Holding up a mirror...

[joeallonby]

This is why Zoyd is in my opinion a very realized character. If he is not
conflicted, there is no book. He is not a welfare cheat, he accepted a
buyout. In his own mind that is worse. But he got stuck with the kid. You do
what you gotta do. The buyout can buy you time. Eventually, your conscience
will force you to do what's right. I think that Zoyd has a conscience.

Joe
'

 on 9/27/03 3:50 PM, Tim Strzechowski at dedalus204 at comcast.net wrote:

>> 
>> Disagree. I don't think P writes morally ambiguous fictions.
>> 
>> 
>> How does the novel do that?
>> 
>> 
> 
> Any text that can be considered "ambiguous" achieves this ambiguity by
> presenting both sides of a particular situation and giving the reader little
> or no bearings for how s/he should resolve the ambiguity.
> 
> In the case of VL, I think our discussion for the past few months has served
> to establish the various ways in which Pynchon achieves this in the text.
> Since up to this point in our reading the most fully realized character is
> Zoyd, we've established that he may be viewed either as an ex-hippie
> Pynchonian schlemiel who is content to "get by" with minimal effort (an
> annual window jump + odd jobs), who cares for his daughter, who has *tried*
> to remain aloof of the conspiratorial Hector, and whose marriage and general
> existence has been manipulated by Brock Vond. On the other hand, we've also
> established that he is also a sell-out to the government and its economics,
> a father of questionable ability, and part and parcel of the 1980's economic
> and political agenda while trying to represent the antithesis of all that
> means "selling out to The Man."
> 
> Further, given the fact that many listers have argued both ways whether Zoyd
> is to viewed as a sympathetic character is testament to the balance with
> which Pynchon  has drawn this character.  Similar to the reader's reaction
> to the title character(s) in Melville's _The Confidence Man_, we are given
> (by Pynchon) reasons to believe one thing about Zoyd, and then P slips in
> support for the other belief, all the while never *really* giving the reader
> moral bearings on which way is "right" (although some readers might claim to
> be privy to what is right).
> 
> Got a kegger to host.  See you all tomorrow.
> 
> Tim
> 
> 
> 
>