ATDTDA (7): 189-191 plotline

[Ya Sam]

>But later we're told she was a virgin on her wedding night.  Are we, along 
>with Webb, jumping to conclusions about her activities, or is wedding-night 
>Lake an alternative reality she's created for herself?  There's plenty of 
>ambiguity here.
>

Thanks Laura. You saved me the trouble of looking up that reference in order 
to support my argument about the ambiguity of Lake being a prostitute. David 
Morris rightly observes that when she comes home with cash it is pretty 
explicit to us what she's been doing. There's the rub, we are used to this 
cultural signifier to such an extent that's it's too explicit. Later this 
'explicit' awareness is undermined by the fact that she is described as a 
virgin on her wedding night. I would say that this is intentational 
ambiguity on Pynchon's part. But of course we can split medical and 
theological hairs as to what 'virginity' actually means, and whether a 
prostitute can remain a virgin. But what if she did win it by betting on a 
prize fighter? And there is this parallel universes thing as well.

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