Reef and the dangers of extravagance (329 words)

[Mike Jing]

Fantastic analysis, and very helpful indeed. And I assume the message from
peterthooper at juno.com is from the same person. If not, please let me know.

I'm still a bit puzzled though as to the source of possible offense. Which
part of this could be viewed as provocation?

Also, in which sense is the word "quizzical" used here?

 2. Given to joking or bantering; playful, witty; (also) characterized by
mockery, facetious; sardonic, satirical.

 3. Chiefly of a person's expression: questioning, enquiring; indicating
mild or amused puzzlement.


On Mon, Oct 12, 2020 at 3:05 AM Raphael Saltwood <PlainMrBotanyB at outlook.com>
wrote:

>
> The extravagance he’s alluding to would be Archie giving him a bigger
> share.
>
>
>
> Reef receives Archie Dipple’s scheme with his usual savoir-faire. Archie
> wants Reef to
> steer potential customers to him for an easy-money scam that involves
> selling camels to punters.
>
> Archie will be getting the lion’s share because he is taking the largest
> risk.
>
> Reef doesn’t bother haggling (knowing that when you enlist in a criminal
> scheme, your
> cohorts aren’t that concerned with fair play) -
>
> so he’s signaling that he’s ok with
> a smaller share because
>
> A) for Archie to be extravagant paying him would be perilous for Archie
> because it would cut into his capital for running the scam
>
> B) and it could be perilous for Reef because it would incentivize
> eliminating the middleman
>
> And C) there’s a passage right near this where the narrator reminds us how
> goshawfully hard the potential marks worked for their money and how likely
> they were to respond murderously to such a sting.
>
> Though he’s willing to take a small role, Reef doesn’t want to be an
> integral part -
>
>
> Plausible deniability! “I thought he was on the level, I lost my money
> too.”
>
> Reef’s “quizzical look” is trying to convey his awareness of unspecified
> perils of extravagance without giving offense, but these possibilities seem
> like they would be in
> his mind.
>
> Same distancing practiced by Stray, in what the narrator is describing as
> frequent similar encounters with her “practitioners of obliquity” friends,
> “...gazing in through the etched-glass paneling of an office door, as if
> only in girlish curiosity...”
>
>
> There’s another passage right near here where Reef justifies his
> occasional acceptance of these ill ventures to Stray (which is interesting
> because it’s *her* friends that offer them, indicating that he’s bought
> into her distancing of herself) -
>
> “Give us enough for a couple hours in the dining car, don’t we owe
> ourselves that much at least?” (Because they are about to move on out of
> town anyway at that point)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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