“Offer the balloons to passing children. Do not offer the monkey to passing children and do not offer the balloons to the monkey.” Do/Don’t. More arbitrary commands from the Father – more threat of castration. More separation from the mother/ Monkey. Acculturation = Neuroticization. But Father: may I offer the Monkey to the balloons? To whom should I offer the passing children – to the balloons, or to the Monkey? Why can’t a thing be offered to itself, the Monkey to the Monkey, the balloons to the balloons? Whence autonomy? And mustn’t the passing children stop before I can offer them anything? What do I do if they just keep on passing? What do I do if the balloon pops or the Monkey dies or the rules fail? How can I act if I am not first told how to act? What do I do if the Monkey offers me to passing children? Or offers me a balloon? What if I find that I myself am the Monkey? Must I be offered, or may I choose to pass? How do I know where I stop and the Monkey begins? Where the Monkey stops and the balloon begins? How do I tell the difference? Or is it différance? What if I get confused and switch the balloon for its opposite? The Monkey for the Non-key? Do the rules remain the same or is a new offer to be made? And can I haggle? Can I monkey with this offer or is it somehow non-negotiable? And what is it to monkey, really? Can I monkey with the balloon? Can I monkey with the Monkey? Can I monkey with myself? What can the children monkey with? Can the Monkey monkey with the children? Can the Monkey monkey with the balloon? Doesn’t the Monkey monkey with everything the Monkey touches by definition? What can’t a Monkey monkey with? And if the Monkey starts to monkey with the Monkey, how will we know when things have ballooned out of control?

# posted by Gerry Canavan @ 2:08 AM  |