An angry retort sprang to Miles's lips, but he suppressed it, reminding himself that, as insult and provocation came naturally to the class from which the newcomer sprang, it was upon his unhealthy past that one must blame the lad's habit of speech.
* * * * * * * * * *
Here we get an example of Miles's heart. He recognizes that Chick grew up amidst a populace that loved to insult and provoke; Chick is simply reflecting what's been heaped on him from an early age. Miles is able to not take it personally and chooses to not engage Chick.
But I'd still really like to know what Miles was going to say. Maybe something like "Better behave yourself or we'll send you back to Dr. Jamf!" or "When Jamf conditioned him, he threw away the stimulus." Ha ha! Except those incredibly potent insults won't be thought up for another forty years (80 years if we're stepping outside of the fiction (except if we step outside of one fiction, shouldn't we step outside of both fictions which means those insults were thought up 33 years previously?).
What class is Chick from? What are the American classes? They probably go Rich White Man, Rich Black Man, Rich White Woman, Poor White Man, Rich Black Woman, Poor Black Man, Poor White Woman, Poor Black Woman. Expressing that doesn't mean I'm endorsing it! I'm just trying to get a handle on how terribly America deals with class (and racial equality! (and feminism!))! It's so much easier to figure out in the United Kingdom. You just have to hear somebody speak and then you're all, "Ew! Lower class!" or "I say! Upper class!" Of course occasionally you get somebody like Tom Allen who speaks and you're all "I say! Upper class!" but then Rob Becket speaks and you're all, "Ew! Lower class!" and then somebody is all, "Um, you know Rob and Tom went to school together, don't you?"
So I guess class is confusing everywhere!
Anyway, what class did Chick Counterfly spring from? A mean lower one from the evidence! I bet he even does swears! He must be a burr in the butt of Lindsay, I tell you what!
We learn Chick had an unhealthy past although we'll have to wait to find out more about that. If we ever do! At some point, the Narrator might pipe up and be all, "If you're interested in learning more about Chick Counterfly, might I recommend the rousing adventure story The Chums of Chance and the Carpetbagger Who Won't Take a Hint."
I appreciate that Thomas Pynchon didn't write the possessive as "Miles'" and wrote it as "Miles's" instead. I don't know which is correct or if both are correct and it's one of those Chicago vs MLA style arguments. Maybe the name Miles is a special case (or Pynchon changed styles after thirty years) because I feel like Pynchon left the extra "s" off possessive cases like this one in Gravity's Rainbow.
Maybe Pynchon did it on purpose so that "Miles's lips" could also be read as "Miles slips" which makes me picture a clumsy fat kid in a negligee. Or, to be smarterer, makes me think Miles is usually well-behaved and this is an odd slip of his to get angry at one of his fellow aeronauts.
Does "insult and provocation came naturally to the class which the newcomer sprang" make you think of Cockneys like Danny Dyer? In the future, I'm going to read all of Chick's dialogue in Danny Dyer's voice!
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