VLVL2 (12): Luftwaffe

[Tim Strzechowski]

p. 221.14 thru 223.35:  "As crops in the sun grew fatter [...] He'd heard about the place but had no idea it was this big."

This passage expands upon the author's anti-Right sentiments by drawing obvious parallels between the American government and the Third Reich, a correlation that echoes the use of Werner von Braun, a former Nazi, as a NASA employee as seen in GR.  Similarly, in this passage we have Kommandant Karl Bopp, "former Nazi Luftwaffe officer and subsequently useful American" who "appear[s] in the full regalia of his old profession" to lead the CAMP air forces on surveillance missions through Vineland County -- specifically Holytail -- in its search for marijuana crops (221).

The long paragraph that begins on p. 222 maintains a tone of mild sarcasm as we see "the Continental charm of Kommandant Bopp all over the local news, as he, often in Nazi drag, declared his 'volunteer' sky force at maximum readiness" (222).  While paranoia increases over who might "secretly [be] on the CAMP payroll this year," and the authorial voice equates this "monster program" to an "affliction," the increased police presence ensnares traffic "as far away as 101 and I-5" resulting in the parrot smuggling scene that finishes the paragraph (and which adds to the absurd humor of the passage as well).

The connotations that arise from equating a program of the American government -- with its use of law enforcement and media manipulation to strike fear and paranoid speculation into citizens -- with the forces of the Third Reich enhance the anti-Right sentiments seen earlier in the chapter.


* By the way, sorry so slow on the analysis and notes this week.  My youngest has pinkeye and a double ear infection -- the trifecta of infant maladies -- and things have been crazy.  I promise to post more as Life heals itself ...

Tim

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