IVing IV 'indict a bean burrito', p. 277

[Joseph Tracy]

On Nov 30, 2009, at 8:35 AM, Mark Kohut wrote:

> p. 277 a classic PI novel scene wherein the PI and
> an insider dialogue it out over information. I say decently done
>
> as Doc tries to find out why the Feds were in Vegas and, showing
> his cynical smartness, asks Penny what she is getting out of it
> and already knows They have something on her, she wasn't wanting
> something from them. So, her betrayal was not just malignancy but
> some kind of self-protection.


   Always a factor in detective stories, blackmail seems to be a  
major american political pastime too; certainly was the key factor in  
the long run of power of J Edgar Hoover.  So here in Doc's witnessing  
of M W is a bargaining chip in the war between local police and Feds  
and something that will help protect Penny.
I think part of why Doc has as much appeal as he does is these  
revelations of very traditional gallantry.  I know it is mixed up  
with sex  and his need for information but what isn't ?  And does he  
actually  "need" the information he wants? Not really. Something else  
is driving him beside hi own need and the nature and source of that  
compulsion plays heavily in the  character of Doc and is the  
antigravity power of most art .
Is there something about the mythos and history of justice itself  
that is enough to produce heroism? Is there  a force of altruism that  
can and does work through people however flawed?

Pynchon makes available many possible or partial explanations for  
Doc's pursuit of the criminals: too many John Garfield movies, sex,  
marijuana, Cops playing him, but none of them  really make sense,  
because he knows he is steering toward avery real confrontation with  
deadly and well connected people.  Well, those are the rational  
explanations, then there is the possibility of him being an agent  
from another planet, an internal hallucinogenic story  which follows  
the Jungian twin archetype.

What do we, the readers,  want from our imagined tough guy crime  
fighter heroes? What do we  citizens want from our justice  
department? Whose crimes can and should they uncover; where can and  
should the crimefighters look? How do millions of civilians die and  
billions of dollars get stolen without a single criminal being involved?


> p 277 Penny: a 'world of heartache' does seem to echo 'world of
> pain' from Lebowski, yes? Or just a general way of expression?
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