Gravity's Rainbow - Part 4 - Chapter 2: Love and Hate in the Time of Gladio

Analysis of Gravity's Rainbow, Part 4 - Chapter 2: Mexico at the Heath, Jessica and Roger, Milton Gloaming, IG Farben's Surveillance, Mexico at Twelfth House, Mexico Joins the Counterforce

Audio Available Here

Roger Mexico was last seen on the sea with Pointsman, Jessica, and Katje (2.8). It was on this beach where Pointsman officially began to break down due to the loss of Slothrop and the subsequent shutting down of the White Visitation. Since it’s been so long, here’s a quick recap on Roger and Jessica. Roger Mexico was the statistician working for the White Visitation who began seeing patterns in the locations where the V-2 rockets were landing in London — the Poisson distributions which also predicted Slothrop’s sexual encounters. He was born well before the War began and possessed a stubborn and nihilistic anti-establishment worldview. Jessica Swanlake was his wartime lover. She had been in a true relationship with ‘Beaver’ (real name: Jeremy), but given the war was in progress, decided to stay with Roger in an abandoned bombed-out district in order to truly live. She had Beaver for his stability but loved Roger for his passion (though she did often internally chastise him for his ‘childishness’ — i.e. his nihilism and hatred of those who he worked for). And given she was born more into the War as opposed to well before it, her life was defined by it. The two of them were truly in love, though Roger knew she had that deep desire for stability which he imagined would lead her to sever relations when the War was over, and passion was no longer a necessity.

Now, here he is again, driving his Horch 870B through the Lüneberg Heath, with spoiled baby food jars rolling out from beneath his seat, seemingly “against all laws of acceleration,” (627) as he drives. The colors of this food — “green marbled with pink, vomit-beige with magenta inclusions” (626) — mimic those of Slothrop’s experience in the English Candy Drill (1.15). And while those candies that Slothrop consumed were barely edible, his consumption of them was a voluntary action which was not a necessity for survival. These jars, however, were. Their appearance out of nowhere parallels the decomposition and death of various children’s toys throughout the Zone (3.1), the destruction of the Zwölfkinder (3.11), the death of Ilse (3.11), and the rape of Bianca (3.15). These jars, which were once meant to sustain the life of the young and innocent, have now gone by the wayside in favor of the production of the Rocket and its various plastic and inorganic analogues.

Jessica has left him. He recalls a visit she paid a week before her departure, arriving at the now deserted White Visitation, hair cut entirely different to appear as a new person. And while Jessica is planning to leave Roger for good — in hopes of a better more stable partner — Roger himself is finally (though it’s too late now for her to change her mind) losing his nihilism. He has discovered purpose in finding Slothrop who many have completely given up on; he has finally found something to fight for — his reason for being out here at the Heath.

Mexico, with his nihilism still reduced, holds an immensely astute ability to observe the true nature of the world around him. While Jessica believes they are at peace (because remember, most of what she has known is the war times, so any slight reduction in mass violence truly does seem like a time of pure peace), Roger realizes that that is “just another bit of propaganda” and that while “maybe the death rate’s gone down a point or two […] Their enterprise goes on” (628). But Jessica cannot fathom this — that the world she has grown up in is not, or at least should not be, the natural state of things. So, with the world now being rebuilt and receding into quietude, Jessica believes that she can recede into that fantasy of a happy and content middle class life without repercussion, but needs Beaver, a man with a steady income and a stable life, to do so. And who can blame her? The world has been set up to ensure these things are a necessity, and with the new post-Zone/Raketen-Stadt world, they are more so than they ever were before.

Roger holds some resentment toward Jessica, believing that she has fallen into the conditioning which was set out before her: 1) the desire for stability over love, and 2) a desire for the ‘excitement’ of the war that she would never be able to leave behind. Given she was born into a world defined by war, death, violence, and destruction, these four things do not affect her in the same way as they would others born into peacetimes. One of Their goals was to normalize these facets to the general population, but to those like Jessica who have never known anything but a world built around them, she did not even need them to be normalized, for they were the true normal. So, while she herself did not hold onto any evil intentions, from birth she had been conditioned to need the sort of excitement and stimulation that war had produced and therefore has the need to "be on the firing end, she and Jeremy […] firing them out to sea: no death, only the spectacle" (629).

