Chapter 1: Section 1: Page 5: Line 33

 "Why don't you give me some of that fancy silverware, Blundell?" young Counterfly now continued.

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Counterfly is the kind of cool cat who calls everybody by their last name. Other than that, what information can be gleaned from this line?! Counterfly is either a fancy silverware enthusiast or a moneygrubbing little moneygrubber. Or—and this is why you need to really analyze every line—maybe he's trying to eat a Shepherd's Pie right now and needs a spoon. Or a fork? I don't want to jump to any conclusions as to whether Counterfly is a normal person or obviously insane based on his choice of cutlery.

Oh! "Counterfly" is an anagram of "O! F'n cutlery!" So yeah, that's it. Counterfly just loves fancy silverware.

Chapter 1: Section 1: Pages 4-5: Line 32

 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.

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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!

Chapter 1: Section 1: Page 4: Lines 30-31

 "Ha, ha," cried young Counterfly, "say, but if you ain't the most slob-footed chap I ever seen! Ha, ha, ha!"

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Ha ha! That Chick Counterfly is such a huge cut up! "The most slob-footed chap" is such a great line! Almost as great as my line "mayonnaise footed!" That's what I call Gibraltar in Apex because he walks around going "Thump splush! Thump splush! Thump splush!" It's like, "Hey! Sir! I'm trying to hear enemy footsteps! Could you stop putting so much mayonnaise in your boots before going to war?! Idiot!"

I like how much Chick laughs at other people's suffering and also at their own jokes! It's almost as if Thomas Pynchon met me one time and thought, "That guy is such a slob-footed jerk! Hey! I have a great idea for a character that would totally make fun of him!"

Was that joke too subtle? Do you think someone will read "It's almost as if Thomas Pynchon met me one time" and then think, "Oh! Grunion Guy the Anonymous Blog Writer is about to suggest they're the model for Chick Counterfly?!" and then read the big twist on the sentence and think, "Ha, ha, ha! That Grunion Guy sure does have the worst self-esteem! Ha, ha!" 

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.