Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr'd the sides of Outbuildings, as of Cousins, carried Hats away into the brisk Wind off Delaware,— the Sleds are brought in and their Runners carefully dried and greased, shoes deposited in the back Hall, a stocking'd-foot Descent made upon the great Kitchen, in a purposeful Dither since Morning, punctuated by the ringing Lids of various Boilers and Stewing-Pots, fragrant with Pie-Spices, peel'd Fruits, Suet, heated Sugar,— the Children, having all upon the Fly, among rhythmic slaps of Batter and Spoon, coax'd and stolen what they might, proceed, as upon each afternoon all this snowy Advent, to a comfortable Room at the rear of the House, years since given over to their carefree Assaults.
* * * * * * * * * *
Line 1 Vulgarized:
The children have thrown snowballs at their cousins and also splatted them on the sides of buildings and also knocked hats off of people's heads which the wind has then carried away. Afterward, the children, having enjoyed various other snow activities as well, had brought in their sleds and took care of the metal parts so they wouldn't rust sitting around overnight the way things rust immediately when you don't totally know how rust works but you know it exists and also they're probably good Puritan kids who know that punctuality in all things makes God smile, especially if you're a preterite and won't know it until you die after which you'll curse God and think, "Why did I do all of those good works then?!" They also took off their snow-covered shoes in the mud room and raided the kitchen (probably hungry from sledding and snowball fights). The kitchen has been chaos all day with various stews and boils and baking pies and chopped fruits and rendered fats and caramelized sugars. It only becomes more chaotic when the children rush in begging for some taste of icing or batter, pocketed some cooling cookies or whatever treats Puritans are allowed, and then headed into the back room, where they spend every wintery day, which the parents have abandoned because it's become such a mess of kids' stuff.
* * * * * * * * * *
The scene is set. Pynchon begins by describing a lovely little wintery scene, probably having decided it's a good litmus test for those thinking about picking up the book. "Don't tell me I didn't warn them about how difficult reading this book might be! It's all right there in that first sentence!" he didn't say but probably would have if I'd gone up to him and said, "The language in this book was impenetrable, you jerk!"
Subtext:
I don't know. Was there any subtext in this? What is subtext?! I think the entire subtext was simply that bit about Pynchon letting the reader know what they were in for. Certainly he considered that in the same way he must certainly have considered beginning Against the Day with an easily digestible boy's adventure novel with lots of humor like the slapstick scene where they almost crash and die and all of the "your mom" jokes as well as the scene where all the boys get boners over the naked lady running around below them (a scene in which Pynchon uses the "starred" descriptor but this time made by dropped and exploded sandbags and not snowballs).
Also, that first line purposefully makes you think of the opening line of Gravity's Rainbow, right? "A screaming comes across the sky" and "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs." That's probably Pynchon's way of saying, "This is my next great book on par with Gravity's Rainbow!"
Subtext P.S.:
Boundaries! I forgot about the boundaries! We begin with a major boundary in the house, separating the adult work space from the children's playroom. We also see the distinction between the two: children out playing all day while the parents work hard in the kitchen making snacks for the little pests.
