Homegrown Homeland & the Felling-stones

[s~Z]

>>>If a word derives its meaning from its context or linguistic
environment, the other words or sentences within which the specific
verbal symbol is embedded, than the word "homeland" in the paragraph we
are discussing can certainly mean the post 9-11 American homeland. The
context guides the reader in the process of selecting out--from the
range of inner possibilities and feeling-tones--the kinds of responses,
referential and affective, that are appropriate.<<<

In addition to the contextual argument offered by jbor, what takes it beyond
9/11 for me is that he uses the phrase 'bombs falling.' While the word
'homeland' is a buzzword for current U.S. events, no one remembers 9/11 as
the day bombs fell on American soil. For me, 'homeland' triggered the 9/11
association and 'bombs falling' took me to the World Wars and even to Iraq.
I didn't stay in New York when I came to the words 'bombs falling.' Planes
crashing into buildings was such a unique, outrageous and defining event.
Pynchon's use of 'bombs falling' points elsewhere for me.