Notes on some VL characters and death

[Joseph Tracy]

I think Zoyd's appeal for me is that he is living in the moment. 

Frenesi tries to wrestle control of the narrative with film then 

spying, using people, anything to insulate her from a need she only 

seems to be recognizing at the end of the story. Hector lives in 

dreams of the Happy TV family, but though he loves his wife can't 

seem to get away from the TV to make the dream happen, finally 

turning  his life into a TV show. Vond too is consumed by appetites 

for a  perfect, if megalomaniacal future. Sasha dreams of justice, 

along with a good looking guy in a fast car.Mucho Maas seems to have 

struck a a bargain with the natural present, after burning a hole in 

his nose. 

 Takeshi-   Freelance Karmic adjustments. negotiates between past and 

future, the living and the  dead, natural and supernatural, this and 

other worlds. Takeshi keeps death, monsters, and aleins at bay while 

trying to understand and help work out the unresolved karmic pain of 

the recently dead.He is also, symbolically , a suvivor of Japan's 

experiment with fascism, and the resulting massive destruction of 

Japanese cities. I think Pynchon is digging into profound cultural 

differences in the way people deal with death and history.

Zoyd has also had an insight about death which he shares with Mucho. 

The way people deal with death is revealing, and Zoyd says that 

psychedelic drugs have allowed him to see  death as a deception, a 

foolish fear that the state or religion can no longer hold over him. 

He is determined not to forget what he has discovered and his pursuit 

of freedom and his committment to Prairie make him self reliant and 

resourceful in defending it. 

We see this same self reliance in DL. I think she is a good argument 

against the idea that Pynchon is writing off the lefties.When she 

recognizes that her personal and political intensity have led her 

into a destructive revenge obsession, she changes course,takes 

personal responsibility and works to keep Takeshi alive. This also 

expands her world, connecting her  to the Thanatoids and allowing the 

Karmic forces  in Vond's life to work toward their natural 

conclusion. Her connection to Takeshi also serves to give DL a role 

in allowing Prairie to see her mothers life in as friendly and 

dispassionate a manner as possible. 


Joseph Tracy
brook7 at earthlink.net
Why Wait? Move to EarthLink.
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