Benny as Angel of Death

[David Morris]

God.  That wasn't obvious to me, but I haven't looked at the text this
time around.  I will do so tonight.  All I can say is that this seems
to be taking puns to a whole new level, which sounds right for TRP.

But of course this would make Profane a sort of Anti-Angel-of-Death,
"anti-condom-ing," and thus spawning, not killing newborns.  In V.
this fits, because when Rachel goes for the abortion, it is treated as
if she is violating the sanctity of life, a major sin against herself
& life.  Pychon's Catholic roots are really showing there.

David Morris

On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 2:44 AM, Krafft, John M. <krafftjm at muohio.edu> wrote:
> (Is this just too obvious for anyone to have mentioned, or did I miss it, or what?)
>
> In his Angel-of-Death routine, Benny "condemns" his victims to impregnate and be impregnated. One early critic (maybe even a reviewer or two) got all huffy about Profane's promoting sterility, missing the point of what putting thumbtacks through condoms does to their effectiveness.
>
> jmk
>