Horus vs Set, the gator hunt

[Joseph Tracy]

The first visit in V to Egypt focuses on a rivalry for the affection  
of Victoria Wren in which Hugh Bongo Shaftsbury appears as Horus the  
hawk-headed god of Lower Egypt. Horus is the God of Protection, of  
the Sky, Of War( don't worry about those predators, those drones,  
those mercenaries, those bankers; they are only here for your  
protection. Horus is identified with the pharoah and civilization and  
exists in opposition to Set . Set (also spelled Seth, Sheth, Sutekh,  
Setan or Seteh) is an ancient god, who was originally the god of the  
desert, storms, darkness, and chaos. In Ancient Greek, the god's name  
is given as Σήθ (Seth).(Wik) This is also the name of Adam and  
Eve's 3rd named son, who is identified with  a gnostic tradition  
which has animal human deities.

Set is identified with upper Egypt and Horus with lower Egypt but it  
seems like a battle between empire and the wilder hunter-gatherers  
and pastoral tribes. In one story Horus is badly beaten and appears  
dead and is revived by the god of writing; papyrus was abundant in  
Lower Egypt.  In a directly relevant Horus myth,  Horus fights with  
and conquers a crocodile who represents an aspect of Set.

  Pynchon appears to this reader to be overlapping images of this age  
old battle all through his writing history. Already in V there is a  
density to this theme that shows colonialism, conquest and missionary  
conversion as much as an inner force as an outward one. It also shows  
the difficulty of controlling a myth. The rats see the socialist  
tendencies of the gospels, Fairing's doings show the inherent  
problems of devouring your "flock",   The rats argue, the alligator  
turns to face whoever it is:  horus,  Benny, the marines, Ceasar,   
the gestapo, the Israel commandoes, the hired killer. Profane tells  
the gator he is sorry.

   "  "I'm sorry," he told the alligator. He was always saying he was  
sorry. It was a schlemihl's stock line. He raised the repeater to his  
shoulder, flicked off the safety. "Sorry," he said again. Father  
Fairing talked to rats. Profane talked to alligators. He fired. The  
alligator jerked, did a backflip, thrashed briefly, was still. Blood  
began to seep out amoeba-like to form shifting patterns with the weak  
glow of the water. Abruptly, the flashlight went out.  "

What is primarily  sacrificed in heroism is the feminine. Boot camp  
includes every permutation of degrading mothers and other "pussies".  
In these 2 chapters Benny's compliance is contrasted with Rachel's  
challenge to Schoenmaker.

Esther says no, meaning yes, Veronica wants to become a nun.  I  
myself aspire to be a peasant with my own land, growing my own food,  
who is willing to have his head lopped of for the pleasure of saying  
fuck you to the emperor. Obama, George, Bill, Mr Goldman, if one of  
your ears is out there, I just want to say fuck you, fuck your  
drones, fuck your golf game , and fuck your fucking dog too.