Chapter 1: Section 1: Page 5: Line 33

 "Why don't you give me some of that fancy silverware, Blundell?" young Counterfly now continued.

* * * * * * * * * *

Counterfly is the kind of cool cat who calls everybody by their last name. Other than that, what information can be gleaned from this line?! Counterfly is either a fancy silverware enthusiast or a moneygrubbing little moneygrubber. Or—and this is why you need to really analyze every line—maybe he's trying to eat a Shepherd's Pie right now and needs a spoon. Or a fork? I don't want to jump to any conclusions as to whether Counterfly is a normal person or obviously insane based on his choice of cutlery.

Oh! "Counterfly" is an anagram of "O! F'n cutlery!" So yeah, that's it. Counterfly just loves fancy silverware.

Chapter 1: Section 1: Pages 4-5: Line 32

 An angry retort sprang to Miles's lips, but he suppressed it, reminding himself that, as insult and provocation came naturally to the class from which the newcomer sprang, it was upon his unhealthy past that one must blame the lad's habit of speech.

* * * * * * * * * *

Here we get an example of Miles's heart. He recognizes that Chick grew up amidst a populace that loved to insult and provoke; Chick is simply reflecting what's been heaped on him from an early age. Miles is able to not take it personally and chooses to not engage Chick.

But I'd still really like to know what Miles was going to say. Maybe something like "Better behave yourself or we'll send you back to Dr. Jamf!" or "When Jamf conditioned him, he threw away the stimulus." Ha ha! Except those incredibly potent insults won't be thought up for another forty years (80 years if we're stepping outside of the fiction (except if we step outside of one fiction, shouldn't we step outside of both fictions which means those insults were thought up 33 years previously?).

What class is Chick from? What are the American classes? They probably go Rich White Man, Rich Black Man, Rich White Woman, Poor White Man, Rich Black Woman, Poor Black Man, Poor White Woman, Poor Black Woman. Expressing that doesn't mean I'm endorsing it! I'm just trying to get a handle on how terribly America deals with class (and racial equality! (and feminism!))! It's so much easier to figure out in the United Kingdom. You just have to hear somebody speak and then you're all, "Ew! Lower class!" or "I say! Upper class!" Of course occasionally you get somebody like Tom Allen who speaks and you're all "I say! Upper class!" but then Rob Becket speaks and you're all, "Ew! Lower class!" and then somebody is all, "Um, you know Rob and Tom went to school together, don't you?"

So I guess class is confusing everywhere!

Anyway, what class did Chick Counterfly spring from? A mean lower one from the evidence! I bet he even does swears! He must be a burr in the butt of Lindsay, I tell you what!

We learn Chick had an unhealthy past although we'll have to wait to find out more about that. If we ever do! At some point, the Narrator might pipe up and be all, "If you're interested in learning more about Chick Counterfly, might I recommend the rousing adventure story The Chums of Chance and the Carpetbagger Who Won't Take a Hint."

I appreciate that Thomas Pynchon didn't write the possessive as "Miles'" and wrote it as "Miles's" instead. I don't know which is correct or if both are correct and it's one of those Chicago vs MLA style arguments. Maybe the name Miles is a special case (or Pynchon changed styles after thirty years) because I feel like Pynchon left the extra "s" off possessive cases like this one in Gravity's Rainbow.

Maybe Pynchon did it on purpose so that "Miles's lips" could also be read as "Miles slips" which makes me picture a clumsy fat kid in a negligee. Or, to be smarterer, makes me think Miles is usually well-behaved and this is an odd slip of his to get angry at one of his fellow aeronauts.

Does "insult and provocation came naturally to the class which the newcomer sprang" make you think of Cockneys like Danny Dyer? In the future, I'm going to read all of Chick's dialogue in Danny Dyer's voice!

Chapter 1: Section 1: Page 4: Lines 30-31

 "Ha, ha," cried young Counterfly, "say, but if you ain't the most slob-footed chap I ever seen! Ha, ha, ha!"

* * * * * * * * * *

Ha ha! That Chick Counterfly is such a huge cut up! "The most slob-footed chap" is such a great line! Almost as great as my line "mayonnaise footed!" That's what I call Gibraltar in Apex because he walks around going "Thump splush! Thump splush! Thump splush!" It's like, "Hey! Sir! I'm trying to hear enemy footsteps! Could you stop putting so much mayonnaise in your boots before going to war?! Idiot!"

I like how much Chick laughs at other people's suffering and also at their own jokes! It's almost as if Thomas Pynchon met me one time and thought, "That guy is such a slob-footed jerk! Hey! I have a great idea for a character that would totally make fun of him!"

Was that joke too subtle? Do you think someone will read "It's almost as if Thomas Pynchon met me one time" and then think, "Oh! Grunion Guy the Anonymous Blog Writer is about to suggest they're the model for Chick Counterfly?!" and then read the big twist on the sentence and think, "Ha, ha, ha! That Grunion Guy sure does have the worst self-esteem! Ha, ha!" 

