Gravity's Rainbow - Part 3 - Chapter 28: Saviors, Survivors, and Sinners
Analysis of Gravity's Rainbow, Part 3 - Chapter 28: Slothrop near Wismar, the Plechazunga, a Police Raid, Slothrop Saved, Travels with Frieda, Arrival at Zwölfkinder, Slothrop and Pökler
About 40 miles (65 kilometers) Southwest from when we last saw him in Rostock, Slothrop now moves through the streets of “a coastal town, near Wismar” (567). This places him about half-way to his destination from when he first began travelling alone, being let off of Frau Gnahb’s vessel in Stralsund. The original journey was about 250 miles (400 kilometers), and he is now merely 125 miles (200 kilometers) away. However, with each step, he fragments further. From Stralsund, where he could still be seen as a full person despite his internal questioning of that fact (3.22), to Rostock, where his days and nights began decelerating and muddying together (3.25 and 3.26), to here near Wismar, where borders continue to blur: “. . . the shore which is never quite sea nor quite sand, but held in misty ambivalence by the sun” (567).
Slothrop, as he fragments and continues losing the final pieces of his identity, no longer even attempts to make sense of the world around him. His entire quest up to this point has been a search, a journey, a quest, to discover what it is that has led to his place and his suffering, and the same for that of the world. But now, “shapes keep repeating for him, Zonal shapes he will allow to enter but won’t interpret, not any more” (567). Whether it is a willful disregard of the Zone’s symbolism and interpretation, or a disregard based on what is happening to him, the result is the same: Slothrop has not just lost his identity, but his purpose. One of the symbols which he refuses to see is that of the architectural steps of German buildings. Once, he would have seen their connotation: a representation of calculus, taking something like the flight path of a rocket and breaking it down into steps, diminishing in size but multiplying in number, until the path would be calculable in a parabolic rainbow. Or the steps which children took in their game of hopscotch — here in Germany being called Himmel and Hölle (Heaven and Hell), each player taking steps in each box, each realm, and ending up in one without seeing the difference, for the world in which they live has so perfectly blended those concepts. But now, for him, they are only what they appear.
While here near Wismar, he witnessed numerous children playing games, from the above version of hopscotch to a heavily symbolic version of hide-and-seek. He is told by the children of a tradition they held which featured the ‘Pig-Hero’: the Plechazunga. It was based off of a 10th-century myth in which the Plechazunga was sent down to this town by Thor himself in order to fend off a Viking invasion, and ever since then, they had celebrated this moment with a reenactment of the event. But with Shraub the shoemaker gone, their ‘Plechazunga’ actor for the past thirty years, the children plead for Slothrop to take the role. Shraub was drafted, of course, for the War has not only destroyed the tangible country, but its spirit and mythos as well. The War has purposefully stripped the world of its tradition. These rituals and beliefs serve no purpose to Them; and more, they actively shun Them. What the Elite desire is a world based solely within the visible and tangible realm — something which They have perfect control of. These fantasy realms hold something about humanity which They cannot touch, nor understand, and must thus be eliminated.
Well, this happens to be a chance, so he believes, for Slothrop to grasp onto life once again — gain back that identity which has been dissolving off of him with each traversed mile in the German countryside. But it is more than gaining back his identity, it is an attempt to shed himself of sin. Slothrop, having committed the heinous act upon the Anubis and having seen Mucker-Maffick becoming a guardian angel, wishes to become a savior of the youth and innocence himself. Or, at least, give these children the hope that they could be saved. So, he proceeds on with the part, becoming the Plechazunga, the Pig-Hero — his next disguise and persona. The Pig-Hero has numerous connotations. Knowing that Pynchon has a love for the animal, it is likely a statement that Slothrop holds onto certain good and innocent qualities, hinting that he could possibly be redeemed. It also states the opposite, given that people referred to as ‘pigs’ have done something vile or evil, which Slothrop has done. So, while he can be redeemed, he cannot ever fully be forgiven. And, as we saw while Slothrop was helping Ludwig search for Ursula, his lemming, various instances of pig symbology occurred: Jesus sacrificing the pigs to save a town, and pigs in general giving their trust to those who raised them, only to be slaughtered. Finally, he is not only a pig, but is the Plechazunga, a Pig-Hero, someone who saved us all; though, since he is only playing the role and is not the actual Plechazunga, he is just someone who could have saved us all. Each one of these connotations is presented onto Slothrop, giving his penultimate costume likely the utmost importance of all of them. This is him, symbolically represented perfectly with a simple disguise and mythology. The event goes on; he saves the town; all seems as it should.
