In the Zone

The following concerns page 303:

In episode 2 of Part 3, Slothrop finds himself in the Nordhausen works where the rockets were transported through tunnels. Pynchon describes the ambience of this underworld where artificial matter dominates:

"All objects have grown still, drowned, enfeebled with evening, terminal evening. Tough skins of oxides, some only a molecule thick, shroud the metal surfaces, fade out human reflection. Straw-colored drive belts of polyvinyl alcohol sag and release their last traces of industrial odor."

Chemical and industrial materials (in particular the polymers used in the V-2) have digested whatever human traces remain. They are sovereign entities, much like the V-2 itself when it is released. Pynchon reveals how man has removed himself in the creation of warheads. Although bombs are made and directed by humans, they take on a life of their own. The symbolism of the Brennschluss point, "end of rocket's ascent when fuel is cut-off and it gives way to gravity" (http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/alpha/b.html), comes into play. When the initial energy given to the rocket burns out, gravity goes beyond being a physical force and becomes a cosmic power, controlling the life and death of whatever it strikes, raining down on the Earth as if the gods were displeased.

The lack of humanity in these underpasses gives birth to haunting energies, the "traffic of somewhere remote". Here everything seems to stop, "There is no more History, no time-traveling capsule to find your way back to". Such an absence does not create a wasteland, but exudes an entirely different potency, which suggests something paranormal, something most definitely ambiguous. The "Uncertainty" that Pynchon describes is the blurred line between the living and the dead in a war zone. "Ghosts used to be either likenesses of the dead or wraiths of the living"...these are the prisoners of Nordhausen-Dora concentration camp who made and transported the V-2 rockets. The author reveals that in order to create such fatal weapons, the handwork must come from a soulless place, and what better than from the mangled bodies of war prisoners.

Going back Beyond the Zero...

So I've returned to Part 1 of Gravity's Rainbow in order to trace a couple of prevalent themes:

1. I've noted the use of the term zero, as in Absolute Zero, which reflects Pynchon's use of entropy (also significant in the Crying of Lot 49) and equilibrium in the novel.

2. Paranormal existence and the occult...reflected by Slothrop's memory of seeing the Northern lights as a child, and his sensing the supernatural forces that exist beyond them. Pynchon then parallels this phenomenon to the "great bright hand reaching out of the cloud..." (29) before the V-2 rockets are fired (Pynchon, Thomas. Gravity's Rainbow. New York: Penguin Books. 1963.) This theme is further explored in the seánce where Roger Mexico and Jessica are introduced. The ritual reveals an encounter with the omniscient power of death as a guiding force, or as Pynchon describes, an "Invisible hand" (30).

These underlying elements create the negative space that molds the plot, similar to how gravity can dictate an object's course of motion or determines the shape of the Universe.

Gravity's Rainbow: 250 pages strong....

So about halfway into Part 2 and I’ve only just started using the companion. What have I gained from this? Names of Third Reich scientists, various polymers used in the V-2, competition between European chemical industries, Argentinian anarchists, Teutonic mythological figures, and references to culture way before my time.