Penny...

[alice wellintown]

What side is Penny on? Isn't she on Larry's side? Are there sides? How
do we know where the lines are drawn? What's beyond the pale? If we
are to argue that the work has a moral center; that Nixon, for
example, is on the bad side, we'll need to draw a line. Or not?

Or do Larry and Penny have a more pragmatic approach?  Larry  could
never uncover or discover the clues she shares with him on his own.
She doesn't have to help him  do his job and he doesn't have to help
her do hers. But they choose to. Expediency or Trust?

I'm not so sure the novel is tougher on Penny than Larry. In fact,
this work, like VL, seems a celebration of women. And, it's the males
who are, as in VL and AtD, treated with harsher satire. Contrast the
Plastic Ono Band (1969-1972?) with American Woman.

American Woman:
I got more important things to do
Than spend my time growin’ old with you
American woman, listen what I say.

American Woman is the American Narcissus & American Romantic
Now, if you're in Hope's place, pretty hopeless, living off your
ex-oldman's monthly whatever cheque, Larry can ride in and ride out
with a quick bang, but Penny is bit more complcated; she earns her own
check.

We make her bear and raise our children
And then we leave her flat for being a fat old mother hen
We tell her home is the only place she should be
Then we complain that she's too unworldly to be our friend

This is Brock Vond's argument. He twists the Feminist critique of
Patriarch and torments Frenesi with it. Frenesi's Mother, Sasha, is
such a sad commentary on he demise of one Wave of Feminism and the
troubles it suffered under the MIC & the Red Purge in Labor. Frenesi,
her hope, the new generation of Feminists who would not give up their
wages and freedom to men returning from war and drown their sorrows in
cocktails and Betty crocker machines, made great progress and 1970 was
a great year for Women's Rights. But we see that their is little hope
for Hope, as she sits home with the Tube and a Child. Nixon refused to
sign the Child Care Laws that would have afforded women like Hope to
get out and earn a decent living rather than sit at home collecting a
check. We see that Zoyd, while he collects that check, also manages to
find a lot of employment and business opportunities, although he
struggles as a single parent.


We insult her every day on TV
And wonder why she has no guts or confidence
When she's young we kill her will to be free
While telling her not to be so smart we put her down for being so dumb


On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 6:47 PM,  <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
> As A/T mentioned in an earlier post, Penny the self-assured DA seems a little before her times.  How likely was it for a woman lawyer to be commanding so much respect way back then?  The relationship reminds me a little of the relationship between Jim Rockford and his girlfriend/attorney in The Rockford Files (which started in the mid 70s).  Except she was on his side.
>
> I agree also with A/T's point:  Penny's using Doc but he's not using her?  He contacted her to pump her for info on Mickey Wolfmann.  Isn't the illicit "giving aid and comfort to the enemy" aspect of their relationship part of the thrill?  Just because a woman's a professional (strictly hearsay on my part) doesn't automatically make her a bitch or the moral inferior of hot-tubbing naked stewardii.
>
> Pycnhon seems to (subtly) have a harsher attitude towards Penny than Doc does (i.e., Doc sleeps with Penny, so he clearly doesn't mind her that much).  If it were strictly Doc's attitude, we could say it was chronologically appropriate.  The Guess Who's song American Woman came out in 1970.  The G.W. claimed that the song was referring to the Statue of Liberty, but the song sure gave the impression that they were heaping all the ills and misdeeds of the American government on Women.  I despised the song back then and still do.  Penny talks to the Feds, Doc talks to Bigfoot and Penny.  Why is she the problem?
>
> Laura
>
> -----Original Message-----
>>From: alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com>
>>Sent: Sep 15, 2009 5:13 PM
>>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>>Subject: Re: Penny...
>>
>>Penny was there when Larry's dick was in a pinch, when he was a mess
>>after Shasta moved on. It's Larry whats callin and callin and callin
>>Penny. At Home. At Work. Why hang with her and smoke dope with her and
>>have sex with her if she's such a bad Penny? Does Larry likes Bad?
>>Does the text permit this kind of cheer leading for Larry and Booing
>>for Penny? Information is money. They both selling and they both
>>buying. They don't need to fuck, smkoe dope together, they could just
>>exchange information or money or both. But having sex and smoking
>>dope, makes them vulnerable. Isn't this too a way of promoting trust.
>>Like, we smoked together. We made love. Isn't that why giving it
>>away--give it away, give it away, give it away, give it away now, as
>>the Chili Pepper's Californiacations sez, is keeping cool. Maybe even
>>caring too? Can't buy me love becomes I can't give it away on 7th
>>Avenue and Coke on a Shatter Platter. NO more West, young man. It
>>ain't cool or caring. A New Howl generation, children of Hope,  is
>>sloughing toward NYC and Seattle to be born.
>
>