Atdtda33: More practical arrangements, 931-934 #2

[Paul Nightingale]

The section divides in two, Cyprian's reunion with Ratty and reminiscence
about Whitehall/Theign, and then the marginalisation of make characters by
females. Cyprian also recognises Jenny, introduced in her absence on 866:
her history as "a sort of cryptosuffragette" (933) might remind us that, on
that earlier page, Ratty asks Cyprian to maintain the fiction that he is
merely "some sort of junior diplomat". Now, as he tells Yashmeen, they "work
for one another" with "no structure". More specifically, for Jenny, what's
needed is an alternative to "ancient all-male structures" (934) with "a
single male authority". Cf. Ratty's introduction at Cambridge, "annoyed
though sympathetic" when he interrupts Cyprian's recollection of his father
(491). 

Ratty's account of his departure from Whitehall ends with a reference to
"the typewriter lass" (932). He has shifted from the impact of Cyprian's
"inspiration to so many of us" to the impact of his own actions: "damned if
she didn't kiss me back ..." etc. Further down the page the "bloodbath" is
avoided when Sophrosyne and Jenny "just hit it right off", and then Ratty
discovers Jenny's "deeper secrets". These are all reactions: cf the
"coevolutionary role" outlined on 933, where "helping along what's already
in progress" implies a refusal of leadership. On 934 Sophrosyne appears for
the first time and speaks; her comment on women "think[ing] critically"
comes in response to Jenny's speech about women under a "romantic spell".
Slowly the passage has shifted from male to female. Cyprian last speaks, top
of 933, when he asks whom Ratty works for; and Reef is silent after he
translates "more practical arrangements" into the IWW. In each case they are
rendered redundant by their thinking. Ratty's thinking is betrayed by his
final "dustman" comment, provoking the "dustwoman" response shared by the
three women. Cf Frank and Ewball earlier, in unison (924).