VLVL2 Rex's fetish [WASRe: Shutting down New York]

Bandwraith at aol.com Bandwraith at aol.com
Sun Feb 1 22:04:07 CST 2004


In a message dated 2/1/04 10:18:45 PM, Bandwraith at aol.com writes:

<< Rex would like to blame the "fucking whore" Frenesi for his crime, which
was probably more motivated by his suppressed rage at Weed for not
intervening and keeping him from giving up his "parsh" to Elliot X, than
by Weed's collaboration. Rex has all the makings of a serial killer. It is 
the typical masculine reflex to blame "fucking whores" for one's own 
failings and weaknesses. No doubt, he'll find more opportunities to make 
himself feel powerful when he makes his way to S.E. Asia. No one forced 
Rex to kill Weed. >>

Rex's displacement of his guilt onto Frenesi, in an effort to
overcome his own feelings of powerlessness, reminds me of
the slave driver in M&D. It might be significant that the 
keys to Rex's porsche and Brock's gun both find a temporary 
home in Rex's "fringe bag." Pynchon likes to play with these objects 
of fetishism, like the driver's whip, sort of a postmodern objective
correlative.

There're some parallels, as well, in Weed's answers to his disciples 
regarding the "picking up the gun" option (229), and, the way Pynchon 
complexifies the description of Dixon's intervention with the slave
driver.

respectfully




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