CoL49 (6) What She was Pregnant with

[kelber at mindspring.com]

The "your" might be gender-neutral, but the phrase "your gynecologist" is generally addressed to women.  Why not "your dentist" or "a gynecologist"?  Good point, though, that Oedipa, playing omniscient narrator here, is merely addressing herself.  Don't have GR handy right now, but it's possible that the "you" references are also self-addressed by various characters.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Rob Jackson <jbor at bigpond.com>

>>
>> "your gynecologist" comment is addressed to the female reader(s)
>
>
>
>It's an idiomatic colloquial usage of the possessive determiner "your"  
>and, as such, gender-neutral.
>
>It's related to the verbal idiosyncrasy of Oedipa's to use "you" as a  
>type of emphatic self-address:
>
>Cf. "You're chicken, she told herself, snapping her seat belt. This is  
>America, you live in it, you let it happen." etc (103)
>
>Pynchon employs a much more extensive range of examples of second  
>person address in GR, and many of these are overtly designed to  
>address the reader directly.
>
>best regards
>
>
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>