Chapter 1: Section 1: Page 4: Line 29

As Miles now went about picking up pieces of the damaged porcelain, he evoked the mirth of one Chick Counterfly, the newest member of the crew, who was leaning against a stay, observing him.

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I'm certain there's a method to Thomas Pynchon's naming of characters and it's probably so genius that my miniscule mind would barely be able to comprehend the intricacies of the system. But isn't it also possible that Thomas Pynchon is just really terrible at it? Maybe to afford the perk "Literary Genius," he had to take the flaw "Can only come up with stupid names." Maybe he's one of those people who can only come up with names by glancing around at the objects in his field of view. So when he came up with the ship's captain's name, he was probably sitting in a little studio apartment on Randolph Street while watching Seinfeld. Miles Blundell? Pynchon glanced at a roadside sign showing the distance to the next town just as he ripped a huge fart. Darby Suckling? Driving past an Arby's while a prostitute was leant over telling him a story about her childhood pot-bellied pig. When he came up with Chick Counterfly, he was obviously sitting at the counter of a small rural roadside diner that had hens running about in the yard and insects buzzing up against the windows.

It's also possible Counterfly was chosen because Chick is annoying and always runs counter to the expectations of the group. But is he also a chick? Hmm, maybe! I know the crew was described as "five young lads" but isn't there always a young girl masquerading as a boy in these swashbuckling tales of grand adventure and exploration?!

In this passage, you can tell Chick Counterfly is a rebel because not only is his (or her?!) name "Counterfly," but she (he?!) also begins laughing at the fat kid picking up the plates he broke. "Ha ha!" laughed Chick Counterfly while laughing. "You, Miles, are clumsy. And fat! Ha ha!" Then Chick flicked the toothpick out of his mouth and I though while writing that, "Wow! Look at all the rhyming words!"

Also in this passage, we learn that Chick is the newest member of the crew when Pynchon writes "Chick Counterfly, the newest member of the crew." Is that subtext? I'm pretty good at stuff like that.