Atdtda36: Trains heading south all the time, 1015-1017

[Paul Nightingale]

Since the death of Scarsdale Vibe on 1006 the narrative has focused on 'the
tent colony at Ludlow' (1007): from the individual as representative of the
capitalist class (in particular, see Vibe's speech on 1000-1001) to the
mass. In 67.7 human labour is signalled ('flooring got put in .' etc, 1007)
but 'the people in the tents' remain anonymous. Given the focus on the
collective, any narrative must deal with the possibility that 'the people'
are reduced to mere background detail. On 1000-1001 Vibe is dependent on the
passive support of those he addresses. Since then, if Frank/Stray/Jesse have
stood out from the mass, the relationship must be of a different nature.

The opening of this section ('They took shelter with hundreds of others, at
least for a few minutes ...' etc) reminds us that this phase of the novel
deals with an opposition between Stray/Frank/Jesse as named protagonists and
'hundreds of others' here in the tent colony. Later, at the bottom of 1016,
'not the "we" they'd hoped for but this other collective of shadows .' etc.

The narrative suggests that '[t]he only accounts' (1016) are likely written
by victors; if that is the case, then 'history would be blind to' the fate
of Stray/Frank/Jesse. However, in narrative terms, the victors might also
include those individuals who have achieved named status. One way of dealing
with this issue/problem is to introduce named characters without warning, as
with Sister Clementia on 1007, recalled, courtesy of Frank's pov, by 'that
hospital nun's rig (1013): the construction here is key, given that there is
no indication that Frank has ever met Sister Clementia. Similarly, further
down that page, Frank speaks to Kosta, who just happens to be 'across the
trench pissing'. In this way the narrative emphasises the possibility of a
succession of named individuals. The 'hand at [Frank's] shoulder' (1015)
might be Stray's or 'the hand of some dead striker' (1016), or '[m]aybe even
Webb's own hand': in such a passage Frank is located by his current
relationship with Stray or different kinds of history.

By the end of the first paragraph distance has been established: 'Now and
then one of the kids went climbing up to see what was going on back at the
tents ...' etc (1015). On the next page: 'Half a mile away, the tents were
all being set on fire ...' etc (1016). By now, the narrative adopting
Frank's pov, there is a distance between him and Stray/Jesse. Detail is lost
in low visibility. At the bottom of 1015, 'he could only just make her out,
through the blowing needles of spring snow'. Later, Frank sees 'the pale
smudge of the boy's face' and is 'glad not to have to see the expression on
it' (1016). The final part of the section, and chapter, reaffirm family
relations by emphasising separation, from Frank's promise to use Jesse's map
to 'the boy [running] to embrace him with unexpected fierceness .' etc
(1016-1017). If family (eg 'Webb's own hand' on 1016) means history, here it
means a future that delivers characters from the present. With 'trains
heading south all the time' no one looks back (1017).