ATDTDA - petroleurs, p.19

[David Morris]

You start out by saying that Pynchon IS preaching (but with
restraint), but you end with the statement that he presents us with a
conundrum.  I agree that "some moral lines are drawn," but they aren't
all in agreement and their conflicting levels of importance are what
make up this "conundrum."  This is no different than any previous
Pynchon novel.  I'd call it examination, contemplation.

David Morris

On 1/31/07, Joseph T <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
> Before ATD I would have agreed with the statement that Pynchon doesn't preach, but he seems to be taking that liberty , albeit  with restraint, in this novel. Some moral lines are drawn here.  There is a range of characters and actions from S. Vibe and others on one hand to Miles Blundell  on the other with most somewhere in between.  The scene with Vibe, Vanderjuice, and Ray Ipsow typifies a structural arrangement that appears often. Ray Ipsow, light itself, brings illumination to the corrupt and corrupting Vibe , and the indecisive but failing professor seduced by a chance at money and a comparison to one of the greatest scientists of the time on a mission  to bring universal free energy.
>
> Most humans, like Vanderjuice, Webb, and Erlys are compromised but I think Pynchon 's view is a bit more redemptive than to dismiss them as  "bad parents" or "bad" people.  In defense of Webb for example, it is easy to say he should not have gotten married but should no soldier get married? Also how does he share a hidden life, the very knowledge of which will endanger his family? How many can be passive or pacifistic in the face of violence against the weak, and is that another kind of neglect and betrayal? From the outside we can see that Webb is fucking up and taking more on himself than he can handle or than he would ask others to handle.  But to put all the blame on Webb  as Lake does, and we sympathize with her sense of betrayal is to justify and even join with his killer. The conundrum of violence and vegeance is focal and the answers far from simple.