VLVL2 work

[pynchonoid]

jbor:
>Taking a dive through a bar window in drag once a
>year is something *Zoyd*
>came up with to satisfy the welfare criteria. The
>government didn't specify
>this particular manifestation of craziness

But to collect disability payments, the government
does demand (in _Vineland_ and in the U.S.) that the
recipient meet the requirements for same.  If the
claim is that some sort of mental disability prevents
work (as appears to be Zoyd's disability case), then
the recipient must show he or she is 'qualified'. If
you just stop working but appear normal, no payments. 

This is becoming more difficult, of course.  As
California squeezes its budget, and as so-called
"normal" behavior becomes freakier (hordes of people
walking the streets now, for example, talking to
invisible companions --on cell phones-- makes it
difficult to distinguish the truly disabled), there's
less room for the sort of creativity Zoyd displays. 
In California, "circa 2003", Zoyd would likely be
required to take anti-depressant medication instead,
one that might dissipate the creative spunk he
demonstrates here.  (Depression screening at our local
HMO includes the question, Do you wish to apply for
disability? )

Zoyd's dress might also serve as a reminder that, like
so many men in his generation, he has had to be both
father and mother to his daughter, integrating both
male and female aspects. 

Vineland's first chapter also offers a rather more
disturbing picture of an "unemployed housewife"
(problematic concept, of course, considering all the
work that a housewife, or a Mr. Mom, actually does),
too -- one who periodically unleashes unpredictable,
violent behavior.  Rather than sublimate those urges
with passive viewing of a favorite daily soap opera,
Zoyd shows how a frustrated woman might act them out,
and become Tube fodder for the rest of the
viewers/Tube addicts who have, one way or another,
been rendered incapable of doing anything but
consuming the images of another's frustrations.



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