VLVL 3 Zoyd and Hector

[Terrance]

> Yes Hector has some creative leeway in the performance
> of his assigned duties -- that's what all that
> intrapreneur jivetalk boils down to. He's remains a
> ... could you remind me of his civil service rank
> again?

Hector, like Brock, doesn't just follow orders. He has his own agenda,
his own plan. His own baby. 

see the RICHARD E. BURKET essay. 


Thus, anyone is at risk of
being targeted should their prosecution (or persecution) be
useful for either of what Pynchon presents as the twin ends
of law: ***the personal interests of its agents****, or the State's
larger interest in order, and in maintaining and extending its
domain of control. 

In other words, the cliched rhetoric that the United
States is governed by the rule of law, rather than the rule of
men, is shown to be a farce. 


But Pynchon goes beyond simply noting how specific
interests (rather than abstract universals) always govern the
application and enforcement of the law; he also shows that
this arbitrariness is not an aberration or anomaly particular
to individuals like Vond and his cronies, as legal formalists
and positivists might argue, but rather is precisely what
makes the law effective as an instrument of social order.

And Burkett goes on to debunk your absurd reading of the innocent victim
and powerful oppressor. 

For example, he writes, 

The imposition of the State and its agents' wills in an overtly violent
manner
alone might foment dissent. To avert this possibility
requires the hegemonization of consent that can make its
subjects complicit in their own repression--make them
want it, and even enjoy it. 


This is classic Pynchon. From V. to M&D, we define each other, S&M and
the love of death.