VLVL Zoyd: good dad or bad dad?

[Tim Strzechowski]

I disagree with Rob, but I must begin by qualifying that I never suggested
that Zoyd is a *model* father.  However, I think Rob focuses on many of
Zoyd's quirks that are perhaps the result of his "hippiness" and not enough
on the basic ways in which he demonstrates a certain level of
responsibility, or (at the very least) caring for his daughter.


> Claims about Zoyd being depicted as the model father don't hold up to much
> scrutiny. There's the nappy episode and the boysenberry yoghurt (308), but
> that's about it. But there is quite a bit more in the novel to suggest
that
> his parenting record isn't really up to scratch.
>
> Apart from cigarettes, beer and dope, groceries in Zoyd's house consist of
> Count Chocula, Froot Loops, Nestle's Quik (3-4), Cheet-os and "grapefruit
> soda from the health food shop" (14). Prairie makes guacomole and tortilla
> chips for dinner (18). Poor kid, no wonder she has "weight problems"
(327).

I know where you're going with this, and certainly the breakfast cereals
aren't the least bit nutritious, but the health food shop "soda" is hardly
NON-nutritious (grapefruit), and the guacamole (made from avacado) and
tortilla chips (especially) wouldn't necessarily cause her to *lose* any
weight.  Avacado is quite healthy, actually.

>
> Zoyd has a long history of dumping his daughter on others: sending her off
> to a Mob wedding with Isaiah isn't the first time. When she was an infant
he
> dumped her on Sasha so he could chase Frenesi to Hawaii (56), and then
over
> an extended period of time after that when he got the Kahuna Airlines gig
> (61-2); after the drug bust he leaves her in Eureka "with friends ... all
> week" when they first arrive in Vineland (325-6).

I know . . . I know . . . but you are overlooking the fact that "dumping her
on Sasha" is nonetheless putting her in the custody of her grandmother, a
far cry from the abandonment you seem to want us to perceive this as.  Given
Zoyd's acquaintance with less-than-responsible old dopers and such, I gotta
give credit to him for at least choosing the people he does to watch her
(even if his reasons for such are questionable).

As far as permitting her to leave with I-24, Prairie (at this point an
adolescent) strikes me as being quite streetwise and together.  Besides,
give Dad a break: he's stoned.  hahahaah

[...]

> Zoyd's likeable enough, and Prairie gets on with him, but as a parent he
> leaves a lot to be desired, which I think is part of the reason that
Prairie
> heads off into the woods to be alone, even before she calls out to Brock
to
> come back and take her away: "It's OK, rilly. Come on, come in. I don't
> care. Take me anyplace you want." (384)
>

With children of my own, I know how easy it is for kids to ignore the few
*good* things you do and fixate on what they perceive as "the bad" you've
done to them.  Why Prairie heads off to the woods doesn't necessarily prove
that anything Zoyd did or didn't do is the actual reason.  Again, why this
is even being discussed stems in part from the diaper-changing passage (p.
296), and I read it as an indication of Zoyd's underlying sense of devotion
and love for his daughter, despite the shittiness of the circumstances.

Zoyd isn't the best father, but I've certainly met worse.