Chapter 34: 341-348
Page 341
Page 342
Jabez
“And Coz begat Anub, and Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel the son of Harum. And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested” -- 1 Chronicles 4:8-10 (King James Version)
page 344
Mystickal Toilette
???
Page 345
...a Ring like a length of Ribbon clos'd in a Circle, with a single Twist in it, possessing thereby but one Side and one Edge...
“The Möbius strip or Möbius band (pronounced [ˈmøbiʊs]) is a surface with only one side and only one boundary component” – Wikipedia
It would seem, however, that a Möbius strip would have 2 edges. Is this smoke ring an impossible shape?
Topologically, as the correct definition from Wikipedia indicates, a Mobius strip has only one edge. Create the shape as indicated in the text, and run your finger around the "edge". You will see that the former edges are now one continuous 'edge". MKOHUT 07:47, 10 August 2007 (PDT)
Prester John
“The legends of Prester John (also Presbyter John), popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Written accounts of this kingdom are variegated collections of medieval popular fantasy. Reportedly a descendant of one of the Three Magi, Prester John was said to be a generous ruler and a virtuous man, presiding over a realm full of riches and strange creatures, in which the Patriarch of Saint Thomas resided. His kingdom contained such marvels as the Gates of Alexander and the Fountain of Youth, and even bordered the Earthly Paradise. Among his treasures was a mirror through which every province could be seen, the fabled original from which derived the "speculum literature" of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, in which the prince's realms were surveyed and his duties laid out. At first, Prester John was imagined to be in India; tales of the "Nestorian" Christians' evangelistic success there and of Thomas the Apostle's subcontinental travels as documented in works like the Acts of Thomas probably provided the first seeds of the legend. After the coming of the Mongols to the Western world, accounts placed the king in Central Asia, and eventually Portuguese explorers convinced themselves they had found him in Ethiopia. Prester John's kingdom was the object of a quest, firing the imaginations of generations of adventurers, but remaining out of reach. He was a symbol to European Christians of the Church's universality, transcending culture and geography to encompass all humanity, in a time when ethnic and interreligious tension made such a vision seem distant” – Wikipedia
Yet must the Sensorium be nourish’d
sensorium – the brain, especially in reference to its capacity as the seat of the mind or sensation.
(“Uncle?”
I believe that this is the first use of a parenthetical aside to indicate an interruption from the people listening to Reverend Wicks Cherrycoke's tale. Others will follow soon.
Page 346
The next day...
January 11, 1765
Acts have consequences, Dixon, they must
Might be of interest that this passage has a predecessor in Vineland: "What was she [DL] complaining about? Only that acts, deeply moral and otherwise, have consequences - only the workings of karma." (Vineland, p. 132)
Lethe-Water
“In Classical Greek, Lethe (λήθη; léthé) literally means "forgetfulness" or "concealment". The Greek word for "truth" is a-lethe-ia (αλήθεια), meaning "un-forgetfulness" or "un-concealment". In Greek mythology, Lethe is one of the several rivers of Hades. Drinking from the river Lethe ("forgetfulness" or "oblivion") caused complete forgetfulness. Some ancient Greeks believed that souls were made to drink from the river before being reincarnated, so they would not remember their past lives” – Wikipedia
Page 348
Each milestone passes like another Rung of a Ladder ascended
This would seem to equate Mason and Dixon’s trip away from Lancaster with a vertical climb away from hell and towards heaven. Note that by linking parts of Earth with heaven and hell. Has Pynchon conjured forth an image of geomantic loci, wherein the Paxton Boys have soiled their lot on earth with festering sins that haunt and stain any souls who draw near -- and the Harlands have carved a blessed space?
If you can don your hip-waders and bear with me while I attempt to stretch this metaphor a bit, read on.
For me, this metaphor also conjures the image of the Great Chain of Being, (which is explicitly mentioned in subsequent chapters); this somewhat more complex metaphorical image aligns M & D’s physical journey with a movement towards moral purity alongside beings shackled to the Great Chain, no more able to increase their base goodness than dirt is able to transform itself into gold. (You are wearing your hip-waders, right?) So I wonder: Are M & D alchemists, able to travel freely up and down the Great Chain? Is alchemy simply the exercising of free will? Do the Paxton Boys have free will? Have they chosen their evil lot in life anymore than the Harlands have chosen theirs?
And further: To what extent does the invisible past linger around us physically, as if wrenched out of time to remain fixed in place like beings shackled to the Great Chain? Are we haunted by the past? Can a place be damned: America by slavery, Indian slaughter, ley-lines scarred across her earth? Or are the Harlands some vision of salvation—and if so, how is it obtained? Perhaps by the alchemistic exercising of free will?
Like I said, it’s a stretch, but hip waders be doffed: Since this metaphor concludes M & D’s Lancaster expedition, it’s worth pausing here to consider the role this trip-within-a-trip plays in the greater narrative.
One final question: As the chapter concludes with M & D scaling the ladder, who is “Voicing disconsolate, of Regret at their flight?”
Sedan Chairs
"a chair or windowed cabin suitable for a single occupant, also carried by at least two porters in front and behind, using wooden rails that pass through brackets on the sides of the chair" -- Wikipedia
