isn't it strange?

[Joseph Tracy]

On Oct 25, 2009, at 3:10 PM, rich wrote:

> that when Doc first meets Hope (we know its March 1970) to discuss the
> recently OD'd Coy and the topic of the Boards comes up and the quip
> from Rolling Stone that they will make Jimi Hendrix want to listen to
> surf music again, one can only be reminded of Hendrix's death by
> overdose (sort've) in Sept 1970.
>
> are these little nudges by Pynchon pointing towards hippie stoner
> bleak endings?
>
> reading IV again these things keep popping up.
>
> interesting
>
> rich


I see more than  a couple bleak endings forshadowed in IV. But the  
ultimate warning is the corrupting power of measuring everything by  
cheap thrills and fast money, and the seductive allures of the empire.

To revisit an earlier post from this chapter  and the image of the  
Hole specifically:
"The letter also leads to Doc's memory of his vision-like visit to  
the Hole. Dark muddy, ragged, set in black skies pierced with fire, I  
see here a very loaded reference to Vietnam .  An entire nation led  
by Ouija board messages( Gulf of Tonkin/ domino theory) fueled by  
lust for "drugs" ( steady supply of exploitable resources) ,  and  
after resisting all the warnings, comes to a giant grave. But for  
some that grave is the fuel of a new empire, a golden fang. "

The more obvious reference of the Hole is indeed to the bleak ending  
of drug addiction. But Pynchon is using the Golden Fang to tie the  
hole and the pursuit of drugs to a larger criminal enterprise  
encompassing war, finance, corrupt politics,  the police state  
mentality of Nix un Ray Gun,   and a youth culture distracted by the  
style, the grooviness  of resistance and too easily made ineffectual  
for the substance of resistance.

It is interesting also that the clearest evidence of people who turn  
toward more real resistance is Ex addict Coy and ex vet with the user  
name of Spike who is documenting  environmental abuses by real estate  
and oil companies.  Both have serious relationships with women, and  
both women are regarded highly by Doc and by their men.