VLVL2 (1) Missed Communications: Beginnings

[Elainemmbell at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/21/2003 10:45:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
mjoseph at rci.rutgers.edu writes:

> Plus "rat" as a noun is a tapered solid object (wood or plastic) around
> >which a woman's hair is arranged to give it a more massive look..
> >
> >Very common in days of yore.
> >
> >P.
> >
> 
> Okay, but these aren't days of yore. So how does such goodly tilth as this
> you profereth bear upon our commonweal, PauL?
> 
> 
> 

Okay, this thread becomes more interesting.  The "rat" Paul refers to, though 
indeed from "yore", and the "rat" activity as verb in the passage are both 
elements of artifice used to make a person, usually a woman, look more 
abundantly endowed (in this case with tresses) than she actually is.  Zoyd is engaged 
in highly conscious artifice as he selects his dress, accessories, etc. in 
order to perform in public an equally self-conscious artificial act of 
craziness--in this particular case an artficial craziness exhibited by jumping through an 
artificial glass window.  Given all the levels of artifice present in the 
scene, Pynchon's use of the word "rat" (although "tease" would have carried 
several of the same levels of meaning I think) does become more clearly deliberate. 
 I take back my doubt and slap myself three times with a damp rat. 
Elaine M.M. Bell, Writer
(860) 523-9225
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