MDMD Ch. 29 - Franklin

[Doug Millison]

I agree with what you say about Franklin and his portrayal here, and
especially the way you see "the quest for energy will lead humanity
blithely towards suicide" -- that's certainly in keeping with  GR, where
the rape of the earth in search of petroleum is seen as a significant
result of humankind's death-wish.

Given past statements about the Pynchon's lack of judgements regarding his
characters and what they do, however, I'm a bit surprised that you see the
author portraying Franklin's activities as "malevolent"  and Franklin
himself as  "something of a Manichaean megalomaniac." Do you see the author
counter-balancing with more positive portrayals of Franklin elsewhere in
the text, or otherwise undercutting these value judgements, or can we take
away from the novel -- in your view at least -- an unredeemed negative
appraisal of Franklin in M&D?

jbor:
"If anything, his activities are
portrayed as even more malevolent here. But I think that Pynchon's main
gripe with him seems to be to do with his role in the harnessing of
electricity as an energy source (and thus, in the future development of "the
Grid"). The danse macabre he conducts out into the thunderstorm symbolises
the way that the quest for energy will lead humanity blithely towards
suicide. His comments in the last paragraph seem to indicate that Ben is
fully aware of what the consequences of his experimentation and discoveries
will be, and see him as something of a Manichaean megalomaniac. "