Via the weekly roundup I read
this post on Pemulis getting the shoe from deLint et al. (I should note that I think there are some spoilers in the comments so tread carefully.)
Quote:
This is my attempt to talk about the fate of Michael Pemulis without becoming upset or irrational, which is what usually happens when I think about endnote 332 and its consequences. CT and Avril have given Pemulis the administrative boot via their proxy Aubrey deLint. The proximate cause behind this is the inadvertent Tenuate dosing of John Wayne, although it’s clear that deLint has been gunning for Pemulis since the Port Washington dosing incident, while Avril has always disliked him, especially since the electrified-doorknob incident and now, most recently, the episode with the cheerleader outfit.
I found the post a particularly good summary of the Pemulis situation, and the comments are well worth a read as well.
One piece that isn't brought up in the post or the comments is the issue of class. Meaning Pemulis doesn't have the money or connections to survive the administration coming down on him hard. See also Hal's thoughts during Eschaton about being secretly a snob w/r/t Pemulis on class issues.
The class item aside, though, the post and comments have me thinking in a new way about Pemulis. I had (like the post's author) always taken him as a lovable rogue and was a bit pissed during the whole scene with deLint et al. since deLint is such a prick and I had started to like Pemulis; but in the larger context of the message of the book about addiction, recovery, and the inability of people to really communicate with one another, Pemulis is definitely an agent of ill for Hal and anyone else he socializes with.
Keeping with the theme of recovery, it's very difficult to recover if you don't excise (or exile) from your life the people who enable your addiction, so while Pemulis's expulsion is abrupt, perhaps it is one of the tough decisions that has to be made in order to Come In.
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