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Mailer: The Naked and the Dead

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Kevin
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Mailer: The Naked and the Dead

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After setting aside Anna Karenina I find myself on page 170. The page 170! My thoughts thus far have centered around two elements, neither of which are particularly relevant to the book. The first is wondering what Vronsky and co. would make of the situation[1]. The second is FUG. I have never before heard or seen this expression used but I do like a band called The Fugs and was thus aware of what the term is supposed to mean. I thought they might have been making it up... but no.

The story is holding my interest though as of yet there are no characters I particularly care for.

As messy as the scene is, with the storm and all, there is a sense of innocence about it, isn't there? I think it's the jungle... an opposite effect being brought about than what Kurtz experienced through his immersion in the heart of darkness. It's not the characters who are innocent, as they're the usual collection of thugs, misfits, malcontents, and tough-luck peons I'd expect to find on any front. It may not be the point of view Mailer takes, I really don't know, and even though a few times already it's been mentioned how so-and-so feels naked it's not the characters who are naked but the situation. There are no externalities, no broader perspectives to consider, that's for the wayback machine; there is no reason to consider war. Since I believe most everything gets back to Star Trek eventually (even when it's something that preceded it, space-time continuum) I'll mention now how it's Kirk and the Alligator Captain fighting on the "island" in space... Picard and the Tamarian captain who communicates only thorugh metaphor fitfully trying to explain how Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra (an island btw) means strength through peace and cooperation. Now that's naked... and odds are, dead. Of course, there are things beyond the Federation. Innocent? Yeah, you're on an island and there is no firebombing of civilian population centers... there is no dropping of nuclear bombs on population centers... it's clean and it's a case where war is not terrorism. Even here though, we must remember the soldier who loses it, along with his stool, as he rushes off to be torn apart by a morter. Oh Fug it! War is not Hell; a saying for apologists. PC. War is terrorism.

[1]I think Levin, who most closely resembles Hearn, would spend his time exploring flora in order to properly set set up a garden that yielded produce in the most efficient manner possible. Vronsky, who most closely resembles Hearn, would spend his time doing soldier-ly things. Anna would be off having an affair with someone who resembles Hearn. Kitty would be sulking over someone... Hearn?
The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? - Jeremy Bentham
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Kevin
Pulitzer Prize Finalist
Posts: 482
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:45 am
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Location: Texas
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Re: Mailer: The Naked and the Dead

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A comment was made about how prejudices today are not as open are they were in the 40s and I agree since today no matter how forceful a measure, thought, or ideal is promoted that works to the disadvantageous effect of a particular segment of society it must not be considered racist or even exclusionary in nature... pining for the time of the good ol boys who at least said what they meant. Anyway, I've never understood why 'Jap' is considered a racist term. I know it is, and thus I don't use it other than on occassions like this. Mailer has both the US soldiers using the term (reasonable) as well as the narrator himself - an example: Perhaps they stared at each other for half a second, and then the Jap unsheathed his bayonet, and Red turned and ran. Everything should be considered in terms of cultural context when it comes to the matter of judgment and I wonder if Mailer has absorbed the prejudice of his day or if the term is used to "stay in character" of his coarse characters.

Another item, this from General Cummings: A nation fights well in proportion to the amount of men and materials it has. And the other equation is that the individual soldier in the army is a more effective soldier the poorer his standard of living has been in the past.

And I'd like to wish everyone in the States a Happy War Day!
Last edited by Kevin on Mon May 28, 2012 4:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? - Jeremy Bentham
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