VLVL Prairie and DL

[jbor]

on 15/10/03 12:54 AM, Terrance wrote:

> And Prairie turns with the business end of that hair brush pointed at DL
> who is standing just a little too close for comfort, "a little too
> close, tall and fair, wearing a green party dress that might have gone
> with her hair but not with the way she carried herself, athletic, even
> warriorlike, watching the girl in a weirdly familiar way, as if she were
> about to continue a conversation."
> 
> With her ex-lover, Frenesi.

Yes, though the lesbian overtones of the gal-pal relationship between DL and
Frenesi don't come into it until later on in the text.

It's interesting that DL realises or assumes that everyone would have been
lying to Prairie about why Frenesi went away. Zoyd and Sasha told Prairie
that Frenesi had gone "underground". DL thinks to herself: "That's the story
DL should have known they'd tell the kid." (101.27) But DL herself is also
"in a pickle" (100.34). She realises that "[w]hatever story she told this
kid must not, maybe never, be the story she knew." (101.1) And so she
stalls, pretends she doesn't know what happened, and eventually defers the
onus onto Takeshi.

The implication seems to be that what Frenesi did was considered so "bad"
that no-one -- Zoyd, Sasha, DL -- ever mentions it, and that they each made
a deliberate decision not to tell Prairie about it. I think it's more of a
shame reflex than consideration for Prairie. Whichever, this dishonesty of
the adults towards Prairie is another type of betrayal, and it's worth
considering the metaphorical implications. The adult generation lies about
history, everyone makes up "a different story, to make each of them come out
looking better and others worse" (81.14) as Sasha recalls about the '50s in
Hollywood; everyone, or *nearly* everyone, tries to conceal the fact that
they've made compromises, done deals, sold out on their principles (cf.
Frenesi and Flash waiting until Justin is out of earshot to talk about their
problems with the cheque and computer 87-8) etc.

I think part of what Pynchon is diagnosing in the novel is the way in which
generational rebellion comes about, the way that adolescents reject their
parents' attitudes and behaviours, not simply because they're being
obstinate or contrary, but because they come to realise they've been
deceived. It's metaphoric in that this family represents American society,
but it's also metonymic in that this scenario is one which repeats in
millions of households across the land, in the way that society is a large
"family" which is made up of lots of smaller family units.

There's something quite poignant in that moment when Prairie moves the
amulet so that it sets DL's scanner off playing the _Hawaii 5-O_ theme again
(103.30-7). In the first instance DL had recognised Prairie and made all the
running, was in control of the encounter (99.7-24), but as soon as DL makes
the decision to fob the girl off ("You ought to at least have Takeshi's
input on this"), Prairie realises DL isn't telling her everything and so she
signals that she understands that DL has deferred the onus of telling her
about Frenesi onto Takeshi. But it's also a subtle and sad gesture
signalling that the episode is over, that DL hasn't been totally honest,
that Prairie now has the upper hand. The balance has shifted, DL
acknowledges that Prairie's "trust" in her isn't warranted, and it's now, in
a way, Prairie who is calling the shots: "Come on and meet Isaiah." (104.1).
 
best