VLVL2 (3): Hector Zuniga & Zoyd Wheeler (More or Less Ironic Double Stuff)

Tim Strzechowski dedalus204 at comcast.net
Fri Aug 22 10:54:51 CDT 2003


>
> Maybe you could say more about why and how Hector's Job (DEA) adds to
> the Ironic Doubling.

I'd like to.  But I'm not entirely sure what you mean by the term.  Please
define.

>
> Anyway, when I compared Hector with Jay Gatsby I was thinking of the way
> in which both men construct an American identity with Waste.

How "with Waste"?  Again, please clarify.

>
> In any event, we should try to get some basic facts. How old is Hector?
> When and where was he born? Is he Pelado, Pocho, Chicano? When did he
> begin his career? How close is he to retirement age? So on.
>

Good questions.  Do we know the answers to these at this point in the novel?
If Hector is an old bud of Zoyd's and they go way back (as is suggested
during the Chapter 3 exchange), it's possible that they're close to the same
age.  I'd say Zoyd and Hector are both somewhere around their early forties
in 1984 (and I'm merely approximating here, since I don't have my book handy
... perhaps somewhere in the text their ages can be calculated more
closely).

As to their shades of Hispanicity, I'll defer to others . . .

Tim







More information about the Pynchon-l mailing list