Is Pynchon antirationalist? (part 3)

[o j m]

continued...
         It is important to note the role that the casting of the two 
cowboys play: S.Z. Sakall, with his heavy German accent (which Osbie 
imitates in the film), is an impossible cowboy. The character, who 
represents Osbie (or perhaps a prospective member of the Counterforce) 
fails to make sense, even at the level of casting. Sakall is certainly no 
John Wayne. In fact, incongruities abound. Rathbone attempts to engage 
Sakall in a rational dialogue, but at every turn Sakall refuses to enter 
into such discourse, beyond insisting, “Vell, ve’re both seeing him. That 
means he’s real” (534). When Rathbone tries to explain this as a joint 
hallucination, Sakall manages to withhold recognition through a pretty bad 
pun: “Who sez it’s a joint hallucination? Hoo, hoo! If it vas any kind of 
hallucination--I’m not saying it is, now--it vould be peyote” (534-535). 
Every time Rathbone attempts to return the conversation to the logical 
realm, Sakall’s response is laughter, or a pun, and it becomes evident 
that, though this method is quite silly in some respects, there’s a method 
to what Sakall/Osbie is doing. Just as Rathbone approaches the debate 
through an empirical sensibility, Saskall approaches the debate from an 
alternate mentality.
         Once we understand that Sakall represents Osbie, everything 
becomes clear. Katje’s original interpretation, though superficially 
sensible, fails to parse out under a close reading of the text--and where 
her story fails, this alternative interpretation proves successful. Sakall 
says: “Vhen you been out on the trailand you know vhich trail too, don’t 
you you sniveling punk--for as long as I have, you know ah real midget 
sheriff from ah hallucinated vun” (534). In other words, when you’ve done 
hardcore hallucinogenic drugs for as long as Osbie has, you learn to be 
able to tell the difference between something real and something imagined. 
You learn to tell the difference between a drug-induced state and a normal 
state. So Sakall gives his expert opinion: the midget sheriff (Slothrop) 
exists. This, however, will not and cannot satisfy the thinking of 
Rathbone. “I hadn’t known either class existed. You must obviously have 
seen midget sheriffs all over this Territory, else you would hardly have 
invented the category. O-or would you? You know, you’re just dodgy enough 
to try anything” (534). There is a note of doubt here: perhaps the 
discourse of a Pointsman cannot account for everything. Rathbone is 
confounded by the testimony for which he cannot account. In fact, if we 
substitute the hypothesized counterparts for Osbie’s names, this passage 
becomes quite revealing. “You must obviously have seen [Slothrop] all over 
this [Zone], else you would hardly have invented the category.” All of a 
sudden, Rathbone seems downright worried about Slothrop, now out of 
control, wandering through the Zone--and, in a strange way, the passage now 
hints at the disintegrating of Slothrop into bits and pieces left 
throughout the Zone. Once They lose control of Slothrop (assuming They do), 
it becomes imperative that They explain him away: something as absurd as 
the legend of Slothrop can wreak havoc on “logical” discourse. This 
explains why Sakall finds the midget running away so hilarious. Slothrop, 
finally realizing that he is the pawn of a system he cannot understand, 
runs out of their control, leaving Rathbone/Pointsman in a very awkward 
situation. Osbie laughs so hard he falls off his horse into the trough. 
That is, he sheds the last vestiges of “rational” behavior. Rational in the 
last sentences is couched in quotation marks for the following reason: it 
should be clear Osbie acts in an extremely rational manner
he just doesn’t 
subscribe to the same understanding of rationality as Pointsman and The 
Firm. This is the foundational moment of the Counterforce: Osbie presents 
Katje with a new sensibility, a new rationality--not a counterargument.
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