Chapter 1: Section 7: Page 62: Line 108 (1090)

 Separated by a couple-three letters in name as if alphabetically double-refracted, you could say. . . .

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Let's not forget Merle's drunk while coming up with this theory lest we eviscerate him too harshly. But then I also shouldn't forget that Thomas Pynchon's books are historical fantasies where pretty much anything can be true. I already have no trouble believing that Lew Basnight can hop dimensions, traveling from one timeline to another, possibly even going from the real world to a work of fiction (as opposed to hopping from one fictional Chicago to another). I believe that Randolph St. Cosmo is an angel based on the character Orc from William Blake's America A Prophecy. I believe Pugnax, based on a cartoon character that doesn't yet exist in the novel's timeline, can read. Why shouldn't I also believe that Blinky Morgan and Edward Morley are the same person split in two by some kind of flesh double-refraction invention. Maybe Edward, as a small child, walked into a brick wall one day, diverting himself in one direction while Blinky bounced off at a perpendicular direction (or just came out through the other side?). This could explain why Blinky became a scofflaw and a thief because he found himself all alone and having to fend for himself at a young age. It's like that episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where they find a clone of Riker stranded on a planet for years. A clone that, may I say, proves Barkley's theory correct that the Federation's teleportation system doesn't work as suspected; it's actually a suicide/cloning machine. It kills the real person and just creates a clone at the destination. How else can you explain a double-refracted William Riker creating Thomas Riker?

I will say the similar name minus the couple-three letters convinced me more than their pictures. That doesn't mean I'm gullible and easily convinced of bullshit; it just means the pictures look so dissimilar one to the other that the spelling of the names was a greater argument for the double-refraction. 

Chapter 1: Section 6: Page 52: Line 140 (934)

 Randolph had a sympathetic look.

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Randolph is probably about to explain how the Chums of Chance are constantly having to move on as well. He may paint it as an issue of living in a balloon and having to take missions all over the world. But I'm sure he's really thinking about how, as an angel, he was required to leave Heaven for his mission on Earth. That's speculation on my part but it's based on evidence!

Remember, my theory is that Randolph is based on Blake's character Orc in America a Prophecy (and other works). He's a fallen character (as in Lucifer!) who symbolizes rebellion and freedom. Orc manages to get Americans to rise up in revolution and bring down their oppressors. From what I've seen so far, Against the Day takes a strong pro-union stance and most of the main characters are sympathetic to the poor and working class.

Chapter 1: Section 5: Page 36: Lines 11-12 (593-594)

 "But every boy knows the Chums of Chance," declared Lindsay Noseworth perplexedly. "What could you've been reading, as a youth?"

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Either Lew is pretty near the same age as the Chums of Chance or Lindsay has just declared the Chums of Chance are either a long standing club with rotating members or the Chums of Chance have always been the current roster, for years and years, because they're either ghosts or angels. You know which one I believe! Although maybe you don't if you haven't been reading my hundreds of blog posts on this book. I believe they're angels! And not just any angels! Randolph St. Cosmo, the captain, is the embodiment of Orc from William Blake's America a Prophecy.

I guess we're also learning that the Chums of Chance books were huge nationwide hits that every American boy proudly read (and every American girl secretly). And that means Lew Basnight isn't American! Or if he is American, he isn't cool and if he's not cool, he isn't American! Or he's from a different dimension which is my favorite theory which I'll definitely have you believing once we get to the Lew Basnight section.

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 "Nate!" she screamed, causing Randolph to jump.

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Mr. Privett's given name is Nate which means "God has given," from the Hebrew. This could be taken as the assignment he'll be giving to Randolph and the Chums of Chance comes straight from God. Which suggests, once again, that Randolph is some kind of angel or friendly ghost.

Still getting plenty of this vibe from Nate Privett's "receptionist."

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 Wherewith Randolph saluted, turned, and vanished into the great fragrant darkness.

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Is Randolph the personification of Satan? Remember that his name is an anagram of DAMN ORC ON A LOST SHIP and the "DAMN ORC" part of that is in reference to the character of Orc in William Blake's America A Prophecy who is a Luciferian character of rebellion and unrest! So here we get further proof that this is who Randolph is as he vanishes into darkness.

The darkness is only fragrant because he's in the middle of a gigantic weenie roast (and also maybe because he's surrounded by pre-teen and teenaged boys and, well, you know how "good" they smell).

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 "Blundell, what in Heaven's name!" Randolph exclaimed.

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Exactly the kind of expletive an angel would use! I've got you figured out, Mr. Saint Cosmo!

Unless Randolph's an orc because if you make an anagram of his name (including the full word "saint" and not just the St.), you get "LOST ORC ON A DAMN SHIP." Or maybe "DAMN ORC ON A LOST SHIP!"

No wait! What if we look toward William Blake's America A Prophecy wherein the character Orc is seen as a Luciferian character. In other words, damned, or an angel expelled from (perhaps an all-too-earthly?) heaven! According to Wikipedia—because did you think I actually had this Blake stuff in my head? I barely have that poem about the tiger with laser eyes still up there! Although, thanks to Moore's Jerusalem, I've now heard Blake's poem, "Jerusalem," in song quite a few times (the best time being by Jo Brand on Taskmaster)—Orc is described as a "Lover of Wild Rebellion, and Transgressor of God's Law" and he "symbolizes the spirit of rebellion and freedom." At one point, he "emerges from creative fires to challenge the forces of imperialism" (that was also a quote from the Wiki page about the character Orc).

This all fits in with one of the main themes in Against the Day, right?! Anarchy and rebellion against the empire of the United States of America! America A Prophecy saw print in 1793 so exactly 100 years prior to the start of this book. Coincidence?! Um, probably? But maybe not!

Am I going to have to read up on Blake to understand this book the way I should have read up on Blake to understand Alan Moore's Jerusalem? Although I probably should have read more Joyce for that one too! The characteristics and story of Orc as summarized in the Wikipedia entry on him parallel a lot of the ideas I've seen so far in the first chapter of this book. What's also weird is there were times while reading the first chapter that I felt Pynchon's text was in dialogue with Moore's text, so much so that I had to re-check the publication date on Jerusalem. And as I knew but couldn't remember for sure, Jerusalem had been published nearly a decade after Against the Day. But if both books are heavily referencing themes from some of Blake's mystical and strange writings, wouldn't it seem like they were in dialogue? Oh, and they're also probably in dialogue thanks to James Joyce! But that's a reading for me for another decade!