Show Don't Tell: Who is Brock Vond?

[Joseph Tracy]

 This is a response to an earlier post about Pynchon's failure to show 
rather than tell Brock Vond's charisma.I think the criticism here is 
stongly argued , and a real weakness in the novel. Vond's attractiveness 
to Frenesi is unconvincing except as  an archetype of the magnetism of 
the charming fascist. But, while it may not be convincingly shown in 
PYnchon's story this charm is both historically and personally 
persuasive. Adolph Hitler drove German women into  sexual frenzy  akin 
to the Beatles. George Will is charming when He talks about baseball. 
Ronald Reagan,  Henry Kissinger, Dubya, Newt Gingrich ... the list  of 
murderous charmers is long and not restricted to american republicans. 
The charmer is unflappably  assuring and self assured, good humored, 
authoritative.  A closer look reveals fear of what can't be controlled: 
love, sex,  democ racy, laughter, thirst for justice.

I am not so willing as others to dismiss the realism of FRenesi or 
Vond.If Frenesi is unbelievable as a real character what about the life 
of Marylyn Monroe?  If Vond, What about Henry Kissinger as the winner of 
a Nobel peace prize? But perhaps it is more fruitful and interesting  to 
think about the Frenesi- Vond relationship  as the disfunctional 
relationship at the troubled heart of the American enterprise.Why are 
americans so easily seduced by opportunists with a pack of lies.

While Brock dreams himself the architect of the perfect Prison where all 
rebels will be smoothly redirected to the service of the state, Frenesi 
sees Vond as freedom from the withering constraints of time and mundane 
responsibility.  Even though all the evidence says he is  a 
cruel,ruthless  self serving user of others, she imagines in him  an 
innocent inner life and herself the savior who will restore that life. I 
suspect Pynchon is delineating the codependent relationship of the 
salvation paradigm. The saviorand the authortarian rep of the savior 
offer eternal verities, transcendence of the mundane, personal 
satisfaction, forgiveness of sins, and membership  in a happily 
flag/bible/... waving  community. The saved offers obedience along with  
uncritical worship and fear,  the ultimate validation. The salvation 
paradigm is still deep in the western psyche though it has edured some 
serious challenges as in the 60s.

I see a parallel between the characters of Brock Vond and DL's father 
Moody( DL moody was a famous preacher and founder of modern conservative 
american evangelicalism.) Moody  and Vond aspire to security and power 
within the  law enforcement aspect of the state. Their frustrations in 
this pursuit lead to violent cruelty to "troublemakers" and women.
 
The image of Brock as sick savior/ judge (the Brock of my salvation) 
appears in a particularly strong way when he drops from the sky to hover 
over Prairie glowing white. She even talks to him as though he will hear 
in the heavens and invites him back  for a moment before coming to her 
senses. I think Pynchon is slyly noticing the tendency of Fascists and 
other manipulators to wrap themselves in  the mantle of divinity.


Well, I  just wanted to ramble and throw out some ideas here.