VLVL Rex, DL and Frenesi

[jbor]

on 8/2/04 12:39 AM, Terrance wrote:

>> I think it's clear that Frenesi and DL have been sexually involved, and not
>> just as a one-off:
>> 
>> "[...] DL . . . please . . .  you know what happens when my
>> pussy's runnin' the show, you saw me do stuff he'll *never*
>> see," and DL, not as angry by then, might've answered, "I
>> *made* you do stuff, bitch," and Frenesi would have felt a
>> bodylong twinge of clear desire for her already ex-partner,
>> a preview of delicious trouble . . . for DL's body, whose
>> rangy sweetness she loved [...] (260)
> 
> Right, but the entire scene is kinda subjunctive ( Frenesi *wanted*  to
> cry, DL *might've* answered her).

Yes, DL "might" have answered by calling her her "bitch", and Frenesi
"would" have been turned on by it. But the clear implication is that DL and
Frenesi have had a sexual relationship, and that DL has been the dominatrix.
The conditional verbs here refer to what DL might have said and done (but
didn't) in the current situation, and how Frenesi would have responded if
she had. 

> I think one of the points here is that
> they can't communicate and they can't mend their relationship because
> they can't forgive.

What does DL need to feel guilty for? Frenesi lies through her teeth: "He
took me behind the Thorazine curtain, man," etc, blaming everything she did
on "drug molecules" (260-1).

> Same old story, Rex and Weed can't communicate. Jinx
> and Frenesi and Rex can't get on Weed's math wavelength.

Not really.

> It seems Rex, in giving up his car, gives up sex too.

"Rex saw the Revolution as a kind of progressive abstinence ... " (229-30),
which is something he tries to impart to Weed. Weed disagrees, but they do
communicate. Rex is bitter that he was forced to sacrifice the car, and that
Weed doesn't even acknowledge it or see a reason to give up anything
himself.

> He's trying real
> hard to understand his darker bothers and to repudiate the White
> Christian Capitalists Democracy that nurtured him. His Guilty White
> Marxist Abnegation is subjected to scathing satire.

It's not all one-way traffic, of course. The fact that Rex owned a Porsche
911, named it "Bruno", and had sex with it, is satirised even more than his
sacrifice of it, which is sorta noble (231-2). And, it's explicitly referred
to in the text as "the Christian Capitalist Faith" (232.7). But within the
satire and the conversations here there are some valid points being made.
The depiction of the BAAD crew again shows how much "the Movement" had
fragmented by 1969. Again, the racism and civil rights themes are prominent
in this section. And, like I said, the acronym "UHURU" has a number of
specific (and ironic) resonances, both within and beyond the text.

best