VL & the Work of mourning

[Tim Strzechowski]

> Z "sets up" and sets up  I-24 with the wedding gig.
>
> The wedding gig is a job for a day cause Ralph's daughter won't be
> gettin married every weekend.
>
> Not exactly a business.
>
> Kinda like jumping through a window at the cuke.
>
> I-24 gets the gig.
>
> And the cuke gig? Does he get a cuke gig?
>
> What was Zoyd trying to do?
>
> Help the kid out? Set him up? Does it matter?


Zoyd in general just seems to have a skewed sense of work, no?  He mentions
the need for money for groceries, yet his primary source of income is a
once-a-year media stunt.  As you say, his notion of helping Isaiah Two-Four
get "into business" is a one-time-only gig.

For Zoyd, "work" doesn't seem to mean "employment" (and all that comes with
it, including salary, benefits, etc.)  "Work" for Zoyd merely seems to
equate an activity with receiving monetary compensation.

>From the final paragraph of Chapter 2, it doesn't sound as if Zoyd is trying
to "set-up" I-24 out of any deep malice, does it?  Playing a "crime-family
gig" was "nothing the kid couldn't handle," and although Zoyd is "not 100
percent crazy" (ironic!) about I-24, the gig more or less functions to get
the kid off his back and out the door.  Smoke a joint and return to the TV
set, eh?

Terrance, why "mourning"?

Respectfully,

Tim