Mason & Dixon - Part 1 - Chapter 15: Empty Bastions
Analysis of Mason & Dixon, Part 1 - Chapter 15: Sandy Bay, Dieter, the Wind, Rebekah's Visit, Dixon's Return
While Dixon is still at the Cape of Good Hope, Maskelyne convinces Mason to travel to Sandy Bay, the opposite side of Saint Helena from James’s Town. So, where Saint Helena’s James’s Town may represent the coming imperialist world — or, in Pynchon’s words, “a Parable about Slavery and Free Will” (158) — the unsheltered side of the island disturbs Mason quite a bit more. This is because while it is a part of the exact same island, it does not possess those creature comforts which make us forget about the depraved things which hold sway over our lives.
Maskelyne wants to head out there to repeat the observations of Sirius’ and the Moon’s parallax using the defective Plumb-line. This would lead to a more accurate reading even if the Plumb-line were still slightly defective since averaging the observation out would lead to a reduction in error. The Plumb-line is thus made out to be an attempt at humanity’s derivation on how the world is formed. Saint Helena, which has already been deemed to be a theatrical representation of the coming imperialist world, is where this attempted derivation occurs because it is the place where those layers can be peeled back. However, the attempt that occurred in James’s Town — where the theater has been built up in order to skew the beliefs of the observers — went wrong because human inventions had their own biases already built in. And in the world that represents the exact thing which They would not want you to discover, this type of device is bound to be defective. This is why Maskelyne wants to take it out into the world that has not already been preconstructed to purposefully deceive the observer. He is going out to a land that does not bear those momentary and distracting pleasures that are given only so to remove one’s desire to delve below the surface and see what really makes up this world.
Sandy Bay is bare bones. It doesn’t have the frills that make its residents and visitors complacent with the state of things. This is why it is home to “Suicide-Banks and Madness-Pools” (159) and is where many lose themselves. Mason himself can see why the wind here (the forward progress of history) causes this insanity, and perhaps it is the spot that reveals to him something about the world which he has not seen before. It could be where the theatrical nature behind Saint Helena as a whole became clear — a revelation which he would take with himself onward back to England and eventually even to America.
While Mason and Maskelyne stand upon the Sandy Bay shores, discussing what the wind here may mean, Maskelyne relates to Mason a story about a German sailor, Dieter, who he had met here not long ago, asking for help to be relieved of the duties he was given by the EIC. It seemed that the man, standing upon the edge of the cliff, was ready to jump if a powerful figure did not relieve him of his duties. Maskelyne, knowing one of these figures — Clive of India — began to converse with him, learning of his post here at James’s Fort upon Sandy Bay which was anything but desirable. Dieter was similar to one of those soldiers at Portsmouth who waited for their calling (1.3) whether that be to sacrifice their life for Their cause or to be placed on a useless post waiting to die without even seeing action.1 Soldiers like Dieter joined whatever force they were able to in order to potentially rise in the ranks and make something of themselves, but instead were shuffled off to protect the coming State. Men like Dieter were stationed here in a position that was utterly useless to the people living within those countries. They were only there to protect capital from other empires, just as when Dieter, in 1759, saw “three French ships [blockade] Saint Helena, preventing commercial ships from landing at the island” (Biebel, 80).2 Placing Dieter, or any soldier, here would not protect the people of the island or those elsewhere. It would only protect capital from those trying to steal or sabotage it, all while the lives of the people upon the Earth gain little to nothing whether that plot was to succeed or not. Today, much ‘desire’ to go to war (and warfare in general) relies on propaganda, making the soldiers believe they are actually bettering society and protecting the freedoms of the people. Now, however, we are well aware of the fact that we are protecting the right for weapons manufacturers to sell missiles or for oil barons to ship their product from one place to the next. Dieter realizes this, though maybe not to the extent that it is being described here. What he sees at least is that his job is useless and that it is only meant to serve those above him. (And on top of that, it’s pretty damn boring being here alone). So, he asks for Maskelyne to use his sway with the upper class — Clive of India — to relieve him of this post. He is aware that if he’s serving the Elite, then the Elite are the only ones who can save him.
Maskelyne’s answer is about what you would expect: while he would love to help Dieter, he just thinks that Clive is far, far too busy with all of the important things he has to do. This is an excuse, obviously, because those like Clive don’t make their immense wealth by putting in immense work. Instead, they produce and maintain this wealth by hiring those like Maskelyne or Mr. Blackner, the bartender of The Moon, to do the work for them, and then those like Dieter to protect that wealth. So, even if Clive were immensely busy, this is not a position that could be relieved of duty without harming Elite interests. Maskelyne does ponder on whether he should at least try to stand against the wind instead of flowing along with it — i.e. should he accept the evolution of capital and power or stand against it and actually help a person in need. His answer (that no, he should not stand against it) is as telling as it gets for a character like him. This answer also leads to a short fantasy of Mason’s where Maskelyne rises up in the Royal Society all while Mason conducts a slow and unnoticeable plot that would eventually lead Maskelyne to suicide. Mason, therefore, has both animosity and jealousy toward the privileged classes. He wants to strip them of the advantages and freedoms they are afforded but simultaneously wants them for himself. In a way, he is again similar to Tyrone Slothrop from Gravity’s Rainbow in that he sees the numerous wrongs of the Elite class yet still desires to be a part of that class. The parallels are obviously (and thankfully) not one-to-one. However, they do both show how even with a critical eye and an understanding of these structures, the mindset has been instilled within the population that ascending to this height is the one thing that could rid us of the many discomforts, unfairnesses, and sufferings in life.
