isn't it strange?

[rich]

I think this is all very interesting and worthy of more digging (and I
dig it, too) particularly the fact that Coy and Spike are of all the
male characters the most adult and worthy of our sympathy.
Jesus love sinners and these guys deserve forgiveness

rich

On 10/25/09, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>
>
>