While they were still technically together, Jessica learned that Mexico wanted to save Slothrop. Her view of Slothrop is likely what many surface level observers would see, thus rendering her opinion of Roger far less than it was before. All she could see from a literal standpoint was the bond between sexuality and the fueling of death, thinking that the issue was Slothrop himself and not what had been done to him. Instead of seeing him as a product of purposeful, experimental conditioning in favor of Their project, she saw him simply for what he was without taking into account his past. The irony is that she herself has been conditioned more ‘naturally,’ thus giving her the innate desire for a similar sort of chaos. Her projection, though, is that her desire does not bring death and is one that she can control whereas his is the uncontrollable chaos of modern warfare. But again, the importance lies in the desire, for Slothrop, despite having little to no control over the dropping of the bombs, had the willpower to attempt to stop it. Jessica, however, while having control, did not seek a means to stop it — even seeking a means to ‘more peacefully’ continue it.

Roger recalls when she left him on the beach. He expresses a similar sentiment as he did back near last Christmas, 1944 (1.21), where he initially began to realize that they would not last. He now sees the love and hope that he held onto in this world being stripped from him and could barely hold on. His work, even his thought of saving Slothrop, seemed both pointless and hopeless.

But a friend from some time back, Milton Gloaming (who was at one of the first seances we saw in 1.5), returns from a jaunt in the Zone "to deliver [Mexico] from his unmoving" (630). Specifically, Gloaming worked with a man, Josef Schleim, "who had once worked for the IG out of Dr. Reithinger’s¹ office, VOWI—the Statistical Department of NW7 which itself was a secret group within the IG. There, Schleim had been assigned to the American desk, gathering for the IG economic intelligence, through subsidiaries and licensees like Chemnyco, General Aniline and Film, Ansco, Winthrop" (630). This Dr. Reithinger was head of VOWI which was, as stated, a department within NW7 which itself was an internal intelligence network that worked for IG Farben. So, this internal network within the corporation, IG Farben, acted as a parallel for the way in which deep states worked within nations, furthering the comparison between nations and corporations. IG Farben acts as a country — say, the US — and NW7 is the intelligence network of IG Farben, making NW7 a CIA/OSS/FBI parallel. VOWI was the statistical department of NW7, making VOWI a parallel for an internal data gathering department of the CIA/OSS/FBI. Schleim used numerous subsidiaries from IG Farben, both the named ones and likely the others such as Psychochemie AG, to gather ‘economic intelligence’ from other countries. Similarly, the CIA would move on, using their own ‘subsidiaries.’ But instead of corporate subsidiaries, the CIA would use networks such as ‘stay behind’ groups through the Operation Gladio program. These groups were left behind in countries such as Italy and other European countries through the collusion between the CIA and NATO, allowing the groups to collect data and information while ensuring nothing detrimental to Their plan would arise. It only makes sense that this parallel to Gladio would be explored in Part 4 given this is where we see what rises out of the Zone post-WWII.

Through this experience — Gloaming witnessing a corporatized version of Operation Gladio — he had also heard of how these networks were well aware of Slothrop’s existence and were also participatory in his surveillance and control. Lyle Bland, being a member of the true Elite, especially after being inducted into the Freemasons, had the original plans for surveillance and control over Slothrop until this power was transferred to the new controllers of the modern world — the CIA. Therefore, firstly, with Slothrop’s body and consciousness distributed across the New Zone, we have already seen the experiment that was him becoming the fabric of our reality. This poses both positive and negative connotations: the positive being his discovery of the world’s hidden reality now becoming commonplace knowledge, and the negative being the conditioning, brainwashing, and therefore the inherent evil desires, also now becoming commonplace (i.e. we all understand, but cannot separate ourselves from the reality or what it/They want(s) from us). And secondly, with this ‘new fabric’ being distributed and with its original stakeholder (Lyle Bland, the original Elite class) having passed on, the new entity has emerged (the CIA) to take hold of that purpose.

It is also revealed that the numerous other agencies, industries, and parties, had split up duties in terms of information accumulation and surveillance, ranging from "nitrogen and gasoline" to "dyes, chemicals, buna rubber, [and] pharmaceuticals," even all the way to "film and fibers" to "Slothrop" (630) himself. These products each have massive implications on how the coming world would be controlled. We have seen each of them discussed heavily. Gasoline is a byproduct of oil; the former being necessitated by Bland’s destruction of his high-performance carburetor patent (3.30) and the latter being one of the most potent forms of synthesis and control discussed yet (1.19). Dyes, chemicals, and rubbers stemmed from industries like IG Farben and are not only products of Capital, but means of weapon manufacturing (Agent Orange, etc.) and the rise of the addictive pharmaceutical industry via drugs such as Oneirine and Methoneirine (3.5). Film would be a means of ‘artistic’ control on the masses, utilizing art to create a desired mass social consciousness via directors such as Gerhardt von Göll (3.8). And Slothrop, well, we’ve discussed him enough already (1.3-4.2, so far). Finally, the ‘new plastic’ being discussed (Mipolam/Polimex) was a mispronunciation of Imipolex G, which also does not need further discussion at the moment.

