Scene 2: Of Giant Adenoids and other Monsters

Well, Pynchon sure doesn't wait around long before the weirdness begins. But oh, it's all so purposeful that you wouldn't mind in the slightest. Pirate Prentice has, by now, proceeded with his famous breakfast. The rest of the crew is up and about, groggy, not particularly anxious to start the day. When all of a sudden, Prentice receives a summons: turns out the rocket that he'd seen has just landed and has been carrying mail for his eyes only. Off Prentice goes to intercept the package, and it is now that the reader is informed of his gift. Prentice has the rare ability to inhabit others' subconsciousnesses. He can live out your daydreams for you, be a sponge for all your insecurities and fears. Painful gift, isn't it? But the Firm, or whoever is in charge of administrating the War effort this side of the Atlantic, has seen the obvious advantages of such a gift. We get brief interludes here of Prentice's history, how he's not really in full control of his gift, odd sequences filtering in and out of his mind without control. One particularly hallucinatory fragment concerns an official stationed in Turkey (I think), someone crucial to Britain staying in power, but this Lord Blatherard Osmo has an Adenoid problem, a particularly painful one, and it is up to Prentice to see to it that he isn't distracted so much by it so as to jeopardize the balance of power Britain has so painstakingly maintained in Central Europe. Well, Prentice performs well, and it is implied that the Firm arranges for Osmo's inevitable demise after he has performed his role. This whole chapter is a little difficult to follow, what with all the references, but if you surrender to it, Pynchon's brilliance becomes quite transparent. There is an odd pathos to the situation Prentice finds himself in, and already it's heavily implied that the real enemy might not be Germany, but something closer home, pulling the strings in the name of winning the War...

One of the major themes underlining this section is the sinister nature of control, of utilizing "gifts" for an ulterior motive only knowledgeable to the powers that be, in charge of every little aspect of the war...