Zoyd

[alice wellintown]

Right before he jumps through the glass (his government TV / Tube
Job), Zoyd agrees to have lunch with his old pal Hector.  Zoyd doesn't
need to go to lunch with Hector.

In fact, he tells his old amigo that he needs to make the rent (i.e. Work).

He needs to make the rent, to work and pay the bills, but there is not
much excitement in his mundane job that pays the bills (it's not like
jumping and getting your face on the Tube).

Although Zoyd knows that the responsible thing to do is earn the money
to pay the rent (he does have a family to support) he meets with
Hector instead.

It's that old Love and Death and the American novel stuff again. Only,
this isn't a Mason and Dixon buddy tale. The Homo eroticism here is
Sadomasochistic.


Hector's job is to protect the citizens against those who would
violate citizen rights by breaking the law. But he is a law man who
abuses the law and the rights of citizens---often to satisfy his very
personal desires, such as his own Tubal fantasies. Why does Zoyd keep
going back to Hector for more abuse? Why help Hector use the false
notion that, as an officer of the law, his Job is law enforcement? Why
does Zoyd, a local business man, do business with crooked law men,
mobsters, violence enthusiasts, including one who may be raping his
daughter?

Zoyd knows that Hector will use him to get at somebody, Zoyd agrees to
meet Hector and have lunch with him.

Funny stuff, but if we fail to see that Zoyd is the target of a harsh
parody (TV) and satire here, we misread  the novel.

By dropping what appears to be the traditional story of a protagonist
we identify with, Pynchon tells us how to read the novel. Zoyd wants
to be the protagonist but Pynchon decides to make him a parodic
figure.