So back to Roger Mexico: when Gloaming came back and revealed this mass of information regarding the Gladio-like operation and its connection to and industry wide surveillance of Slothrop, all of the connections that we have made throughout this novel are now cycling through his head. He sees that none of this was coincidence, nor were any of the proposed reasonings that the White Visitation wanted to study Slothrop truly the main intention.

This revelation is what finally breaks him, leading to a desire to take vengeance. To begin his act of rebellion (before he discovers the Counterforce), he takes a motorcycle and travels to the "Twelfth House on Gallaho Mews in a homicidal state of mind" (632), Twelfth House being where Pointsman and the White Visitation were relocated to (2.8 & 3.32). He storms in looking for Pointsman, first finding Géza Rózsavölgyi: a man who, though a minor character, was interested in "abstractions of power" (1.12, pg. 81) and highly invested in the overall Slothrop project (1.12). His dedication to the plot clearly has led him to be an accepted member of this society, thus allowing him to move to Twelfth House with the rest of them as opposed to people like Mexico who were left behind. When Rózsavölgyi attempts to fend off Mexico’s questioning, a secretary, Miss Müller-Hochleben, charges in and "commences belting Roger in the shins with the excess-profits tax records from 1940 to ’44 of an English steel firm which happened to share a patent with Vereinigte Stahlwerke for an alloy used in the liquid-oxygen couplings for the line running aft to the S-Gerät in A4 number 00000" (632). These documents imply two things. First, the conclusion that the project involving the creation of the 00000 rocket with its black device led to excess profit for specific industries which in turn shows that Blicero’s project was not merely for his own masochistic desire but was also one that was planned by those above him to serve the greater good of Capital. Secondly, the White Visitation possessing these records in the first place shows that the creation of the 00000 was not solely a Nazi project but was developed via the partnership between Germany and British/Western intelligence agencies (which further implicates the West in the destruction of its own people in favor of profit).

In order to discover where Pointsman was, Mexico began tormenting Müller-Hochleben and Rózsavölgyi. The former by breaking her glasses and making her crawl on the broken glass, and the latter by backing him into a shadow corner where he envisions himself in an odd tropical setting. His tormenting of Miss Müller-Hochleben is an unfortunate display of infighting. While Mexico has every right at this point to be angry with and vengeful against those who he has now deemed as evil, someone such as Müller-Hochleben is merely at the same level of power that he is. She is not someone who deserves this torment. However, the way things have been set up, when you are often trying to go after the Elite, you are blinded by the fact that the underlings who work for them are not deserving of that same hate. But They certainly want you to think that your peers are also your enemy. And the latter, Rózsavölgyi, backs into the magical shadow-corner of the office, a ‘portal’ meant to represent the shadow-decisions made in offices of this sort: nefarious deals, deaths planned from hundreds of miles away, the production of a new weapon or new plastic. So Rózsavölgyi — someone who is not as purely ill-intentioned as Pointsman who views the shadow-corner as "‘the one spot in the room where [he] feel[s] alive’" (633) — cannot handle the truth. While he has only ever enacted these policies from an office — the implications thus only understood from a bureaucratic level — he has never seen or partook in them in person. So, his vision is of a peaceful, tropical, and carefree island, reminiscent of Bikini Atoll. And the plane which he views himself in, being flown by a man he recognizes, is the plane which is bound to drop the nuclear bomb upon the island as a test. Rózsavölgyi is not able to fathom actually witnessing the atrocities (or, worse, pulling the trigger) being decided upon in offices such as this. It would also make sense that Mexico, someone who himself has come to terms with the atrocities being decided on from far away, is the one revealing this fact to him. So, Rózsavölgyi and Müller-Hochleben cannot handle their torment, and they reveal to Mexico that Pointsman is in Mossmoon’s² office.

He marches over to the office which, after an all-too-passionate speech, he then storms into. Pointsman is there, as are a number of government officials. These officials come from all places and have been a part of specific high-power groups. Some are from fraternities which themselves are like a lesser version of the Freemasons, being gathering places for people of power. Some are from France, Russia, Germany, and England, given they have been named to have received specific military medals. Some are even American as they wear the ‘Dewey-for-President’ pin. But their origins or their current position does not matter to Mexico, for he views each one as a member of that Elite class which he is currently vengeful against. And so, he "unbutton[s] his fly, take[s] his cock out, and is now busy pissing on the shiny table, the papers, in the ashtrays and pretty soon on these poker-faced men themselves" (636).

