VLVL: What troubles Zoyd's sleep?

[Tim Strzechowski]

> >
> > > If the vast majority of readers agree that Brock is a very bad guy,
> > > isn't it likely that Pynchon created a bad guy in Brock Vond?
> > >
> > > I think so.
> > >
> >
> > Well, I suppose.  But what if we use Macbeth as a comparison example?
>
> Why?
>

Because your question is rooted in a generalization that has questionable
validity:  If the vast majority of readers agree that a character is a very
bad guy, isn't it likely that the author created a bad guy in that
character?

I'm simply putting it to a test, using another literary character that
may/may not help us see if it is indeed true.

My question, simply:  If the general readership concludes that a character
is a bad guy, does that automatically mean s/he is?  Are there not
characters who the vast majority of readers associate with being "bad," but
their badness has layers that have justification to some degree (e.g. Ahab,
Iago, Thomas Sutpen, Emma Bovary, etc.)?

>
> And most readers/audience
> > members would agree that he is a "very bad guy."
>
> Macbeth and BV are very bad guys.

Yes, they are.

>
>
>  But if he is a tragic
> > figure, ought he not possess *some* goodness?
>
> Macbeth and BV are not tragic figures.
>

Macbeth supposedly is (cf. Harold Bloom's _The Invention of the Human_).
Brock is another story, and as we continue the group reading we may decide
one way or another on him.  I, for one, am not far enough ahead of the
scheduled read to make a determination yet, not am I willing to simply take
your word for it.

Shall we read on and see?

Respectfully,

Tim