VLVL2 (13) 4: Orwellian doublespeak and "therapy sessions"

[Bandwraith at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/15/04 4:35:02 PM, vmaeder at cycn-phx.com writes:

<< Pages 239 through 242:5 give us the setup that Mr. Vond has been working 
on and engaging his unwilling -- as it begins to appear -- yet compliant 
partner in 
crime, Ms. Gates -- 'though perhaps we shouldn't use such disparaging words; 
perhaps comrade fits the season better? >>

Neither partner nor comrade fits as well as "victim." 


<< But what is the reason for Ms. Gates' compliance with Mr. Vond's game?  It

isn't for the sex; this list has discussed Mr. Atman's sexual prowess.  It

isn't for the movement; she would be allied with one of the characters

associated with 24fps or the PR3.  Is it for pure lust, for the uniform, for

the lure of power as Mr. Geddes suggests in

http://www.thesatirist.com/books/Vineland.html?  This seems doubtful -- Mr.

Geddes states it is an unconvincing motivation for Ms. Gates -- because if

she were then she would more fully align herself with Mr. Vond and be more

compliant to his requests. >>

Its pretty much psychology (room?) 101, and it's called "Indentification 
with the Aggressor." Here's a simplified, but accurate, definition:

    http://mentalhelp.net/poc/view_index.php?idx=37&id=173

Brock (and Rex) don't have to take Frenesi behind the curtain.
All that's required is the graphic description of Weed's "visits
downtown... in detail often crude enough to make her afraid."
That's how it starts- when your always afraid- and made to feel 
helpless and out of control.

It's pretty clear that Rex is aware of Elasmo's "therapy sessions,"
and may even have helped to give Weed "just enough reality to 
counteract" his abstract mathematical way of dealing with the world, 
by providing background on Weed from his undercover vantage. Rex, 
secure in the knowledge that he has a ticket out of the coming chaos, 
mocks Weed (232):

    "Math. Discover a theorem."
    Weed frowned "Um- I don't think that's what you do
     with theorems."

    "I thought they sat around, like planets, and... well, every
      now and then somebody just, you know... discovered one."

The narrative fantasy of the alternative future on the "impossible 
hillside" beneath the low oak (cf, Winston and Julia's "spreading
chestnut") at first seems to suggest that Rex and Weed are equally 
duped- 

    "Just a pair of innocent hippies, one with a service .38. 
    Hard to say which was the bigger fool." 

But don't let us be fooled! Clearly, in the reality of the novel, Weed was 
the biggest fool- and Rex, off to Paris, was neither duped nor innocent.

respectfully