Chapter 1: Section 1: Page 4: Line 29

As Miles now went about picking up pieces of the damaged porcelain, he evoked the mirth of one Chick Counterfly, the newest member of the crew, who was leaning against a stay, observing him.

* * * * * * * * * *

I'm certain there's a method to Thomas Pynchon's naming of characters and it's probably so genius that my miniscule mind would barely be able to comprehend the intricacies of the system. But isn't it also possible that Thomas Pynchon is just really terrible at it? Maybe to afford the perk "Literary Genius," he had to take the flaw "Can only come up with stupid names." Maybe he's one of those people who can only come up with names by glancing around at the objects in his field of view. So when he came up with the ship's captain's name, he was probably sitting in a little studio apartment on Randolph Street while watching Seinfeld. Miles Blundell? Pynchon glanced at a roadside sign showing the distance to the next town just as he ripped a huge fart. Darby Suckling? Driving past an Arby's while a prostitute was leant over telling him a story about her childhood pot-bellied pig. When he came up with Chick Counterfly, he was obviously sitting at the counter of a small rural roadside diner that had hens running about in the yard and insects buzzing up against the windows.

It's also possible Counterfly was chosen because Chick is annoying and always runs counter to the expectations of the group. But is he also a chick? Hmm, maybe! I know the crew was described as "five young lads" but isn't there always a young girl masquerading as a boy in these swashbuckling tales of grand adventure and exploration?!

In this passage, you can tell Chick Counterfly is a rebel because not only is his (or her?!) name "Counterfly," but she (he?!) also begins laughing at the fat kid picking up the plates he broke. "Ha ha!" laughed Chick Counterfly while laughing. "You, Miles, are clumsy. And fat! Ha ha!" Then Chick flicked the toothpick out of his mouth and I though while writing that, "Wow! Look at all the rhyming words!"

Also in this passage, we learn that Chick is the newest member of the crew when Pynchon writes "Chick Counterfly, the newest member of the crew." Is that subtext? I'm pretty good at stuff like that.

Chapter 1: Section 1: Page 4: Line 28

 His reproof, though approaching the caustic, was well founded, for Miles, while possessed of good intentions and the kindest heart in the little band, suffered at times from a confusion in his motor processes, often producing lively results, yet as frequently compromising the crew's physical safety.

* * * * * * * * * *

The idea that Randolph's reproof from the previous sentence was "approaching the caustic" reiterates my belief that Miles Blundell is a chubby kid. That's because I can't really read the line as "caustic" without believing that Randolph was taking a jab at Miles' weight when he mentioned Miles' familiarity with the picnic basket. Otherwise he was just saying, "You work around those things every day so I can see how you'd sort of not see them after awhile." That's not caustic at all!

As for Miles clumsy nature, here we get a hint that it might be medical. Perhaps he suffers from a minor form of epilepsy which could later account for some things about his character to which the reader isn't yet privy. Or maybe he's just a big old clumsy fat bloke. I mean that in the tropiest sense of the trope and not in a non-narrative every day stereotype!

According to this bit, Miles is the heart of the Inconvenience. Randolph is the brain. Lindsay is the muscle. Miles is the heart. Darby is the enthusiasm. And the other guy we haven't yet met is the dick. That isn't an insult; it means I like him best! Or at least as much as I like Darby. I can't wait to discuss him in the next sentence!

I feel like Miles is like a fat Stan Laurel or a not as fat Lou Costello. He means well, he's got a big heart, and he's pretty clumsy. I didn't add Curly to this list because I don't think Curly always meant well. I'm pretty sure he was trying to get Moe killed.

Chapter 1: Section 1: Page 4: Line 27

"Perhaps its familiarity," Randolph suggested plaintively, "rendered it temporarily invisible to you."

* * * * * * * * * *

 There's this thing we do as humans. It's a thing we don't notice which is ironic because that thing is not noticing things (is that ironic? Or is that simply fitting?). If we don't notice something out of familiarity, it's because we've learned to take that thing for granted. It's always been there. It's always been done this way. It's tradition. But we also don't notice things, sometimes the exact same things, for other reasons. Like maybe it's—oh, I don't know. Let's take the name of this airship as an example—an Inconvenience.

What could possibly, in our American society, be one of these things, be our picnic basket, that's perhaps so familiar that we've all become blind to it? And yet if somebody points out how they've stumbled on it, we deny its existence because it's too inconvenient to think about and haven't stumbled on it ourselves. Let it remain invisible, please. Although rendering something invisible does not mean, as we have seen in Blundell's case, that it will never cause you to stumble. It will. Eventually. I mean, it's still right there where we've all known its been all this time. Sure, rendered invisible because it's just become part of our lives after all these years. But at some point, it must be acknowledged and dealt with or it's just going to sit there getting crashed into by a bunch of people who really wish that maybe all those people not crashing into it might finally see it and help do something about it.

