Zoyd

[Tore Rye Andersen]

Rob Jackson:
 
> I agree with you. However, Van Meter most definitely is a snitch,  
> through and through, then as now, and Zoyd knows it and knew it and  
> even so has kept up that "best mate" relationship with him since the  
> 60s.
 
Absolutely. Van Meter is a snitch, and Zoyd is indeed in some sense
a hypocrite for keeping up the friendship. But he's also very human,
isn't he? As Michael Bailey says, Zoyd chooses friendship over abstract
principle. We may certainly blame him for this, but I would also say
that we can understand him. We can easily agree on a lot of Zoyd's
flaws and inherent vices. Whether we choose to consider Zoyd sympathetic 
or unsympathetic is more a matter of individual sentiment that any 
absolutes in the text, however.
 
> VL is Pynchon's diagnosis of the failure of the 60s revolution. [...] 
> No matter how sympathetic we find either  
> parent of the novel's true protagonist (Prairie) - and both of them  
> have redeeming human characteristics and are immensely "likeable" -  
> ultimately neither had what it takes, the "courage of their  
> convictions", and *that's* why the 60s revolution failed, so Pynchon's  
> parable tells us.
 
Again, I mostly agree. However, as John rightly points out, outside forces
- the Nixon Repression - also had something to do with it. The revolution
was doomed from the beginning for those reasons you outline above, but
National Guardsmen gunning down students are also to blame for the failure
of the revolution. VL shows us both sides of the coin.
 
Tore
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