ATDTDA On Pearl Street, twangs of conscience

[mikebailey at speakeasy.net]

ok, did Kit get singled out beforehand,
or was he swept up in the Lieutenants of Industry 
program by sheer Vibe-luck?

I rock back and forth on the fine points of 
this question:

Foley recruits him _before_ he shows his mettle
by giving Tesla useful advice, and doesn't so
far as I see recruit Kit's buddy, or any others
among "Doc Tesla's boys".  And there's
no "Telluride House" for the Lieutenants on Yale's
campus, in fact Kit rooms with a Vibe.

But, there was an "electrician's grapevine" and
word of Kit in his own right (not as Webb's son)
would have been enough to trigger interest.
Kit is an extraordinary talent, capable
of becoming - in Vibe's vision - an in-house Edison
 
OTOH, Vibe's comments indicate that he'd thought
Kit's bloodline - the bloodline of his enemy -
somehow "purer" than his own -- "I wanted so 
to believe" -- would he have thought that 
had he known the full extent of Webb's activity?

his comment "The elder Traverse's sins are documented -
once they were brought to light, he was as good as lost"
would make the most sense if, when Kit was recruited,
Vibe only knew Webb was a radical unionist - and
then found out the "rest of the story" 
and at that point laid his plans for the rest of the family
including Webb.

Instead of seeing this as the fortuitous gift
of Chance that it is (like Fleetwood with the 
diamond thief - "he could have made him do anything" 
- Vibe has Kit inveigled in the skeins of his Organization 
- Kit only needs some handling, and SV has plenty of helpers: 
Dittany, Fairfax, even Vanderjuice and Tesla - with FW's help,
and the Vibe fortune, none of them has to be loyal
or even know they're working Vibe's will - it's not
like Kit would be inconsolable, given the terms of
his parting from Webb, but rather that nobody
gives him any consolation) - SV freaks, nobody is
delegated to break the news tactfully (so he loses
spin control) and even blows the interview with Kit, 
then sits around philosophizing. 

I suggest that this parallels the godfather dude
in Vineland, whose friends suggest that he is, in
fact, too kind for the position he holds.

...that Vibe's Christianity is more than a pose,
and he's shaken by the deed he's done.  Not to the
point of seeing a shrink, like Tony Soprano, but
enough that his grasp on his business empire suffers.