VLVL2 (14): Father of the Year

[Terrance]

Paul Nightingale wrote:
> 
> >From Tim S:
> 
> <<I recall at the beginning of our VL group read (it's been goin' on
> almost three years now, no?) that someone commented on Zoyd's being a
> lousy father.  Can't recall the evidence that person used to support
> his/her statement, perhaps something about smoking a half a joint and
> watching news footage of the window jump in Prairie's presence.>>
> 
> This was never an argument supported by the text, however; from the
> beginning of the novel Pynchon has made Zoyd-as-parent central to the
> way the narrative progresses. 


It was supported by the text. Overall, Zoyd is not all that bad a
parent, but he struggles a lot, especially in the early years. He can
certainly use some more support. Zoyd does get help from his friends and
family, including Sasha. Take from a guy in the know, it's not easy
being a single parent. Also, Zoyd lives in a community where job
opportunities are few and I don't imagine the community took to his
window jumping gigs at first. 

Zoyd is a poor piano player and gutterman,  living in an overcrowded
beach shack with Frenesi,  when Frenesi gets pregnant (Prairie wasn't
planned). They get married and Frenesi decides to have the baby. Some of
her friends tell her to abort (though an abortion is not easy to get, 
she could get one), others advise her to put LSD in the baby formula.
Sasha convinces Frenesi to move back home to have the baby. She does.
Zoyd drops acid for the birth.  Sasha starts cutting Zoyd off from the
girls. Frenesi goes into deep postpartum depression and threatens to
murder her infant child. Zoyd and Sasha can't seem to resolve their
differences and come together so Sasha calls on Hub. Hub helps out, Zoyd
is on some other planet. Frenesi starts seeing Brock. Zoyd turns green.
At one point he threatens to run Sasha and Frenesi (perhaps Prairie too)
over with his car. But Zoyd and Sasha manage to raise the baby to
toddler talking age. Zoyd is busted and Sasha tells him about Vineland.
Without Sasha close, Zoyd will need to depend on his friends more. He
does. It takes a hippie village to raise Prairie to the teen years. Zoyd
builds a home, but never finds a partner other than Van Meter.  Some of
the women that help Zoyd out are described as positive mother surrogates
by Prairie, but Zoyd likes jail bait. Zoyd deals drugs and smokes a lot
of pot. He writes bad checks. He smokes tobacco and drinks. He's no
saint, but he loves his daughter, he laughs and jokes with her, they
love each other. She says she loves him. And you know that can't be
bad.  
The text compares and contrasts Prairie's family with Ché's and
Juntin's. Prairie's family wasn't ideal (whatever that is), but it was
healthier and happier than either Chè's or Justin's. Zoyd is no father
of the year.