In his time on Saint Helena, Mason too has seen enough to make him question the coming state of the world. He has recalled his own experience with unnecessary technological progress when he became reacquainted with Florinda (1.11); he has seen how nepotism and power can lead one individual to rise in the ranks independent of any sort of actual fairness, equity, or merit (1.12 & 1.13); he has seen how Saint Helena is a literal representation of how the world will turn out once capital, monopoly, and imperialism are fully realized (1.13); he has seen how ‘celebrity worship’ will render the anger that the Preterite should possess to be no more destructive than a dormant volcano (1.13); he has seen the coming profit-based destruction of our natural world as a foreshadowing of climate change (1.13); and finally he has now seen, via this interaction with Dieter, how someone like Maskelyne who is similarly hyperaware of all of these facts and who even criticizes them to a large degree is entirely unwilling to help or to change a single thing since that would render his position’s maintenance more vulnerable. All of this does not even begin to mention the atrocities and societal revelations that Mason saw in Cape Town (1.7-1.10) or the coming historiographic discussions in his last moments on Saint Helena (1.16 & 1.17). This has led Mason to a momentary disenfranchisement with his quest and with those who have set him about it — a disenfranchisement with what drives the population for material goods and power. So, down comes the spirit of Rebekah, his late wife, to once again try to get him to see the spirit of it all.
Whether she is truly there or not — “The Moonlight insists she is there” (164) — is irrelevant. Vision or literal spirit, the point remains the same: Mason is trying to comprehend all that he has learned in these past few journeys in light of the goal he, Dixon, Maskelyne, Waddington, and any other astronomer, were set out to achieve. Was it worth it? Rebekah even asks: “For the Distance to one Star?” (165). Be it the distance to Sirius, the Transit of Venus, the longitude of this or that country’s border: how much can be justified based on what Mason has seen and learned? With his attempted justification, Rebekah reminds him what awaits us all: death. It is the unexplainable and abstract realm that Mason is complicit in prematurely sending future lives to in service of this project. Rebekah calls this realm to mind hoping that Mason will realize that the sorrow he holds onto because of her premature death is the same sorrow as that others may have to experience in regard to this coming loss — a loss that the imperial project is destined to bring about. This brings back the idea: how much longer can we forgive Mason (and Dixon) for their complicity? They may initially have been unaware of their actions. But as they understand more and more about what they are doing, when does the well-being of the world surpass their own need for comfort and life? It is something that can be forgiven at first, because each one of us also participates to some greater or lesser degree. There really is no other way to survive than to at least somewhat contribute to the system. But how long is too long? How much can one see until they must act? And, independent of anything else, to what degree is too much?
After Mason’s visitation, the sadness of Rebekah’s visit stays with him. Much later in the timeline, with Dixon now having returned to Saint Helena, as a true friend, he comforts Mason.3 He tells him that he must learn to move on from his grief. On the surface, it appears as if Dixon is telling him he must leave Rebekah — and thus his very own spiritual side — behind. As if we must leave behind those inexplicable phenomena, those lost loves, and those connections we may have with something other than the real Earth. But no, what he means is that the grief behind these connections cannot overwhelm him. That if he, Mason, was to continue on in life, he must hold onto her in story and in heart, but that he must not hold onto regret.
Up Next: Part 1, Chapter 16
Much of this story about Dieter reminds me of the Dino Buzzati’s novel, The Tartar Steppe (recently retitled as The Stronghold by a new translator), which is a great novel to check out if you’ve never read it.
Biebel, Brett. A Mason & Dixon Companion. The University of Georgia Press, 2024.
Important note of the timeline of this book: This chapter takes place on Sandy Bay while Dixon is in Cape Town. Dixon does eventually come back to Saint Helena, but the anecdote here of Mason and Dixon’s reunion and him talking to Dixon about Rebekah is only someone telling this story but jumping ahead in time. Basically, it goes like this:
Chapter 15 (1/2): Mason and Maskelyne go to Sandy Bay and Mason is visited by Rebekah.
Chapter 15 (2/2): We learn of how later, after the events of Sandy Bay, Dixon returns to James’s Town and learns about Rebekah’s visit.
Chapter 16 (1/2) (no spoilers, don’t worry): We are still in the timeline of Chapter 15 (2/2) where Mason is still telling Dixon about Rebekah.
Chapter 16 (2/2): We return to the actual timeline where Mason and Maskelyne are still in a tent at Sandy Bay.
Basically, the very end of 1.15 and most of 1.16 jump forward in time to when Dixon returns. But 1.16 eventually goes back to where we left Mason and Maskelyne on Sandy Bay in the earlier parts of 1.15.