IVIV (2) Hope

[Doug Millison]

As she watches Mighty Mouse on TV and projects herself into the hero's  
role, I find it hard not to believe that Hope's daughter is being  
programmed with the whole superhero thing, to count on deus ex machina  
rescue, in a world where, as we read in the opening sequence to GR:
"You didn't really believe you'd be saved. Come, we all know who we  
are by now. No one was ever going to take the trouble to save _you_,  
old fellow. . ."(GR 4)
Or maybe Pynchon's using this as a way to call for us to take care of  
each other and thereby save ourselves, and thus keep hope alive? Can  
Hope's daughter really  grow up able to save the day, or at least save  
herself, despite the betrayals of the adults who should be taking care  
of her? I don't know. I like to think I can find that kind of hope in  
Pynchon's books, but there as in the rest of the world, at best it  
seems no more than a tiny candle flickering in a dark world, I'm afraid.