Thursday, May 6, 2021

Chapter 1: Section 6: Page 47: Line 46 (839)

 Despite young Khäutsch's police skills, somehow the Archduke kept giving him the slip.

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Earlier, Khäutsch was described as being a skilled assassin. Pynchon didn't really go into much detail about his other skills. So now that Pynchon just casually mentions Max's police skills, in a way that implies they are quite exemptional, I have to assume Pynchon is saying cops are assassins. I know he's not but you can't stop me from inferring what I want to infer! Anyway, if Max is good at policing and protection (and killing!), the Archduke must be even better at giving people the slip. It's a skill that saves his life in twenty years when he gives a bunch of assassins the slip. Except later that same day, he's driven back toward one of his assassins who takes advantage of the traffic mix-up and murders him and his wife. I suppose the ability to give one the slip only works when you actively realize there's somebody nearby who needs to be slipped away from.

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