The wind, which till now had been steady on their starboard quarter, began to shift.
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The eastward wind is dying down which means, I guess, that Mary Poppins won't be coming to teach them about the failings of capitalism? I guess they'll just have to learn that lesson themselves!
Or, you know, something is amiss. A change is on the wind.
Especially dogs who spent as much time as Pugnax did up here, in the sky, far above the inexhaustible complex of odors to be found on the surface of the planet below.
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Pugnax has joined an elite cadre of Chums who are far above the concerns of the mortals far down below. Demands for explanations are for the surface people grounded in some reality whose natural laws they must obey. Down below, things are real, matter can be grasped, effects must be consistent with causes, inexhaustible complexes of odors smell. Up in the balloon, in the heavens, in the Earth's imagination, things can get a little . . . complicated. Can the things Pugnax encounters up in this realm actually be explained, even if he felt the need for an explanation? Or would one as rigid as a surface dweller soon succumb to madness at these heights, with these mysteries?
If that's so then Lindsay Noseworth must go mad at some point. Except, as we've seen thanks to Pugnax's nose, Lindsay isn't exactly what Lindsay pretends to be. Lindsay is one of these mysteries of the æther. Maybe that explains Lindsay's behavior: he's trying very much to fit in with these other humans and can only do so by following strict rules of behavior and rigid norms.
Or maybe Lindsay is just a Vulcan. Do they have a smell? Oh! I bet Lindsay is a replicant!
Explanations did not, as far as he could tell, appear to be anything dogs either sought or even were entitled to.
* * * * * * * * * *
Remember, Pugnax is the character insert for the reader! So you aren't entitled to an explanation of Pynchon's book even if you're the kind of careful reader seeking for one.
Or this could just be, since Pugnax references all dogs and not just himself, an example of systemic bias in a social structure very much informed by class, race, and wealth. Are certain segments of the population entitled to explanations? Hell, do they even care about them?! They're no better than dogs, really! Why, even if they were curious about our institutions and the reasons they exist, they wouldn't understand the answers they were given!
There might be an explanation, though he was not sure he should insist upon one.
* * * * * * * * * *
This is what everybody feels after they finish Gravity's Rainbow.
It also brings to mind the search for meaning and one of my favorite bits from Tom King's The Sheriff of Babylon.
A lot of parts of this story are my favorites but this entire issue (#5) is just superb.
Generally I believe there's definitely a meaning in a piece of art created by an artist (I make this distinction of art by an artist because I wouldn't automatically assume the same thing about our natural universe. When it comes to natural things, I side with Pugnax: There might be an explanation, though I'm too much a realist to insist upon one). It might not be something the viewer has any possibility of ferreting out as it could be just a reference to some childhood memory and the adult artist's feelings on it. But, in general, I'll look at a piece of art and think, "It should mean something." I rarely ever conclude something is "art for art's sake." I'd rather leave something I don't understand as being just that: beyond my ken. I'd definitely rather be puzzled by a work of art than be given the artist's manifesto explaining why they made the art. I don't mind mystery remaining in my world.
Anyway, I love that three panel strip from The Sheriff of Babylon. It should be a t-shirt or a bumper sticker or any number of types of pop culture ephemera.
Pugnax sniffed briefly in Lindsay's direction, trying to detect that combination of olfactory "notes" he had grown accustomed to finding in other humans. But as always this scent eluded him.
* * * * * * * * * *
I knew Lindsay was a narc. Or an alien, I guess? Maybe a ghost!
* * * * * * * * * *
Postscript: I left this commentary short simply for the joke and because I felt the underlying message was clear enough. But I understand that the Internet is all about constant clarification because it's full of people who love to proclaim that above all else they are rational beings and yet their favorite activity is purposefully misunderstanding everything everybody else writes and arguing the semantics of a statement instead of engaging in the spirit of it. You know, they Lindsays of the Internet. The ones who look human but definitely don't smell right.
Placing upon the word "book" an emphasis whose level of contempt can be approached perhaps only by Executive Officers.
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It's a good thing I'm calling this blog "One Line at a Time" and not "One Sentence at a Time" because then how would I quantify sentence fragments? How many demerits does Lindsay Noseworth get for being the missing subject in this sentence fragment?! Somebody needs to swing him by the ankles over the side of the Inconvenience.
I know! It's not fair to blame Lindsay for something Pynchon did! But have you heard the old parental saying, "Life is not fair. Proof of concept: I had you." Man, that one always stings, right?
This might be the first sentence I don't truly understand. I mean, I get that Lindsay said the word book with contempt. As if this book (or all books?) were a despicable thing that Pugnax is wasting his time pretending to read. But the description of how much contempt he put into saying it doesn't mean anything to me. I guess Executive Officers (in this case, literally the second-in-command) are thoroughly contemptuous creatures? But why is this? Is this something that only somebody who has been in the military can understand? Is it because they enjoy the power of their position while also being resentful that they're not in absolute control? If only I'd known one Executive Officer in my life so I could read this sentence and nod my head knowingly while saying, "Totes McGoats!"
* * * * * * * * * *
Postscript: Could it be that Lindsay's contempt of books has something to do with the conservative mindsest that books (and thus education) poison the minds of the young, thus leading to things like beliefs in equal rights and workers' rights and social justice and compassion and empathy and the belief that life isn't something that needs to be earned or must be allowed by those whose families have stolen the most capital over time? Is it because ideas about making life better for everybody can be spread via books and it is the control of ideas that is at the forefront of an authoritarian system?
