VLVL2 (14) One without a label, 268-274

[Paul Nightingale]

The chapter begins with an absent Frenesi; she is thought up by Brock as he
"[remembers] a morning drizzle, at first light, at the camp up north" (268).
Her narrative role at this point is made explicit: "What even he knew he'd
really come for was the sight of Frenesi *among them* ... the sort of mild
herd creatures who'd belong, who'd feel, let's face it, much more
comfortable behind fences" (269). In this way she is controlled.
Subsequently he fantasises about humiliating her: "One day he would order
her down on her knees ..." etc (273). The latter passage derives from their
(on-going) relationship: "She caught herself watching his cock again, then
saw he was grinning at her, amorously, he must've thought" (274). Moreover,
that "[one] day" indicates unfinished business, business that can never be
finished perhaps, given his despair at the outset: "When had Brock ever
possessed her?" (268).

Elsewhere Brock declares his fascination with Lombroso's ideas. He begins as
"a devotee" (272); then appears to insist that his own critical insights
allow him to improve on the inadequacy of the original: "Lombroso had
divided all revolutionists into five groups ... which in Brock's experience
about covered it, except for the unforeseen sixth, the one without a label
..." (273). In this passage Frenesi isn't named; she is one of the crowd.
Fitting her into his revised typology allows Brock to both master her and
also assert himself as an insightful observer. This seems to be a key point,
given the way the text will shortly juxtapose his career frustration to his
sexual charm: Roscoe's role in these pages only confirms this view.