Gravitys Rainbow

>>9494189
A great read about (some of) the themes of Gravity's Rainbow
http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=eng_honproj

>>9494189
I remember reading somewhere that the S-Gerat was just a seat for Gottfried on the rocket
Blicero wasn't really a good or a bad guy, just a tool of the rocket, like Enzian
No clue clue on the harmonicas though, never understood the toilet diving sequence

>>9494189
SPOILERS
>Whose face do we see a close-up of in the end, a face that we all recognize?
Lucifer. Go back to the passage and reread the part about the falling star. The falling star is the morning star in the Bible that has fallen from heaven like Lucifer. This is also obviously paralleled to the rocket.

>Just finished it, it was great but it all went absolutely bananas in The Counterforce, I have clue what happened half the time.
I actually don't appreciate this either even though I've read it twice.
>Happytown sequence and robots

I think Pynchon was trying to do something pretty experimental but infuriating; namely, in the first three sections, he builds up a massive although still orderly plot out of a lot of cohesive elements that seems like it'll tie together in the end ... similar to the way a lot of engineering and science and thought and orderly planning and buildup goes into creating a rocket. However (corny, I know) the chaos of The Counterforce represents this orderly rocket exploding, and thus exploding the narrative as well. Corny, overly metafictional, kinda infuriating, but it makes sense. This also explains

>Slothrop just faded away in the Zone?

Because Slothrop in a sense is the rocket. He's called Rocketman, his erections predict the rocket, he was experimented on as a child with regards to the plastic used in the 00000, he follows the history of the rocket around trying to find what the S-Gerat is and how it's related to him, etc.

Schwarz-Gerat translates to Black Device.
Tyrone is a stereotypically black name
Tyrone finds papers referring to himself as "Schwarzknabe" (German for "black boy") and his father as "Schwarzvater" ("black father")

OK, now remember the association in the book of white with death. Dominus Blicero, bleaching, etc. Slothrop is black because he represents life. He is described as having the most sex out of any character in the book, he has a shitton of fun and is just trying to chill, seems like a chill guy. But he gradually becomes corrupted by his quest, is shown to be a pedophile when he fucks Bianca, and then, in the end, he explodes, disintegrates into pieces like a rocket.

Slothrop, as Life, has gotten used for purposes of Death and corrupted. The union of opposites as Pynchon talks about.

But I also think the Schwarzgerat may also be just a special assembly/seat/container for Gottfried as >>9494891 says

That's my thoughts, I'm really tempted to read it again.

>>9494189
>And finally, what the fuck was the deal with the harmonicas and kazoos?
The harmonica, or mouth harp, is a symbol through which Slothrop is equated with Orpheus, with Bianca as his Eurydice.

As for the kazoos, I think Pynchon just like kazoos

>>9495599
Great post anon!

Trivial question - I remember being confused when Slothrop and Tchitcherine swapped clothes during an escape. Do you know what that was about?

>>9495624
>>9495599
>>9494891
>>9494266
Good posts, thanks guys!

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>>9494189
I almost had a FUCKING HEART ATTACK

>>9496210
Oh, that was just a little detail that may've been easy to miss: Tchitcherine was wearing a uniform such that, if Slothrop was wearing it, he would be able to escape/walk around freely because he would look like a normal, uniformed official.