At first Lew took it for a church—something about the echoes, the smell—though in fact, on weekends anyway, it was a small variety theater.
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"the smell"
Here's Pynchon writing about the smells of a church in Gravity's Rainbow:
"The old church smells of spilled wine, American sweat, and recently burned cordite, but these are raw newer intrusions that haven't done away with the prevailing Catholic odor—incense, wax, centuries of mild bleating from the lips of the flock."
"took it for a church" "in fact . . . it was a small variety theater"
What is a church except a place to perform acts of faith in front of your neighbors to convince them that you're a holy and righteous person? What is a theater but a place to worship and venerate the human condition? Both contain at least one actor performing for an audience. Both require a strong willingness to suspend disbelief to work (yes, I'm saying that "faith" is a synonym for "suspension of disbelief"). Both are also a place of strong convictions and grand ideas being communicated to the masses. Both perfect places to educate workers on what their rights should be within a capitalist system that purports to believe everybody is free and equal.
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