If you think this is a bit of a crude and pointless way to go about fighting back, to a large extent, you’re right. It is a well-deserved disturbance. I mean, who wouldn’t love to see this occur in real time. And on top of that, there is something to be said for mildly inconveniencing the Elite. But nonetheless, it is an action based on his current state of hot-headed hate and is one that will not result in anything significant. Unfortunately, his bladder empties before he gets to piss on Pointsman, and so promises Pointsman that he will seek him to the ends of the Earth, ensuring that each and every moment of his waking life will be filled with inconvenience, paranoia, or worse.

This being a government facility, Mexico can’t get away with this without consequence. The police arrive, leading Mexico to scramble away, take a hostage, and make his way successfully out. Not needing to return to the White Visitation, he goes home where Pirate Prentice waits, telling him that no, "Pointsman didn’t send [Milton Gloaming]. We sent him" (638). And Pirate reveals to him what we had known before, that Mexico is currently acting in a way that isn’t ‘wrong,’ but is not effective. For, although we do all need "a well-developed They-system […] it’s only half the story" (638). While it is necessary to form a sense of what They are truly doing to the world (just as Mexico did while listening to Milton Gloaming’s Gladio-adjacent recounting of Slothrop’s and the world’s surveillance), "there ought to be a We" (638) as well. Working individually, the most we can achieve is pissing on (thus, pissing off) a bunch of the Elite, or, like the tree told Slothrop, slowing down a logging operation by stealing an oil filter (3.25). With a ‘We,’ or a ‘Counterforce,’ something greater can be achieved.

Just as the group of men in Mossmoon’s office were made of some variety of nationalities and clans, so is the Counterforce. We have Pirate and Mexico, Katje who is not currently here, Milton Gloaming, a Schwarzkommando who worked at Twelfth House as a janitor, someone who worked for Blodgett Waxwing, Osbie Feel, Thomas Gwenhidwy³, and even Sir Stephen Dodson-Truck, one of the first men we saw have doubts about Their plan. No one should be counted out for their possible contribution to such a revolution.

Stephen Dodson-Truck sits by a window, thinking about his wife, Nora Dodson-Truck. Nora was the leader of Psi-section within the White Visitation: the group of ‘freaks’ who possessed paranormal abilities which were utilized for the purposes the White Visitation had in store. Some time back (1.18), it was discussed that the group of ‘freaks’ who possessed these abilities could use them for good. However, like Pirate’s ability to alter the fantasies of those who were dreaming (1.2), They had found ways for the abilities to be used for Their cause instead. Nora herself controlled this group of individuals, eventually leading her to come to the conclusion "that her real identity is, literally, the Force of Gravity" (639) — i.e. that which will bring everything back down to the Zero point, or, that which will take the synthesized rocket out of the air, remove our control of it at Brenchsluss, and allow it to fall naturally back to Earth. Her being the Force of Gravity implies that working within this realm has led her to be the distinction between synthesis and control — i.e. the point where the synthesized object loses control and succumbs to the natural forces of the Earth. Stephen is likely remembering her at this moment in regard to her self-proclaimed ‘being the Force of Gravity’ because he himself is now joining a ‘group of freaks’ who themselves are attempting to remove the Rocket’s/Elite’s control.⁴

Pirate, Mexico, and the rest of the newly formed Counterforce begin a song, calling out the Elite and Their endless wails of pity, Their attempts at convincing the Preterite that They were always on our side while forcing us to ‘eat shit’ and love it at the same time. They sang — and Roger Mexico sings in the present while he is driving in the Heath toward Cuxhaven, picturing himself taking this battle onward to Beaver — this "‘isn’t a resistance, it’s a war’" (640). While many view the real-world Counterforces as mere riots, resistances, or nuisances, the reality is that they are a part of something bigger. They are a fight against the true oppressors of the world — against those holding us back from true health, happiness, and prosperity, keeping us purposefully in the dirt. So, while it may often seem like a tantrum or, as Mexico showed, an act of hot-header retribution, the reality is that revolution stems out of and leads to something far more important.

---

Up Next: Part 4, Chapter 3 (Byron the Bulb)

1. Who was a real person. And the following subsidiaries and events are real as well.

2. Mossmoon was recently seen in 3.32 with Sir Marcus Scammony, seemingly in a similar state of mind that Rózsavölgyi was in with his slight disenfranchisement of what They were doing.

3. Alongside Pointsman, Gwenhidwy was one of the final keepers of ‘the Book’ that was often discussed in Part 1.

4. Admittedly, this discussion on Nora becoming the Force of Gravity is kind of lost on me. Especially the end section of the paragraph. Please comment with some interpretations if you have any, because my ramblings on this part likely are not the whole picture.