These two chapters appear to be Pynchon's version of one of the most popular colonial American narrative forms, the captivity narrative: Eliza is captured by the Indians and then "escorted" by them to Quebec City and the Jesuits (by chance, or because the Indians have been commissioned to bring her by the Jesuits?). A new figure, unnamed, is central she later is discovered to be named Eliza Fields. Chapter 53 opens by signaling itself as a clear break in the narrative, as Mason and Dixon take a Winter break from drawing their Line and the Reverend Cherrycoke tale-telling takes a break as well. On Thomas Pynchon's Mason and Dixon, Part 1įirst, some quick summaries of the "Captive's Tale" interlude in chapters 53-54 of Mason and Dixon, plus chapter 56, which gives us a crucial analogy to use to consider the Captive's Tale.
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