Atdtda [4]: Father and son, 97-99

[Paul Nightingale]

The new chapter begins with "[y]oung Kit Traverse" and the "high-voltage
experiment" leading to the "amazing world-reversing night" described in the
opening paragraph. Earlier, Kit was introduced as already-there, in his mind
a Tom-&-Jerry version of dynamite (90). Following this briefest of
references, he is dropped from the extended discussion of Webb's relations
with Reef and Frank. Insofar as this discussion is taken from Webb's pov, we
might wonder at the kind of relationship Kit does have with his father.
Hence, "[y]oung Kit Traverse" is established in this new section as a
character outside of the family. (This, of course, is how Webb himself was
established following his meeting with Merle, and then the beginning of
Ch8.) By way of contrast, his two brothers are already tied to their father.
As a mathematician, he has left the family behind, it seems; we have only
his name to remind us where he comes from (and he is "looking to keep from
ever going down another mine", 98).

Nonetheless, Kit discovers a "union loyalty" that might remind him of his
father's principles (not least, if he were present when Webb showed "the
most precious thing I own", 93).

Similarly, his view that "[i]t could have been a religion" (98) recalls his
father's judgement upon meeting Moss Gatlin (87). For Webb, "[i]t would have
been almost like being born again": that "would have" offering a way of
seeing undermined by "almost". For Kit, the way of seeing is a way of
writing: he is drawn by the language of maths, and he has "the knack of the
notation", perhaps recalling Webb's "intimacy" with dynamite.

In different ways, then, father and son are each struggling to describe
something 'new' in 'old' language. In each case, the character is involved
in a life-changing commitment: "Webb's trajectory toward the communion of
toil which had claimed his life" (85ff) is matched by Kit's reading, "the
texts he had to get his head around as they came, study when he ought to be
sleeping" (98, and the rest of that paragraph to 99). And going back to
Kit's Tom-&-Jerry version of dynamite (90): this moment might recall the
scene in Shorty's (86), which again ties Kit to his father in a way that
differentiates him from his brothers.

Eventually, "he found it was him explaining things to the collegiate
hotshots" (98). Kit's epiphany moment, perhaps (to match his father's in
Shorty's) follows with "the jump from one place to another ..." etc (99).