Analysis of Mason & Dixon, Part 2 - Chapter 48: Hipster Coffee Shops, the North Line, Fort Pitt, the Wedge Again, Darby and Cope in Disguise, Back West, a Package from Maskelyne
| “As if they could understand in a few years what has always been.”
This is the stuff. Nice work, Andrew!
The wedge and tangent really are fascinating. Hope to eventually check them and other line items out, google maps will have to do for now.
I completely missed the stuff about the Alleghany’s throwing the plumb line when actually measured vs assumptions of ease during planning, makes me think about the observer effect in physics. TRP delivers again.
Just passed 1/2 way point in against the day, cool it was mentioned today!
Take care, enjoying the revisit to GR and looking forward to your original efforts. Best of everything in that department!
I finished Mason & Dixon very recently (reading the last third of the book without your analysis for help was quite difficult) and I understand why some people rank this novel above GR, even if I disagree. The last couple chapters are surprisingly more emotional than what you'd expect from Pynchon, since his characters are never really that relatable, and I usually don't feel that strongly when something bad happens to them. The ending reminded me of how I felt reading the Christmas section between Mexico and Jessica in GR.
Anyway, I was re-reading some notable chapters, and in Chapter 18, where Mason visits Bradley's funeral, gets turned away and reminisces about the time both couples were living together, there's written something about Susannah and Rebekah going "thro' their time of infatuation, talking long into the nights" and Mason finding them sleeping together among the bed-clothes without any room for him. This is right before Rebekah telling Susannah how she met Mason through some matchmakers who arranged their marriage. (pg. 186)
Is it implied that Rebekah and Susannah were having an affair?
Sam Peach's scheme (at least according to Mason's suspicion) was to expropriate Dr. Bradley's Obs by arranging his daughter's marriage with him, right? And Bradley never had a male heir (just a daughter) who could inherit the observations instead of the Peach family. So, unless Bradley had a D1 pull-out game, I can't imagine he had sex with Susannah after the first child (especially evident by how he gets jealous of Mason & Rebekah, seeing his own marriage as a fiduciary contract).
To ensure that Bradley never has a male heir, is it possible that Rebekah was used as an agent to seduce not only Mason (who, if he seduced Susannah, could have ruined the plan.) but also Susannah herself, so she doesn't have sex with Bradley? Sure, if he wanted it badly, he could have forced Susannah through marital rape, but I can't see that happening given she was a very powerful man's daughter, and he was wallowing too hard in his own insecurities to do something like that.
I *think* Rebekah genuinely loved Mason a lot, but if all this is true, I think it makes the whole deal more sinister than it already was. Of course, as you pointed out in your own analysis of Chapter 18, a lot of the interactions are made up inside Mason's mind, but I can't help but think there's some validity to his suspicions. Maybe you'll have more to say about this in the upcoming Chapter 54, where he again dreams about Rebekah and feels that "They were possessing her in ways more intimate than had ever been allow'd to him..." (Pg. 539)
| “As if they could understand in a few years what has always been.”
This is the stuff. Nice work, Andrew!
The wedge and tangent really are fascinating. Hope to eventually check them and other line items out, google maps will have to do for now.
I completely missed the stuff about the Alleghany’s throwing the plumb line when actually measured vs assumptions of ease during planning, makes me think about the observer effect in physics. TRP delivers again.
Just passed 1/2 way point in against the day, cool it was mentioned today!
Take care, enjoying the revisit to GR and looking forward to your original efforts. Best of everything in that department!
The Wedge stuff really is wild. Hilarious that it wasn't even resolved fully until the 20th century.
Appreciate the kind words as always. Against the Day is much fun and I'm really looking forward to doing a deep dive into that one.
I finished Mason & Dixon very recently (reading the last third of the book without your analysis for help was quite difficult) and I understand why some people rank this novel above GR, even if I disagree. The last couple chapters are surprisingly more emotional than what you'd expect from Pynchon, since his characters are never really that relatable, and I usually don't feel that strongly when something bad happens to them. The ending reminded me of how I felt reading the Christmas section between Mexico and Jessica in GR.
Anyway, I was re-reading some notable chapters, and in Chapter 18, where Mason visits Bradley's funeral, gets turned away and reminisces about the time both couples were living together, there's written something about Susannah and Rebekah going "thro' their time of infatuation, talking long into the nights" and Mason finding them sleeping together among the bed-clothes without any room for him. This is right before Rebekah telling Susannah how she met Mason through some matchmakers who arranged their marriage. (pg. 186)
Is it implied that Rebekah and Susannah were having an affair?
Sam Peach's scheme (at least according to Mason's suspicion) was to expropriate Dr. Bradley's Obs by arranging his daughter's marriage with him, right? And Bradley never had a male heir (just a daughter) who could inherit the observations instead of the Peach family. So, unless Bradley had a D1 pull-out game, I can't imagine he had sex with Susannah after the first child (especially evident by how he gets jealous of Mason & Rebekah, seeing his own marriage as a fiduciary contract).
To ensure that Bradley never has a male heir, is it possible that Rebekah was used as an agent to seduce not only Mason (who, if he seduced Susannah, could have ruined the plan.) but also Susannah herself, so she doesn't have sex with Bradley? Sure, if he wanted it badly, he could have forced Susannah through marital rape, but I can't see that happening given she was a very powerful man's daughter, and he was wallowing too hard in his own insecurities to do something like that.
I *think* Rebekah genuinely loved Mason a lot, but if all this is true, I think it makes the whole deal more sinister than it already was. Of course, as you pointed out in your own analysis of Chapter 18, a lot of the interactions are made up inside Mason's mind, but I can't help but think there's some validity to his suspicions. Maybe you'll have more to say about this in the upcoming Chapter 54, where he again dreams about Rebekah and feels that "They were possessing her in ways more intimate than had ever been allow'd to him..." (Pg. 539)