This section introduces the character Herbert Stencil, a troubled man who is obsessed with his father's mysterious death in Malta (even more mysterious as Sidney Stencil, Herbert's father, was a British secret agent) and the identity of 'V', a woman mentioned in his journal.Ĭhapter Three: 'In which Stencil, a quick-change artist, does eight impersonations' Section II is set during a party at Rachel's apartment attended by the 'Sick Crew', Paola, Esther, and Debb. Schoenmaker responds by entering into a monologue on the nature of Jewish women and the nature of appearance. The chapter opens with Rachel Owlglass confronting the plastic surgeon Shale Schoenmaker whom she accuses of manipulating her friend and roommate Esther Havitz into debt through repeated rhinoplasty. Pig Bodine, Paola, Dewey Gland and Profane escape the chaos to Pig's apartment.Ĭhapter Two: 'The Whole Sick Crew' The disorder triggers a raid by the military police. Buffo begins to play a rendition of ' It Came Upon the Midnight Clear' to celebrate Christmas only to be immediately assaulted by Ploy and the rest of the intoxicated sailors. Here Profane meets Ploy, a short violent sailor, his musician friend Dewey Gland, and the Maltese barmaid Paola Hod.

Benny Profane, a recently discharged seaman, is at a local sailor bar called the 'Sailor's Grave' in which every waitress is named Beatrice and the beer taps are rubber model breasts that the sailors suck on. The opening chapter is set in Norfolk, Virginia, on Christmas Eve, 1955.

The novel's two storylines increasingly converge in the last chapters (the intersecting lines forming a V-shape, as it were), as Stencil hires Benny to travel with him to Malta.Ĭhapter One: 'In which Benny Profane, a schlemihl and human yo-yo, gets to an apocheir' Each of these 'Stencilised' chapters is set at a different moment of historical crisis the framing narrative involving Stencil, 'V.', and the journals of Stencil's British spy/diplomat father threads the sequences together. The novel alternates between episodes featuring Benny, Stencil and other members of the Whole Sick Crew (including Profane's sidekick Pig Bodine) in 1956 (with a few minor flashbacks), and a generation-spanning plot that comprises Stencil's attempts to unravel the clues he believes will lead him to 'V.' (or to the various incarnations thereof). ( March 2018) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed.

V. by Thomas Pynchon