Frenesi's emblematic panic fear

[Paul Mackin]

For me, the sudden onset of Frenesi's panic fear, as and after she
captures Brock's image (and somehow his intentions toward her) in her
trusty lens, is symbolic of a shift in movement thinking that occurred
sometime around '68. For a long time people were saying that the cops and
military would never turn on middle class white kids as the cops had
certainly done with mainly black civil rights demonstrators in the south.
This was the prevailing view at the time, say, of the March on the
Pentagon (which yours truly dutifully attended). While there never
was exactly an American Tianamen Square-type showdown to transpire,
nevertheless the complaisancy did shift considerably after the
'68 Chicago Convention and Kent State (though the latter should probably 
be considered an aberation). Anyway it seems to me that the College of the
Surf events along with Frenesi's panic attack (that can only be assuaged
by entering into a sexual and information exchanging alliance with the
duly constituted authorities) are Pynchon's West Coast take on these
attitudinal shifts in the face of a newly perceived reality. Wish I'd
taken better notes.

Am anxious now to keep reading to discover whether Frenesi recovers
from her pessimism and general depression, as folks often do, later on in
the book. I truly don't remember.

				P.