ATDTDA (17): All he had ever wanted to rise above, 472-474

[Paul Nightingale]

Deuce-Lake's wandering, their discovery of small towns echoes that of Frank
(eg, "... he found a hardcase element had moved in", 460). But the "they" of
the section's first line becomes "Deuce's criminal palps" a few lines down,
and Lake isn't mentioned until the bottom of 473 (her name appearing once
only): unmentionable in the previous section's meeting of mother and
brother, she remains unmentionable here.

Frank's return to Nochecita, and awareness of social change, is Deuce's
return to the world of his youth, when "geography had favored the
vectorless" (473). And now: "... descending again into all he had ever
wanted to rise above". Family, however, is oppressive. Food is "unvaried for
generations", another kind of time-machine, perhaps? There is tension
between Deuce and his brother-in-law: Levi, it seems, cannot compare with
either Webb or Sloat as 'companions': Webb wanted to bring Deuce into the
family, Levi confirms his banishment.