Submitted by tmtowner@utdall... on Thu, 2013-12-26 17:13
This man narrates the unusual appearance in his anonymous little town, which we have identified as Jefferson even though its name is deliberately obscured, of three barnstormers and the town's reaction to them and their stunts. He identifies himself as one of the town's older citizens, a "groundling," or non-flyer (197). Interestingly enough, the narrator qualifies his identification of Ginsfarb and Jake as Jews: "That is, [the spectators] knew at once that two of the strangers were of a different race from themselves, without being able to say what the difference was" (188).
Submitted by tmtowner@utdall... on Thu, 2013-12-26 16:43
Jock and Captain Warren - one of the barnstormers and one of the townsmen - knew each other in England during World War I. Each carries various wounds with them, souvenirs of "the front in '17" - i.e. the Western Front in 1917 (193).
Submitted by tmtowner@utdall... on Thu, 2013-12-26 16:38
The narrative says that Captain Warren met Jock "coming out of the store," but it doesn't say what kind of store it is (193). The most likely interpretation is that in this case the "store" is where Jones, "the secretary of the Fair Association," works (188); the last we saw of Jock before Warren meets him he was walking down the street looking for "Jones's office" (190). A "Fair Association" would organize events like the barnstorming show Jack and the others want to put on. But that doesn't exactly explain how an office could also be a store.
Submitted by tmtowner@utdall... on Thu, 2013-12-26 15:47
"Death Drag"'s narrator says that Captain Warren met Jock "coming out of the store," but he doesn't say what kind of store it is (193). There's a good chance, however, that it's the "store" where Jones, "the secretary of the Fair Association," works (188); the last we saw of Jock before Warren meets him he was walking down the street looking for "Jones's office" (190). A "Fair Association" would organize events like the barnstorming show Jack and the others want to put on. But that doesn't exactly explain how an office could also be a store.
Submitted by tmtowner@utdall... on Thu, 2013-12-26 15:34
Vernon, the owner of the café, also works as its waiter, which suggests a small business serving a dozen or so diners at once, much like the Max's café in Sanctuary.
Submitted by tmtowner@utdall... on Thu, 2013-12-26 15:29
When Captain Warren first sees the airplane flying over the town, he's just "coming out of the post office" (185). It's likely that he went there to pick up his mail: before the advent of numbered addresses and home delivery, patrons picked up their mail the post office, which made it a likely place to socialize as well.
Submitted by tmtowner@utdall... on Thu, 2013-12-26 15:14
The "airport" in "Death Drag" was built right next to a farm (185). The barn presents an obstacle for pilots trying to take off or land, but in the end, with its "roof of rotting shingles" over the hay that's stored in it, it is this barn that turns out to be a lifesaver for Ginsfarb (186).
Submitted by tmtowner@utdall... on Thu, 2013-12-26 15:08
In the fictions as a whole there are essentially two kinds of eating places in Jefferson: the restaurants which can be found on the Square, and the diners which are located on 'side streets' at some distance from the Square. They seem to serve different classes of (white) people - the laws of Jim Crow apply to both. In "Death Drag" Captain Warren and Jock eat in Vernon's "cafe" (194). Warren calls it a "restaurant" (194), and as a 'captain' would be expected to eat in a higher class place.
Submitted by tmtowner@utdall... on Thu, 2013-12-26 15:05
The "office of the county weekly newspaper" appears in 3 different texts (259, 355). In "Death Drag" "the newspaper office" (190) is where the barnstormers go to get handbills printed for the performance they are going to put on for the town. In "Go Down, Moses" it's where Gavin Stevens goes for information about the Negro whom Mollie Beauchamp has asked him to find. Though the office itself isn't described in any of the texts, the fact that it is across the Square from Gavin's office is mentioned.
