Chapter 31: 302-314
Contents
Page 302
'One morning in late December...' December 28? or 29?, 1763 [see note for page 304]
Page 303
the Adonis
The allusion to extreme physical attractiveness is apparent in the psychoanalytical Adonis Complex which refers to a body image obsession with improving one's physique and youthful appearance. From WIKI
Market-place Drolls
Drolls are short comical sketches that originated during the Puritan Interregnum in England. With the closure of the theatres, actors were left without any way of plying their art. Borrowing scenes from well-known plays of the Elizabethan theatre, they added dancing and other entertainments and performed these, sometimes illegally, to make money. From WIKI
Page 304
The Restless Bee
a block and a half from where they are staying...must been near New Market...
Susurrus
A whispering, rustling, murmuring sound
'At Lancaster,-day before yesterday...
this puts the date of this section in question. The Massacre occured on Tuesday December 27, 1763, which would make the date of the page December 29th. However, Dixon says its "odd for Wednesday market" that it would be so quiet. This suggests Wednesday, December 28th as the correct day for this passage.
Lancaster County, known as the Garden Spot of America, is a county located in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States... The fourteen survivors of the tribe were placed in protective custody in the county workhouse, but the Paxton Boys returned on December 27, broke into the workhouse, and butchered the remaining Susquehannocks. The widespread sympathy in the frontier counties for the perpetrators of these acts made their discovery and arrest futile. From WIKI
Conestoga
Conestoga Township is a township in west central Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. From WIKI
Paxton Vermin
See page 305.
Page 305
Paxton Boys
The Paxton Boys was a vigilante group that murdered at least twenty Native Americans in events sometimes called the Conestoga Massacre. Backcountry Presbyterian Scots-Irish frontiersmen from central Pennsylvania, near Paxton Church, Paxtang, Pennsylvania, now Dauphin County, formed a vigilante group in response to the American Indian uprising known as Pontiac's Rebellion. The Paxton Boys felt that the government of colonial Pennsylvania was negligent in providing them protection. From WIKI
Page 306
In fact, when word arriv'd...
this paragraph is a flashback to December 16, 1763.
Page 308
veins and reins
"reins" is the French word for "kidneys," carried over into early modern
English.
"Reins (rànz) pl.n.: 1. The kidneys, loins, or lower back."
http://www.answers.com/topic/reins
Page 310
Forks of Brandywine
The tributaries (themselves, colloquially, forks) of Brandywine Creek
drain the whole area, so it's a district.
'Tis too cloudy for Obs tonight...
this happened the night of December 29, 1763, supporting the 29th as the date for page 302. "Wednesday Market" is a mistake on Dixon's part.
Page 313
the white people...Eden
Cf. the White City in Against the Day and especially the 'reality' revealed around the White City with the 'reality' adumbrated in this whole paragraph as well.
hydraulick Looms
See Pynchon's essay Is it O.K. to be a Luddite for more on this topic.
