MDDM Ch. 72 Dixon and the slave driver

[Doug Millison]

Mr T:
>Heroes are not simple.


I said, "Dixon is far too complex to be a simple hero, imo."


>And Dixon is a hero in M&D, he is also both a
>mock hero and a super hero.

And you've answered your own questions, which sounded rhetorical, although
I figured I'd give it a shot anyway, see if you wanted to discuss or just
to score points.

M&D, imo, presents Dixon as a complex human being who, on this occasion,
manages to rise to the occasion and do the right thing.  I wouldn't use the
word hero, a word I think has been stretched out of shape to the point of
being nearly meaningless, in a country where people can be said to consider
a man like Pres. Bush a hero.

I don't know what you mean by "mock hero".  I don't think Pynchon, or his
narrators, mock Dixon, he gets a rather loving treatment by his creators,
as does Mason.

If by "super hero" you mean a comic book type of hero, I don't agree.
Pynchon has made Dixon quite complex, way more complex than any comic book
super hero I know of.  If you mean something else, maybe you'd care to
explain?

I just re-read the Iliad recently. Achilles is a hero, and he's pretty
simple.  His boss made a fool of him and now Achilles is going to sulk and
whine until Agamemnon besg him to come back and help.   He grieves his lost
buddy, Patroclus. Then he kills as many of the enemies as he can in an orgy
of slaughter.  It's a powerful story, Achilles is a great character,
obviously a thrilling hero, but not terribly complex. Neither is Batman or
Superman or Spiderman.

(I don't agree with the school of thought that says Pynchon can't create
well-rounded characters, or that he creates comic book characters. )