Sunday, December 4, 2022

Chapter 1: Section 6: Page 52: Line 130 (923)

 For some reason Lew felt uncomfortable telling the Chums of Chance about his transfer.

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Is this the emotional discomfort any person might feel when saying goodbye to friends? Or is this a particular discomfort that Lew feels due to his history of shifting places and more than once losing all that he has ever known? I suppose it's left for the reader to interpret as even Lew doesn't quite know why he's feeling uncomfortable. He might work it out in the next sentence or two and then won't I look like a foolish bastard, wasting all this time discussing a mundane line that's just meant to introduce a new scene! Acting like there's something mysterious Pynchon is holding back not only from the reader but from Lew himself! Why even mention the discomfort if it's not related to the themes of the book (whatever those are! Probably quaternions!).  Maybe it's because Lew extorted a whole lot of money out of Nate in the contract to move to Denver and Lew knows the money was made by crushing the hopes and dreams of the working poor!

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