IVIV20: Dope fiends, 353

[Paul Nightingale]

>From Shasta to "dealing grass" (353), an alternative career for Doc, whom
his parents believe better-connected than Scott. This scene, sitcom
pastiche, recalls 8.2 and the surprise visit, when Doc was surprised to find
out "this habit your mother and I have sort of fallen into" (116). Here it's
what they do at home: "Well, there's this soap that we watch ..." etc (353).
On each occasion, then, Doc the sometime PI discovers something about his
parents, one might even say 'the truth'. Elmina's description of watching
Another World ("somehow we couldn't recognise any of the characters" and "I
was also having some trouble with the color on the set") echoes the opening
to Ch20. On 351, "[t]here were close-ups ... but none were readable"; on 353
there is a confusion of actor and characters played, and "their faces were
the same, but the things they were talking about all meant something
different somehow". One could say pretty much the same of the novel as a
whole. Cf Doc discussing his role models with Shasta on 309 and other movie
references (passim).