VLVL 3 Zoyd and Hector

[jbor]

> The
>> portrayal of Hector in the novel is nowhere near the psychopathic villain
>> you've been trying to make him out to be.
> 
on 11/8/03 1:09 AM, Don Corathers at gumbo at fuse.net wrote:

> Maybe not. Hector has changed over the years, but it's worth remembering
> that for all of his endearing and entertaining qualities in 1984, he's the
> dude who thirteen years earlier set Zoyd up in a bogus marijuana bust in
> service of Brock Vond's vision of America. At that point he wasn't very
> different from the scabs who felled the redwood across Jess Traverse's legs,
> back in the day.
> 

I'm sure we can discuss it further when we get to the actual scene in the
reading, but Hector's not particularly keen about that marijuana bust, which
he sees as some "estupidass marriage-counselor errand" (295.14). He has even
called up Sasha to come and mind Prairie (295.36-7). Pretty thoughtful that.
And all in all it's a pretty funny scene with that "herbaceous polyhedron"
(295.25) too.

I don't buy this idea that Hector "has changed over the years", or that
that's the intent of the portrayal. He's gotten older, more rebellious, put
on a few pounds, watched too much tv, found God, sure, but he's always
played it straight-up with Zoyd as far as I can see. He's no more able to
prevent that marijuana obelisk set-up than Zoyd is, and it was probably far
better for Zoyd and Prairie that he was the one forced to make the arrest
than some other less sympathetic and potentially more heavy-handed cop.

Hector sincerely believes that drugs are a blight on society, and that's
where he has always come from in doing his job as a DEA agent. Agree or
disagree with that opinion as you might, the text itself doesn't condemn him
for holding these beliefs at all. Even in trying to maintain a place for
himself and a livelihood for his family making anti-drug propaganda in the
new Reaganite dispensation, or when he was following those "orders from
above" to try and keep his job under Nixon, he's holding true to his
scruples. In Chapter 3, which is what we're ostensibly discussing, he's
actually trying to send a little extra cash Zoyd's way as well.

I understand why you would like Hector to be an outright bastard and Zoyd a
totally innocent victim; the fact that it isn't like this makes the novel
far more interesting than it would otherwise have been imo.

best