Slothrop's deconstruction, beginning on p.231 (Bantam)

[D. Patty]

Okay, I'm a bit rusty on my military 'conditioning', but the fact
that the episode starts off w/ an emphasis on Slothrop's gaudy
attire & its (potential) relation to his success w/ women, only
to be followed up w/ the theft of his clothes & the too-thorough
scrubbing of his wardrobe closet a few pages later...  Strikes
me as very similar to military indoctrination / the deconstruction
of an enlisted 'persona', in addition to being a scientific effort at
clarity (removing variables to better understand a given result).

This would, to me, be the beginning of Slothrop's deconstruction.
He feels the loss of Hogan's shirt "most of all..."

(Full disclosure:  I'm working from the bias of my own read on
things, that the dissolution of Slothrop's personality is in fact
the only way for him to completely escape Their grasp, akin
to the idea of a Completely Ascended master of meditative
discipline disappearing; cf. Crowley's conception of Samadhi
as being freedom from ego.  Not that Little Tyrone was ever
that big into philosophy--  he probably figures if you're intangible
there's nothing to hold on to.)

Sorry if this is old hat, but I'm on my second-ever complete
read of GR, companioned by a first edition of Weisenburger's,
so if anyone has any thoughts on the subject I'd be very grateful.

-David

-- 
http://picasaweb.google.com/revD.76
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