Atdtda35: No need for euphemism, 1000-1002 #1

[Paul Nightingale]

>From one mass at the end of the previous chapter, to another mass here,
‘mostly U.S. white folks, pretty well-off in a flash sort of way’, and
‘faces from the big hotel bars’: cf the intimacy of the setting for Frank
and Willis on 995.

In the opening paragraph nature/the natural world is reduced to a
representation of itself, the narrative acknowledging the limitations of the
representative act: ‘Enormous windows revealed and framed mountain scenery
...’ etc (1000). This scene-setting, so to speak, gives way to Vibe’s
representation of the relationship between capital and labour, a description
that invokes human nature as a means to justifying exploitation. As the
narrative has it, there is no ‘need for euphemism’ here, Vibe’s account
marked by its honesty. Consider the passage at the top of 1001: ‘... we
fishers of Americans will cast our nets ...’ etc, down to ‘eugenically
chosen stock’ outliving ‘the jabbering Union scum’.

On Vibe’s description of labour: cf Günther’s descriptions of his workers on
the coffee plantation. On 988 Günther cannot trust his foreman, ‘and I make
myself insane every night imagining what everyone is up to’. A couple of
pages later Frank has successfully trained workers, ‘leaving [him] more time
to go into town and relax, though he was never sure what happened when he
wasn’t actually looking at them’ (990). The agency of labour is fearful
(Günther) or mildly intriguing (Frank, another employee without whom Günther
would struggle). Here, Vibe wishes to emphasise the agency of capital
beginning with an insistent ‘we use them’ (1000). However, towards the end
of the speech, the narrative refers to Foley Walker, the ‘old faithful
sidekick’ (1001) and the change in their relationship.