IVIV, more lost innocence. Is IV a Paradise Lost? p.38

[alice wellintown]

Tore Rye Andersen wrote:
>
> Hold it just a second! Doc works many different cases, and in some of
> the cases I would certainly agree with Shasta that Doc in some sense
> works for 'them' (the criminals); as when he returns mad Japonica to
> her dad, for instance. Looking back on his career, Doc does indeed find
> a "piss-poor record, not too different after all, he guessed, from the
> interests Coy had been working for." But the case of Coy is different
> than Doc's usual cases; it's a more personal case, and you can't just
> lump it together with those other cases that have Doc questioning whom
> he really works for.

Agreed. As I noted, it's no longer a question of Who he is working
for, bit What he is working for.
If he is not working on spec or for commission or for tips, and of
course he does solicit all of these for his work on the Coy & Hope
case so his motives  are not as pure as he would like to believe or
not remember, what is he working for?

Remember, we are not reading a mystery novel. That Brown Review was
nearly as wrong as Robin's reading. These kinds of readings as Grant,
in his Introduction to the V. Companion (online) and McHale make
clear, are stubborn misreadings. We are reading a Pynchon novel or
Postmodernist American Romance that, in part, parodies the detective
novel. The clues and the quests multiply as the grail fractures. Like
Dorothy, Larry can never be sure if he is chasing clues or being
chased. When is he just bait and not smart enough or sober enough to
realize it? When is his involvement, despite his good or bad
intentions, is hurting others or himself? Shasta saves Coy's life.
That's how a postmodern novel plots. Those who try to do good often do
harm. Those who try to do harm may save. A deal with the devil may be
more Romantic than some moral high road.

> The usual bad guys don't really benefit from Doc's interference here.
> Those who really benefit are Coy, Hope and Amethyst. This may be construed
> as a facile, sentimental and schmaltzy subplot, but still: Coy, Hope and
> Amethyst are the ones who benefit in this particular instance.

See above. And, Larry is working for Larry. That's who is is working
for. What is he working for? Larry. Coy is Larry's Secret Sharer, his
Double, his guilty Double at a distance doped into total slavery.
Larry is working to set himself free. But there is no freedom in 20IV,
even less than in 1984. This, because in this novel characters are
slaves and want to be. They lock themselves up and get themselves
locked up, sometimes with nothing but paranoia and a TV set. Zombies
are not all that different from Thanatoids. And, S&M is still the
force that binds. There are a few exceptions. Larry is not one of
them. Sorry. That little girl Coy sees who pints in the window and
says, look mom, books. That's a very important little scene.


> I would still say that Doc is acting out of sentimental motives here, and
> I think the tone in the scenes with innocent Amethyst underscores this.

Babies and Dogs, hungry, listless, neglected, even healthy, happy ...
sell anything on TV. Don't be fooled by the kid.

>
> If I were to point to a less noble motive, it would be that by saving Coy,
> Doc also tries to save himself. It could be construed as his attempt at
> distancing himself vicariously from those forces he otherwise has a hard
> time distancing himself from: "You figure this is why I'm going crazy trying
> to figure a way to help Coy cut loose of these people?" (314)

We're getting warmer. ;--0 Not condescending ...just playing ....


>
> The important thing is that Doc is not really helping "these people" in this
> case. He is helping Coy, probably out of some stew of motives, where I would
> argue that kindness and concern for Amethyst are very important ingredients.
> And the only 'selfish' motive I can possibly see in this is a desire to also
> save himself, to amend that piss-poor record.

It's too late for that. And besides, he's not that kind of character.
You give him far tooo much credit. What is he so hung up with? Why
this need to put a family back together? Is he some kind of Reagan? Or
did he get those family values from the Tube?