Chapter 1: Section 1: Page 5: Line 37

 At one end of the gondola, largely oblivious to the coming and going on deck, with his tail thumping expressively now and then against the planking, and his nose among the pages of a volume by Mr. Henry James, lay a dog of no particular breed, to all appearances absorbed in the text before him.

* * * * * * * * * *

It's possible all of Thomas Pynchon's novels are trying to bring to light the CIA's experiments with making hyper-intelligent canines. Or maybe as a youth, Pynchon had a dog with whom he had long conversations. I don't think this dog talks like the dog in Mason & Dixon or the dog in Gravity's Rainbow that was trying to avoid capture when Pointsman got his foot stuck in the toilet. What the hell was that about anyway?

"'Why it's Mrs. Nussbaum!' Roger cries, the same way he's heard Fred Allen do, Wednesday nights over the BBC.
    'You vere ekshpecting maybe Lessie?' replies the dog."

I get it! Gravity's Rainbow is a truly weird novel. But am I supposed to take the dog's reply literally?! Oh wait! I remember now! Occasionally the narration slips into other kinds of media based on a brief fantasy pinging through the mind of the character through whose perspective the book is currently focused. So here he just imagines the dog finishing up the Fred Allen bit in the voice of Mrs. Nussbaum. I imagine little Thomas Pynchon probably huddled up to the radio each week to listen to The Fred Allen Show, crying snot from laughing so hard.

My supposition is that the dog is "of no particular breed" because that's a way to describe all the lads aboard the Inconvenience. In a way, being an adventuring aeronaut in a small tightknit club, you transcend class and race (literally as well as figuratively being that they're in an airship. Is that the reason for their being in an airship?!). Your crewmates are your siblings, your family, your classless class outside the rigid bounds of society. They're all just mutts absorbed in a book.

While the dog is actually absorbed in a book (a Henry James novel that will later be identified by plot), the Chums of Chance are "absorbed in the text" in a completely different way. They are literally characters in a series of books while also literally being characters in Against the Day. Sorry for using literally twice in one sentence and for practically no reason at all. I probably should have coined the term "literaturally" instead.

This dog is possibly also an acknowledgment of the readership. As we read Thomas Pynchon in public (the best place to read it so that other people know you're a smartie!), we also ignore the coming and going all around us. And we're probably expressing our pleasure in an outward manner like the dog thumping its tail except we're laughing a little too loudly and trying to make eye contact in a melodramatic effort to show how much we understand this big fat Thomas Pynchon book we're reading. 

Chapter 1: Section 1: Page 5: Line 36

 "Like Sunday school around here," muttered the picklesome youth.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Like Sunday school 'round here," muttered the youth,
Having the attributes of a pickle.
(Which, knowing Pynchon, could be an uncouth
Boner joke, the vulgar's tastes to tickle.)
More likely Pynchon just wants us to grok
Chick's vinegary peevish attitude.
(But should we rule out mention of a cock,
Ignore Pynchon's go-to and seem a prude?)
When I see Pynchon mention hard and long
Objects, I think of some dark library
Where boys titter huddled in a small throng
Finding dirty jokes in Blume and Cleary.
Penis jokes abound, great ones and moaners.
Was Frost's "Birches" about gay boys' boners?

Chapter 1: Section 1: Page 5: Line 35

 "I recall to your attention," replied Miles politely, "that all tableware bearing the Chums of Chance Insignia is Organizational property, to be kept aboard ship for use during official meal periods."

* * * * * * * * * *

"Recall to your attention" -- Chick Counterfly must have gone through some kind of training and sat through dozens of boring lectures about the rules and regulations which must be followed aboard the Inconvenience.

"politely" -- Miles is a better lad than most. Recall, he was just called "slob-footed" by Chick, a devastatingly potent insult that would pierce the heart of any clumsy fat kid.

"tableware bearing" -- If you say this fast enough, you can hear the phrase "beware bear" which means a bear will probably wind up killing Chick Counterfly. Probably as he saves Miles's life from said bear. This is a literary technique invented in the United Kingdom called "cryptic foreshadowing."

"Chums of Chance Insignia" -- Oh! Has this been described? Being that Pynchon wrote this in 2006, he was probably influenced by Silicon Valley start-up branding. I bet the Chums of Chance Insignia is two lower case c's on a flat mono-colored background with a thick black border.

"Organizational property" -- Is the organization Miles is referring to the Chums of Chance themselves or to the so-far-mysterious firm (or government) they work for?

"official meal periods" -- Ugh! Life on board ship is so regimented! I bet Lindsay even makes up charts outlining which meals will be eaten each day and how many breakfasts Darby must miss due to all of the demerits he's acquired.

This is an example of how I'm not doing a deep reading of every line but how maybe it should look? I'd rather just sort of take in the whole thing and excrete a bunch of dumb jokes which obscure my super intelligent insight into the novel so that I get responses like "Grunion Guy wouldn't know subtle if it gently nudged his shoulder" or "This guy is the biggest idiot on the Internet" or "I'm Cullen Bunn and this jerk is just trying to get my attention so here it is along with a gif from the worst movie ever The Boondock Saints."

Chapter 1: Section 1: Page 5: Line 34

 "And when we get to Chicago we'll find us a 'hock shop' a-and—"

* * * * * * * * * *

Discussing the last line would have gone better if this line were discussed at the same time but Pynchon screwed up. Usually, he throws in another comma, uncapitalizes the first letter of the continuation of the quote, and makes my life easier (ha ha! Imagine! Reading Pynchon somehow making my life easier! More thoroughly enjoyable, sure. But when was the last time I had to work so hard at feeling joy and experiencing various levels of emotional ecstasy?! I could just as easily eat a pint of ice cream!). But this time he decided to separate the two halves of Chick's statement with a full stop. What a jerk.

So obviously this is just a continuation of the previous statement explaining why Chick wants the silverware. Apparently he doesn't have a fetish for the shiny utensils. He just wants to sell them for some quick cash that he'll just blow at the Chicago World's Fair. Remember that? It seemed so long ago that we learned that's where the kids are going! It's a good thing Pynchon reminded me in this sentence because I almost forgot. I can't wait to spend 1000 pages following these kids and their adventures at the Columbian Exposition!

That was a dramatically ironic moment for people who have already read this book and know how disappointed I'm going to wind up being!

The main question (and the follow up to the main question) this line asks is this: "What is wrong with Pynchon's typewriter? And why does it always type 'and' as 'a-and'?" For awhile, I just thought it was the way Prentice stuttered in his thoughts. I have lots of thought stutter moments. But then I thought maybe Slothrop had that issue. And then I thought maybe all of Pynchon's characters had that issue, including the omniscient (or semi-omniscient? Is that a thing?) narrator. But now I suspect it's just his typewriter. I bet it's haunted by a ghost with a nervous tic.

Anyway, this line offers more evidence that Chick Counterfly is a disreputable jerk. But remember what Miles thought: it's because of the environment he was raised in! Now that he's an aeronaut and the member of a tight-knit crew, he'll probably learn the value of teamwork because as you know, it's gonna work!

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!"