Unsafe Children of VitVatersRand

[Terrance]

thomas kyhn rovsing hjørnet wrote:
> 
> > -- consider the concern Pynchon shows for
> > children in his work.
> 
> Like, for instance, Ludwig and Bianca?

Like, for instance, the "poets in a vacuum" in V.
The children of Malta. 
The children of the South West Protectorate. 
The unchosen and unborn of V

"Je suis ne'. Being born. That's all you have to do."

--Paola, V., Pynchon 

According to Molly Hite, *Ideas of Order in the Novels of Thomas
Pynchon* , "Mafia is a parody of Ayn Rand, whose influence was at its
peak in the early sixties when V. first appeared." 

Obviously the Pynchon & Rand connection is made clear in the novel V..  
Pynchon wrote a novel, his first novel, he called it V. 
And in that novel there is is character named Mafia. 
Mafia, as Hite discovered,  is a parody of Ayn Rand. 

While critics have identified the obvious parody they have not said much
about how it functions in the novel. Not much has been written about how
Mafia, her sisterhood of acolytes, her novels, her theory of Heroic
Love, her racism, her anti-Semitism, her views on family, children,
contraception, abortion, adultery, sex, rape, are part of the larger
thematic dialogues in the novel. 

But, and thank whomever, and at the risk of having one's computer
overloaded by a hacker who is, I assure you, a regular pynchon list
contributor hell bent on controlling what people say here, we can
discuss these here. 

"I have a dependent now." 

--Benny, V., Pynchon

Mafia and Roony don't have any children. Mafia married Roony with
thoughts of producing "perfect" children, but contraception and her
theory got in the way. Mafia is probably the sickest member of the whole
sick crew.  Thank whomever she doesn't produce any kids. Children in V.
are not safe. They are constantly threatened by production and  
love/death romanticism, decadence, incest, enfetishment, prostitution,
pigs, abortion and contraception. Paola is the most important "child" in
the novel and she is threatened by all of these.