V-2nd - Chapter 11: Those kids

[Mark Kohut]

Thematic

'For some reason I felt like a spy'--Fausto at end of chaper, 341 in my hc copy,
as he lurched down the slope after hearing the cries of the children among the 
ruins...


----- Original Message ----
From: "kelber at mindspring.com" <kelber at mindspring.com>
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Sun, December 5, 2010 12:33:02 PM
Subject: V-2nd - Chapter 11: Those kids

The scene where the Maltese kids set upon the dying V., laugh at her and 
dismember her, well, it's kind of disturbing, no?  I have a mental block against 
anything Biblical, but the scene's clearly got some Christian overtones.  Does 
it relate to a specific scene in the New Testament, anyone?

It reminds me of two other cases:  the historical reports of the murder of Greek 
mathematician Hypatia.  Her heresies enraged a mob of citizens to set upon her 
and rip her up, even scraping the flesh from her bones with seashells.

The other is that scene from Tennessee William's Suddenly Last Summer ( all 
right, the movie version) where gay Sebastian is ripped apart and cannibalized 
by an angry mob of indigenous types.

Who do we sympathize with in these scenes?  Are we meant to think that the 
victims deserved what they got?  Fausto seems to harbor guilt for not rescuing 
V. from the mob of kids, but he doesn't seem to blame the kids either.  The 
message is that when we have progress, we have to expect the mobs to fight it.  
Ultimately, they'll lose, so we can't be too hard on them.  Is that it?

Can't help but think how this is playing out in the 21st century.  The forces of 
globalization (faceless corporations exploiting people across the globe, 
draining resources, concentrating wealth and power in the hands of an unelected, 
uncontrollable oligarchy) versus the forces of reaction (religious 
fundamentalism - Christian, Jewish and Islamic, nationalism, anti-immigrant 
racism, with, alas, those of us who believe in strong, regulatory democratic 
government tacked on for the ride).

Laura