Gravity’s Rainbow: Drugs, the Counterforce, and the Beats
Laura De Vos
20053655
January 2009
The American Historical Novel after 1950
Luc Herman and Petrus Van Ewijk
Gravity’s Rainbow: Drugs, the Counterforce, and the Beats
Introduction
Just as the ghost of Rathenau claims that “secular history is a diversionary tactic” (GR 167[1]), I want to investigate in this essay how drugs can be a “diversionary tactic,” both in the world of the novel as that of the writer. All layers of society in the novel use drugs, from Pointsman (GR 168-169) to Tchitcherine (known as the “Red Doper” [GR 719]), to the members of the Counterforce, such as Säure Bummer and Slothrop[2].
The people in the Counterforce use drugs as a way of resistance, because “They’re the rational ones. We piss on Their rational arrangements. Don’t we . . . Mexico?” (GR 639) But it is exactly because the Counterforce is actively trying to be unorganized and unstructured (and in this way the opposite of “Them”) (Moore 123), that they cannot lay any weight on the System and so that they cannot make a difference. They are intimidated by the System, a System that is a part of everyone who grew up in it. For both of these reasons they will never be able to escape it: “The Man has a branch office in each of our brains, his corporate emblem is a white albatross, each local rep has a cover known as the Ego, and their mission in this world is Bad Shit. We do know what’s going on, and we let it go on” (GR 712-713). The members of the Counterforce are just keeping themselves happy with their personal resistance. Susan E. H. Davis admits that the Counterforce is a failure, but she claims that this is mostly the case because “it functions as an organization and so contradicts its own ideals” (Davis 199). The individual rebellions “offer cause for hope,” because they prove that “the Zone is far from being under control.” (Davis 199) The System, however, does not really mind that type of resistance, because it does not really hurt it; the System can go on with
20053655
January 2009
The American Historical Novel after 1950
Luc Herman and Petrus Van Ewijk
Gravity’s Rainbow: Drugs, the Counterforce, and the Beats
Introduction
Just as the ghost of Rathenau claims that “secular history is a diversionary tactic” (GR 167[1]), I want to investigate in this essay how drugs can be a “diversionary tactic,” both in the world of the novel as that of the writer. All layers of society in the novel use drugs, from Pointsman (GR 168-169) to Tchitcherine (known as the “Red Doper” [GR 719]), to the members of the Counterforce, such as Säure Bummer and Slothrop[2].
The people in the Counterforce use drugs as a way of resistance, because “They’re the rational ones. We piss on Their rational arrangements. Don’t we . . . Mexico?” (GR 639) But it is exactly because the Counterforce is actively trying to be unorganized and unstructured (and in this way the opposite of “Them”) (Moore 123), that they cannot lay any weight on the System and so that they cannot make a difference. They are intimidated by the System, a System that is a part of everyone who grew up in it. For both of these reasons they will never be able to escape it: “The Man has a branch office in each of our brains, his corporate emblem is a white albatross, each local rep has a cover known as the Ego, and their mission in this world is Bad Shit. We do know what’s going on, and we let it go on” (GR 712-713). The members of the Counterforce are just keeping themselves happy with their personal resistance. Susan E. H. Davis admits that the Counterforce is a failure, but she claims that this is mostly the case because “it functions as an organization and so contradicts its own ideals” (Davis 199). The individual rebellions “offer cause for hope,” because they prove that “the Zone is far from being under control.” (Davis 199) The System, however, does not really mind that type of resistance, because it does not really hurt it; the System can go on with
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