VL-IV 26,27

[Michael Bailey]

Page 25
GS-13, 14             http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/career/di_invest.htm
DIs can generally progress to a senior level (GS-13) within 4 to 6
years. Management, foreign assignments, and other senior level
opportunities (GS-14 and above) are available through competitive
procedures.


Page 26
honestly, a pretty straightforward page, isn't it?

Hector's letting the kids get on his nerves,

a person could probably do something with all the redwood and
"legendary carpenters had appeared descending from rain-slick
stagecoaches" - if I really ratcheted up the Symbolotron I'm sure I
could come up with something,
(is Carpenter Gothic outhouse a slur on Gaddis?)
(is the prevalence of relics of an earlier generation's virtuosity and
a feeling that in comparison we are wasting our days and laying waste
to our surroundings part of what is haunting Zoyd, and modern-day
America? A re-sounding of the "decky-dance" theme?)
but part of what I like about _Vineland_ is that sizable swatches of
it can be enjoyed as the evocation of beautiful settings for their own
sake.

"Any of these yours" = the kids in the bowling alley, right?
Now Hector "look[ing] sourly" is playing the curmudgeon card.  It's
fairly sure he knows none of the kids are Zoyd's.  He's wading into
the issues of family, I guess.

and so, on to de-funding...

Page 27
and the Reagan Revolution, but the most interesting thing on the page
is "The man who once shot the old Hermosa Pier durin a lightnin
storm."
I was looking for pictures, but I kept finding accounts of actual
shootings on piers.  Depressing.

So Zoyd was a surfer, and a fairly legendary one.
Now it's easy enough to say Zoyd is Pynchon and the Hermosa Pier is
Gravity's Rainbow, but let's not go that route, instead choosing to
develop a somewhat realistic Zoyd, who has skills but also perhaps a
certain foolhardy daring?


If Hector is going to tie surfing to riding social waves, and urge
Zoyd on, then quite likely he is thinking in those terms for himself
too. (though H is destined to wipe out)

And, as folks keep mentioning, the Tube (or in a more general sense,
media) steps up as an important institution.  Hector's careerism is
mentioned several times; his loyalty should be to the State, but he's
increasingly drawn to the media, and the opportunities there, and how
he's perceived.