VLVL The deal

[Joseph Tracy]

> [Original Message]
> From: jbor <jbor at bigpond.com>
> To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: 3/19/2004 12:42:53 PM
> Subject: Re: VLVL The deal
>
> > Yes, but this "Bad Cop" scenario is by no means new or unusual.  It's
as old
> > as can be.  Cops are easy villians simply because of their power.
>
> It's not even your typical 'bad cop' scenario either. Brock's motives are
> sexual rather than political or criminal, and Frenesi and he are together
> again when he forces Zoyd to make the deal. The set-up which Hector is
sent
> to implement is in reality an "estupidass marriage-counselor errand", one
> which Hector's doing as "a favor for a friend" (295), and I get the
> impression that the emphasis he puts on the word "*friend*" could suggest
> that it's Frenesi he's actually referring to, not Brock.
>
> Why else does Brock wait until "a year after Frenesi had moved out" before
> going after Zoyd (294), unless it's Frenesi who is pulling his strings too
> by dropping the bombshell about Prairie's existence? Attempted comparisons
> to _1984_ are hopelessly strained imho.
>
> best
I don't think the idea that Brock's motives are only sexual holds up. He is
driven to conquer and subdue, to control , possess, and turn  others to his
puposes.The thing that holds him together is his dream of entering the
upper levels of the ruling elite The "baby" that he dreams of as a vehicle
for his immortality is a concentration camp for the counter culture.
Frenesi is a challenge, and a prize posession, proof of his manhood and his
fitness for rule.The combination of Zoyd and Prairie poses a potential
threat to his complete possession and control of Frenesi.  

Also I don't see how the comparison of PREP to the Ministry of Love is so
hopelessly strained. Both are visions of how to deal with members of the
society who resist state values and control. .Both involve containment and
re-education, both envision the skillful application of Pavlovian/ updated
to Skinnerian methods. What does "imho" mean?