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[Michael Bailey]

rich  wrote:

> Pynchon usually gives his characters some level of insight, and he
> hardly is condescending in his many character depictions but this guy
> Jason--the reader is encouraged to laugh at this guy in a rather well
> condescending way. diminishes any humor we may get from his
> foolishness.
>
> that's how I see it anyway

I don't think he approves of pimps, though I could be projecting...

the reference to "career counseling" once again points to expectations
for a public educational system.  Counting Doc's reference to "driver Ed"
and the trading of insults with Bigfoot about each respectively ditching
chem classes where they would've conceivably learned important
detecting lore, that makes three.  Not enough for a theme, but
plenty for a motif.

Also, it's not JV's possession of a Rolls Royce that's the determinant
of whether he chose his career well, it's evident job satisfaction and emotional
suitability, as perceived by Jade, concurred in by Doc, and chosen for the text.
  (Going from Vato and Blood's thumbnail analysis of car owner
types, if Jason were pimp material he'd drive not a Rolls Royce (too jolly)
but a Mercedes.)  Which leads to a notion of individuals as Maxwell's
Demons, sorting
each other into suitable compartments...

The analytic level of granularity is approaching that of powdered
sugar, and though
I still find it sweet, the broad brushstrokes of Jason's portrayal are initially
offputting, like those of Vibe, for instance.  Is this part and parcel
of a negative portrayal,
going along with severe disapproval of the person's function in the socius?



-- 
--- "Can't say it often enough -
change your hair, change your life."
- Sortilege