Tarahumara Indians from northern Mexico crouched, apparently in total nakedness, inside lath-and-plaster replicas of the caves of their native Sierra Madre, pretending to eat vision-producing cacti that sent them into dramatic convulsions scarcely distinguishable from those of the common "geek" long familiar to American carnival-goers. . . .
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One thing you'll notice when reading Wikipedia entries about non-European civilizations invaded by European civilizations is the use of words like "conflict" and "strife" and "rebellion" and "unrest." The phrases you don't see are "why couldn't they have left them alone" and "the foreign invaders were aggressive dillholes" and "you bet your ass they killed as many British/Spanish/French/German/Danish/Portuguese/Italian invaders as they could!" I'm sure the people writing the articles are merely thinking, "This is something that happened so I guess I'll just write about this moment as something that couldn't have been avoided by a lack of imperialist aggression and international theft and European arrogance that their perception of the world was the only one that mattered." But I'm also sure that I don't have to forgive those people for their laziness in conforming to the idea that the world should be viewed through a lens of white Western Civilization's conquests and aggression as "simply things that happened."
The 1893 Chicago World's Fair was simply a thing that happened. It couldn't be helped that the central structure was known as The White City not because it was full of white male modern inventions and white male claims of white male authority. It was called The White City because it was covered over by plaster of Paris, of course. Thinking it was the other way is unhelpful reconstructionism! The White City should be seen as an inspiring Mecca for middle class white people who would use the term "Mecca" in trivial ways like I just did. Why think about the negative? You should read things like "The World's Columbian Exposition defined American culture!" rather than things like "The whiteness of The White City became increasingly offensive to African Americans as plans for the fair unfolded." [Both of those quotes were taken from the online encyclopedia of Chicago history about the Chicago World's Fair.] I'm sure Pynchon didn't put all of these examples of the Midway Plaisance in the book to rock the American cultural boat! I'm sure he wasn't all, "You know, 1893 had a lot of great moments in the changing times of American culture and history. And what better place to start than the Chicago World's Fair which was a shining beacon on the hill of inequality on so many vectors and an example of how Americans embrace the illusion of who they think they are rather than who they really are." I'm sure he was just all, "A Fair! What a fun place to start a book about a bunch of boys in an airship that doesn't contain any subtext at all!"
"Tarahumara Indians from northern Mexico"
Well, geez, didn't I go off on a tangent! It happened because I began reading about the Rarámuri (that's what they called themselves; "Tarahumara Indians" is an exonym by the Spanish (although "Rarámuri" specifically refers to the men of the tribe so it's kind of sexist!)) and how they were never conquered by the Spanish or "fully" converted by the Jesuits. I suppose you have to modify the word converted in this context because those Goddamned Jesuits are absolutely going to convince at least a few people that Hell is real and Jesus is the only way to avoid it.
Listing all of these various civilizations and their performances manages to highlight Western Civilization's imperialist wrongdoings. Pynchon manages to highlight even this highlight by narrating the scene through Lindsay's judgmental attitude toward the practices of the native populations put on display here at the Fair. "Look at how they act. This is why we needed to invade their countries and civilize them." And Lindsay looks upon the scene and readily agrees.
"pretending to eat vision-producing cacti"
Why pretend?! Were they not allowed to bring their drugs into the Midway Plaisance even though everybody else seems to be doing a shit ton of opium?! This is the most offensive bit to me!
"dramatic convulsions scarcely distinguishable from those of the common "geek" long familiar to American carnival-goers"
See? This is what I've been talking about! Pynchon shows how an act that is probably part of their tribal religion and almost certainly sacred to their traditions is merely seen by white American tourists as equal to a guy in a carnival biting the head off of a chicken. It's degrading! It's, well, um . . . it's America, I guess. Hooray?
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