VLVL2 (1): Man and Dog

[Tim Strzechowski]

jbor sed:

>> I guess the question is, who is the "dog"? (My money's on Zoyd.) 


Vineland opens with two characters who parallel each other in subtle ways -- Zoyd and Desmond.  Our first encounter with Desmond is with him "hanging around," and we learn that he is being victimized by the flock of blue jays who descend to steal his food.  Although Zoyd helps us realize that Desmond nonetheless is still fed by Prairie -- noting the chocolate crumbs on his face -- Desmond's easy-going response ("tail going back and forth to show no hard feelings") and lumbering gait as he returns to the house are comically suggestive of Zoyd's slapstick experiences to follow in the rest of the chapter as he, too, is robbed of his chance at "proper" media coverage of his antic disposition.

In canine fashion, Zoyd's entrance into the Log Jam is marked by how "everything, from the cooking to the clientele, smelled different" (5), and when he arrives at the Cucumber Lounge, we experience it through a description of the woodsmoke, the "austere fragrance of the trees," and the "all-day neighborhood smell of cooking in the air" (9).  Throughout the chapter, the overall characterization of Zoyd is that of a lazy, easy-going, somewhat passive ex-hippie who, despite the challenges faced him in this opening section, kinda moves passively and doggedly from event to event without any real animosity toward a community and a System whose changes and circumstances are out of his control.

Does Pynchon do this man/animal parallel elsewhere in his works?  I seem to recall a LOT of dogs throughout GR, with an obvious Slothrop/dog conditioning parallel via Pointsman.  But is this a common thing in P's works?

What significance does a dog possess in the context of this comparison?  Why this animal?


And when discussing dogs and aging hippies in drag:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/ross.fraser/Richard7.htm



Tim
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