VLVL2 (2): Prairie and Zoyd

[Dedalus]

One thing about Chapter Two of Vineland that is particularly interesting is the portrayal of Zoyd's relationship with his daughter, Prairie.  In the opening sentence, we learn that although Zoyd has made it home in time to see his window jump on TV, he lets Prairie finish watching The Clara Bow Story.  She is his natural daughter, yet the rapport between the two permits her to call him by his first name (something which I'd always thought was more of a Southernism -- the way Scout and Jem Finch call their father "Atticus" comes immediately to mind), and the dialogue between Zoyd and Prairie on p. 14 seems almost a comfortable mother-daughter relationship (discussing the dress and dating).
 
One of the more subtle narrative elements that Pynchon achieves in this chapter is his ability to juggle the maturity/immaturity levels of father and daughter throughout this chapter.  Zoyd laments the state of household finances, noting in typical parental fashion that "All's I need is the money, Trooper, I can't even keep enough groceries in this place" (15), yet later discusses Isaiah Two-Four with Prairie and "ate a Chee-to he'd been planning to throw" (17).  Meanwhile, after snacking and watching the window jump footage (and subsequent panal discussion), Prairie playfully evaluates his jump as one might rate an Olympic dive, and the two launch into a discussion of money and household finances that leads to Prairie stating the following:
 

"What am I supposed to do?  Isn't me that's leaving all these cakes and pies and stuff layin' around, candy bars in the freezer, Nestle's Quik instead of sugar, eeoo!  What chance have I got?" (15)
 
A brilliant piece of dialogue this is, because it reveals much about Prairie: her frustration at perhaps being the female of the house, which accounts for her seemingly scolding-mother tone; her two questions, which bookend this snippet of dialogue, which harken to the greater needs that she, as a child, must have addressed by a parent; and the exclamation of "eeoo!" which reminds us that, despite the maturity she must exhibit in having to live with this ex-hippie, Prairie is still just a kid.
 
I would be curious to know how some of the "Moms" on the list (Barbara? Elaine? etc.?) interpret the relationship between Zoyd and Prairie from a mother-daughter standpoint.
 
Are there other ways in which Pynchon juggles the maturity/immaturity of both Zoyd and Prairie in this chapter?
 
Why is it significant that we, as readers, view both characters in light of their mature and immature qualities?  Is this important to our understanding of the novel as a whole?
 
Back in Chapter One, did Zoyd exhibit both qualities?  How?
 
 
For those of us reading Pale Fire:
 
Does Nabokov develop a similar dichotomy with either Kinbote or Shade.  Not necessarily in terms of maturity/immaturity, but can one build a case for either/both characters embodying qualities of (for example) sanity/madness? love/hate?  
 
I seem to recall noting the ways in which Shade is portrayed both as a scholarly member of the ivory tower *and* as a liquor-sneaking, blonde-chick-in-the-leotards appreciating sort of fella.  Does this dichotomy qualify?  Can it be further developed?
 
Respectfully,
 
Tim
 



"We are most artistically caged."  
                                  ~~ John Francis Shade (1898 - 1959)


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