VLVL2 (3) Zoyd and Hector

[jbor]

> ...[The question]
>> is why Pynchon decided to make Hector a Mexican, rather than a Cuban,
>> Colombian, Argentinian, Puerto Rican, or simply an American? ...

on 17/8/03 4:28 AM, Mary Krimmel wrote:

> This is in Hermosa, where a person is more likely to be "American" or
> "Mexican" than of some other minority.

Sure. But Hector's a DEA agent, and it's a "Gordita assignment" (24-5). He's
not a local, and I'd say his ethnicity is quite unusual, ironic even, for
the line of work he's in.

best

> (I may be slightly ahead of time,
> but I believe that there is no longer an ethnic majority in Southern
> California.) Perhaps Pynchon made Hector Mexican to differentiate him from
> American Zoyd. But if he were Cuban, Colombian, Argentinian, Puerto Rican,
> then this would require some explanation.