VLVL (6) Brock

[jbor]

on 25/9/03 9:42 PM, Terrance wrote:

> "Many informants said they'd expected him to take off his clothes and do
> something unspeakable."
> 
> Wild eyed and terminally depressed Brock Vond is almost as wacko as
> Frenesi's husband (can't quite say, ex-husband) Zoyd.

Yes, the previous chapter illustrated the petulant and self-centred way Zoyd
behaved when he realised Frenesi was going to leave him, and it's directly
juxtaposed here with the description of Brock's similar behaviour when
Frenesi left him for good after the second time they were together. It's
ironic that it's Zoyd's paranoia (58.4-10) and his accusations -- "I don't
see Superfuck any place" he spits at Frenesi in the balcony scene (59.2) --
which probably helped to make up her mind to go back with Brock when she did
eventually meet up with him again back in California.

I like the way the narrator offers up a couple of different perspectives on
Brock's behaviour after losing Frenesi:

    But it was to be a while yet before reports stopped coming in
    from lunch counters and saloons, often known to have strictly
    enforced attitude codes, in unlikely West Coast locales, of
    disruptions by a, some said "wild-eyed," others "terminally
    depressed," Brock Vond. (69.25-30)

There are a couple of wry remarks in this passage -- the quip about
"strictly enforced attitude codes" is one, and the reference to the "[m]any
informants" who offered testimony about Brock's behaviour is another.
 
> If Robert's hunch is correct and Frenesi had a hand in  Zoyd's set-up
> and the Letter Of Agreement, is she responsible for the Insanity
> clause?

Brock could easily have made Zoyd report to a parole officer after that drug
bust, and have kept tabs on him that way if that was the only motive behind
it all. Instead he arranges the whole "insanity clause" and disability
benefit scam, which will also ensure that Prairie is looked after.

best