VLVL Zoyd: good dad or bad dad?

[Tim Strzechowski]

jbor:

> I'd say that Prairie is the one
> who has been to the "health food shop" [...]

Maybe, but it's an assumption unsupported by the text.



> I don't dispute that he cares about Prairie, or that he's likeable and
> characterised sympathetically for the most part. I think Pynchon enjoys
and
> identifies with his ongoing cast of schemihl protagonists as I've said
> before. But I think Zoyd's flaws are on display too, and I think the main
> flaw is that, invariably, his priorities are all wrong. [...]


Well, I gotta agree with you.  And frankly, I've seen a lotta text being
composed by some of us that all essentially says the same thing.  Terrance
says:

> Overall, Zoyd is not all that bad a parent, but he struggles a lot,
especially in the early years.

And I concluded my initial post with:

"Ultimately, Zoyd's devotion to Prairie in this passage -- ensuring that she
is asleep in the next room (294), textbook diaper changing (296), and
chatting with Prairie to ease the transition to Sasha's custody, at least
for the moment (296 - 97) -- demonstrates yet again that Zoyd may not be the
best father in the world of Pynchon, he's at least a fairly competent and
loving one."



Seems we're actually in agreement on this: Zoyd isn't the best parent in the
world, but at least he cares about his daughter and does the best he can,
given the circumstances. Given this, I'd say P's characterization of Zoyd is
downright "human."


While Ghetta contends VL isn't worth analyzing in-depth, I offer Zoyd
Wheeler as one small example to the contrary.


Tim