Money 2--The Voice(s) of John Self

"There are, at the latest count, four distinct voices in my head. First, of course, if the jabber of money, which might be represented as the blur on the top rung of a typewriter--$%$^$^^&&&@$--sums, subtractions, compound terrors and greeds. Second is the voice of pornography. This often sounds like the rap of a demented DJ: the way she moves has got to be good news, can't get loose till I feel the juice--suck and spread, bitch, yeah bounce for me baby...And so on. (One of the subvoices of pornography in my head is the voice of an obsessed black tramp or retard who roams Times Square beat here in New York. Incomprehensible, yet unmistakenly lecherous, his gurgled monologue goes like this: Uh geh guh yuh tih ah fuh yuh uh yuh fuh ah ah yuh guh suh muh fuh cuh. I do a lot of that kind of talking in my head too.)" pg. 104

This passage stood out to me because it analyzes elements of John Selfs narrative voice, or his internal voice. The connotation, or tone in Selfs voice here is particularly witty and somewhat cynical. He compares his constant internal sexual ramblings to those of a "retard" or "black tramp" wandering the streets babbling nonsense (but clearly, lecherous nonsense). He uses this image of a crazy homeless person to exemplify just how base and yet charged with a crazed urge for sex his internal 'pornography' voice is. The diction in this passage also drew my attention to it. Phrases such as "compound terrors and greeds" and "gurgled monologue" create a tone of almost comedic helplessness. John Self cannot control these voices, and we see that through his narrative tone there's an image of powerlessness being portrayed. I found this fascinating, because even though Self seems to have higher mental capacities (especially compared with the so-called retards and tramps he likens himself to) the tone of this passage seems to be that of someone completely out of control (of their internal narrative, that is). There's also some very powerful imagery in reference to the pornographic voice here; I found the image of a demented DJ particularly apt.