die, they are *just* dead, and they are
*just* going to die. That's all that's there. The finality of the soldiers'
deaths gets re-emphasised three times in the paragraph, from three distinct
temporal perspectives. In textual order: they are "dead now"; they went out
and "some died"; and, they were "going to die". End of story.<<<

This contradicts nothing the chaplains said. Nothing. And you must interject
the word 'just' which is not in the text to make the interpretation go your
way.

>>>You don't see it or don't want to see it;
no big deal. But to say it's "not supportable by the text" is nonsense.<<<

The word *just* isn't in the text. Inserting it to alter the meaning is the
nonsense. Salvation and redemption don't stop soldiers from dying. There is
zilch contradiction in the text. Unless of course you alter the wording of
the text and put a lot of asterisks around the word you are inserting like
that makes the point obvious. I sat in many a church service with my
grandparents, now dead, and heard many ministers preach of salvation and
eternal life. While I have gone a different direction and have no belief in
immortality of the individual, my parents still believe and would find no
contradiction in the previous sentence. Even if I added a few more sentences
about the reality of their deaths and burials in a Southern Illinois
cemetery. Even for fundamentalists people die, and are gone, and are
terribly missed and grieved.