I'd say maybe more of us than not have finally crashed into it. It probably took too long for some of us to notice that picnic basket but once you have, you have two options: help move it or deny reality and keep pretending it's not there even though it has finally been rendered visible. You'd think once somebody stumbled on the picnic basket full of crockery which has been lying there in the same place all this time, invisible to everybody because, well, that's where it's always been and we've always got along just fine with it right there, haven't we? . . . once somebody stumbled on it, they would want to deal with it. "Hey, let's maybe move it out of the way, shall we? Now that we've noticed it's a problem." You might think that. But you might also be surprised at how many people decide on the second option and simply keep pretending that they don't see the picnic basket at all. And those people, when you insist that the picnic basket is there and it's really causing a lot of people to stumble on it, insist that it isn't there at all because they've never stumbled on it. Not once. Ever.

Maybe living in ignorance of the picnic basket could once be seen as a non-malicious option. It wasn't! But enough people seemed to think, "Hey, man. Leave it be. Don't rock the airship, man! Some people are really insistent that the picnic basket belongs there and arguing with them is just causing division, right? And anyway, the picnic basket isn't causing as much stumbling as it used to! We've really come a long way in avoiding the picnic basket!" But at this point in our journey aboard the Inconvenience, the picnic basket can no longer be ignored. Or downplayed. Or left out just sitting there tripping up a very specific section of our crew.

We have got to move that fucking picnic basket (sorry for the profanity but I think it was about time). Maybe by any means necessary. We certainly need to stop worrying about the people who claim they can't see the picnic basket. Denying reality isn't the other side of the argument. It's just avoiding the argument and shifting the focus from the picnic basket (which is really causing a lot of banged shins) to the incivility of the people yelling and demanding that something that doesn't exist needs to be changed. They seem to think the problem isn't one of invisibility or stumbling or picnic baskets; they seem to think the problem is people trying to make inconveniently familiar things visible.

Seriously. We have to move the fucking picnic basket. And while we're at it, can we defund Lindsay Noseworth?

Chapter 1: Section 1: Page 4: Lines 25-26

 "I have only tripped over one of these picnic baskets," called out Handyman Apprentice Miles Blundell, "the one all the crockery was in, 's what it looks like. . . . I guess I didn't see it, Professor."

* * * * * * * * * *

Here we come to the place that will divide readership into two groups: those who think my numbering system is way off and the correct people who don't. I've been meaning to discuss how easy it's going to be to mess up the numbering system on the sentences just from simple human error (that's the kind of error made by a simple human like me) but I hadn't thought about an encounter with a full stop after an ellipsis. Based on every grammatical rule I've pretended to have read in the past, that's the end of a sentence. I mean, it's obvious, right? The period is just a normal period coming at the end of the ellipsis. They're obviously two separate pieces of punctuation that just happen to look like they're part of the same punctuation. I don't even know why I'm spending so much time discussing it! What am I? A style manual?! Boring!

Why even bring it up, right?! If it weren't the end of a sentence it would just be an ellipsis and then more words! Sheesh! You know what this rambling on defensively about an obvious decision that nearly nobody would argue is all about, right? It's about writing something on the Internet! You're constantly thinking of what people are going to attack you for so you're constantly pre-defending every single statement you make! I say "you" when what I really mean is "me" but also maybe think I mean "we"?

You know what? Forget all that! Let's get to Miles!

Years of terrible tropes in media of clumsy characters now has me picturing Miles Blundell as the fat kid. Right? The fat kid is never graceful or sharp dressed or sexually intimidating! The fat kid is always just clumsy and eating desserts. Like every scene, the kids will be racing down a forgotten mine shaft being chased by aliens and the fat kid is all, "Hang on! I keep tripping over my licorice rope!" Pretty sure Pynchon expects us to have been pre-programmed with this visual since Miles is clumsy, trips over picnic baskets, and is named Blundell. That name's almost as indicative of a fat kid as Gravy Jones.

That's a picture of my cat Gravy. She was offended when Pierce on Community suggested Gravy Jones was the name of a fat girl. Wook at how dwainty she wis! Oh she's so coot!

Who is Professor? Is that Miles nickname for Randolph or is Miles somehow in communication with some Professor somewhere who hasn't been introduced yet. Maybe Miles is like Firestorm and he has a Professor living inside of his head! No, that's ridiculous and Pynchon never introduces anything ridiculous into his novels! Ha ha! That's funny if you've read any Thomas Pynchon!

I actually think it was this particular moment where crockery was mentioned that I picked up The Hobbit to re-read. Which I finished in two days proving that I can read a lot faster than I think I can and forces me to ask, "What's taking you so long reading all these Pynchon novels?!" I'm afraid to answer that question because the answer might be "Because you're a big dumb idiot, jerk."