At the end of the event, Slothrop witnesses the tradition perverted by an unfortunately necessary black market — one of those black markets not borne out of evil, but out of a need to survive. While most of his family had been active participants in the system of standard commerce, Slothrop feels discomfort in its presence. This discomfort proves that despite Slothrop giving into the built system, he has now come to a conclusion and realization of what is being done to him and his world. However, those runners of the evil black market do not wish the protective black market to prosper, for it defeats their goal entirely. So, Slothrop sees, “Materializing from their own weird office silence, the coppers show up now” (570) — the police have arrived to protect the market that the Elite have set up. They, the police, do not protect the downtrodden nor do they protect the people they have ‘plead’ to protect. Instead, they protect markets, private property, and all that the wealthy possess and wish to hold onto. Therefore, a black market of this sort has no place in the newly rebuilt Zone. And the best method to shut it down is not only to simply shut things down, but to instill a fear in the community to prevent it from being done again. Thus, “The cops go at busting these proceedings the way they must’ve handled anti-Nazi street actions before the War, […] jumping little kids three-on-one, shaking down girls, old people […] and battering in with tireless truncheonwork among the crying kids and screaming women” (570). This attack gives Slothrop the opportunity to act as the true Plechazunga, to fend off a foreign invader, to become the guardian angel of the children and the innocent which he wished he could become before. And he does so — or attempts it. But does this forgive him of his sin? Is forgiveness even the reason he did it? Did it cross his mind? Or, could it truly be an act — like Pirate, Katje, and Osbie wished — to actually save the people?1
Knowing that he is being sought by the police (who think he is a Russian deserter, having found his, or really Tchitcherine’s, uniform) a young girl comes to save him. This girl, bringing him home, explained her family situation. Her mother is in the kitchen providing food, her father has been unheard from for some time now, having held down in Neukölln2 during the bombing of Berlin. We then see this girl fantasize about regaining all that was taken from her and her people. Her town has lost much of its tradition with the war, lost its icons, and she has lost her father. So, she dreams of Slothrop saving her just as Bianca had prayed for Slothrop to do, or as Ilse had wished Pökler would. She hopes that Slothrop would become the father she had lost, and with Slothrop realizing that he has already betrayed one innocent soul who had trusted him and who believed he would save her, he decides he must leave before doing so again. With food from the mother and the girl as a guide, Slothrop travels to the front gates of the city, leaving, passing below another arch, saying good night, hoping that someone will arrive next year as the next, and hopefully real, hero.
Slothrop’s slow and ever slowing journey toward Cuxhaven continues. He sleeps and walks, time muddying further. But one day, he awakes, still in his pig uniform, to a real pig licking his face. Slothrop — perhaps becoming more like an animal, taking on that identity of the Plechazunga — has a strong connection with the pig. They travel together, gather food and risk their lives for each other. The pig leads him onward, looking over him as he sleeps — his own guardian angel. But Slothrop, having been attempting to reclaim himself since the Anubis, still cannot fully eradicate his intrusive and lustful thoughts (though, he does seem to at least be doing better in this regard than before).
Worlds and stories now merge. The place the pig has been leading him to has a motionless Ferris wheel rising above the skyline. Slothrop has arrived at Zwölfkinder. Its children and spirit are gone because of the war and because of what Pökler had assisted in accomplishing for the Reich (3.11). Ilse has likely died; Leni has been unheard from for some time. But a voice calls out for the pig, Frieda. It is Franz Pökler himself, last seen at Dora, still alive and now residing at Zwölfkinder. The parallels between Slothrop and Pökler — both having betrayed the innocent in hopes of their own elevation, both having committed unforgiveable sins, both having ties to Laszlo Jamf and Imipolex G — are enormous. Their sins were of a different kind though. Franz had helped create the weapon which Slothrop sought, leading to his daughter’s death in the process. Slothrop, through the seeking of the 00000 and the Schwarzgerät, committed the sin which Pökler admittedly lusted after when he was unsure if the Ilse who returned to him was really her. But despite the sins being vastly different, they were committed for the same reason. Both men were also led to this decision by the hand of the Elite, and both now had nothing but guilt: Slothrop seeking redemption in his journey Westward and Pökler voluntarily residing at the destroyed site he had visited many times with Ilse when it still flourished with children.
While playing chess, Slothrop realizes he knows Pökler’s name, and says so. But Pökler, fearing for his safety since he’s been in hiding, asks Slothrop to leave, pointing a gun at him. Slothrop, knowing that he himself is no threat to Pökler, asks if he can tell the story of how he came to know his name. Recall that in Zürich, Slothrop met a man, Mario Schweitar, who said he could get documents on the Schwarzgerät and on Laszlo Jamf for a price. Not having the money, Slothrop assisted another man, Squalidozzi, the Argentinian Anarchist, in delivering a message to a man in Geneva. Slothrop then used this money to pay Schweitar for the information, which he received in front of Jamf’s grave (2.7). Then later, on a train upon first entering the Zone — the same train where he first met Marvy and Enzian — Slothrop read the documents which mentioned Pökler being a customer for Imipolex G (3.1).
So Slothrop tells Pökler about this and about how he (along with Marvy the American, Enzian the Herero, and Tchitcherine the Russian) were seeking the Schwarzgerät. However, Pökler does not know what this device was, only knowing the substance of which it was made: Imipolex G — “It’s an aromatic polyamide” (576). Before telling Slothrop what it is in more detail, he tells him about Ilse. Slothrop immediately sees the parallels between Ilse and Bianca, seeing how Alpdrücken tied them all together, Bianca being conceived during Greta Erdmann’s rape scene in the film which led Pökler to return home to Leni with an intense lust, conceiving Bianca in the process. Thus, they reexperience their guilt and sin together, knowing that it is something they can never leave behind. It will always remain with them, within their “deepest cells” and their “saddest dreams” (577).
Up Next: Part 3, Chapter 29
Personally, I really do this it is something similar to the formation of Pirate and Katje’s counterforce (3.23 & 3.24). A truly ambivalent righteous desire to save the people. But I don’t believe there is enough textual evidence to state whether that is the case or whether he simply wishes to save his soul, so interpret as you will. My belief simply stems from the fact that Pynchon (and I) believe that there is hope in the redemption of America and the world. And given Slothrop is a partial representation of America, I can’t read this section any other way.
Listen to David Bowie’s Neuköln off of his album Heroes for a horrifying instrumental representation of the bombing of Neukölln.