ATDTDA (13): Reef's dead, 362-364

[David Morris]

Here's my take on this sentence:

"not all their faces on the wanted bills" follows "no matter what
their ignorance of why."   Those sent out to kill the plute's problems
sometimes had official "whys," ie. wanted bills.  But sometimes they
were sent to kill those without their faces on wanted bills.

It is a bit twisted, because after "how much more so [evil are the
plute's lackeys]" one is expecting the "why" to be the evil motives of
the plutes KNOWN to those that do their bidding.  And the ignorance of
such would be their possible exculpation.

But if the "why" refers to having or not having a wanted bill photo to
authorize an assassination, the ignorance of a "why" would imply MORE
guilt.

It does eem that Pynchon has intentionally muddied these waters.

David Morris

On 7/18/07, mikebailey at speakeasy.net <mikebailey at speakeasy.net> wrote:
> Paul Nightingale
>
> > Cf. ". if these plutes were undeniably evil hombres, then how much more so were those who took care of their problems for them, in no matter what ignorance of why, not all of their faces on the wanted bills ." (362).
>
> this was the sentence that James Wood looked at...
> it veers off - imho - away from strict grammatical sense at the point of "not all of their faces..."
>
> doesn't it?  we're okay up thru "in no matter what ignorance of why" --
>            the plutes are evil
>
>            those who do they bidding even more so
>           (framed questioningly - as if in wonderment - or Wobbly rhetoric
>             like, here's something you may not have considered)
>
>           whether they know why (ie why they are offered jobs
>           enabling class oppression) doesn't affect
>           the fact of their guilt
>
>       but, then "not all of their faces" -
>       1) on the wanted bills?  these guys are the sheriffs & enforcers
>               so their faces wouldn't be on the wanted bills
>       2) or are the ignorant minions gazing at the wanted bills
>               but what is it that all the faces are not doing?