Come on, Come on, Lolita, Start the projection machine

[Michael Bailey]

can't help it, I've always been more intrigued by Zoyd, Frenesi
second, Prairie almost as an afterthought.

But I'm also intrigued by the idea of Prairie as, if not protagonist,
an interested party, the teleological goal of Zoyd, so to speak
("there was nothing he would not do for this young life" (or words to
that effect)); the synthesis of Zoyd's thesis and Frenesi's antithesis
(or vice versa).

a) she embodies certain tendencies of her mom which were encouraged in
turn by her activist grandparents, how (and I kind of never give this
enough weight) even though they eventually split, they still gave
Frenesi enough encouragement and sense of outraged justice and so
forth that she was able to go thru film school and have all those
adventures

b) so that, in terms of comparison to Frenesi, her backwoods education
may not even be pointing towards college; her social activism may be
confined to dating musicians and the occasional shoplifting spree; her
friend Che may be a nascent badass but not a patch on DL; in other
words, a pallid sort of patrimony from her mother...(I'd say
"matrimony" but that has a completely other denotation!)

c) so her probably quite hard-earned "earn what you eat, secure what
you shit" is
 a much more modest philosophy.  She's not propelled out into the
world (as was Frenesi) as part of an idealistic phalanx of some kind,
but instead,  is lured out by  romance with her musician friends under
the aegis of a musical business card from Zoyd, while at the same time
being forced out by the multiple jeopardies placed upon her childhood
home...

d) so that she may be tempted to make the connection: business trumps
politics and, oddly enough, family (ie Wayvone dynasty) is at the apex
of business

e) so that at the end the sheer majesty of family doings, exemplified
by but not limited to the Traverse family reunion, (ie, including also
the homing-in of the new generation to revenue-generating activities
and away from political agitation, the forbearance of Wayvone Senior
footing the bill for the wedding where Prairie meets DL as well as
allowing his son-and-heir to pursue his filthy-gross comedic goals in
the tavern that sits in front of the motor court where van Meter
lives, and the quasi-familial feeling that's developed among Hector
and Zoyd, not to mention Brock and his Leftenant (what the heck's that
dude's name: "I owe you, and I often forget, but this time..."))
overwhelms any and all political machinations - starting with
Frenesi's left-revolution and continuing a clean sweep through the
political spectrum until Brock Vond himself, the Der Springer
knight-errant of the reactionary right, is unhorsed, discredited,
disrespected...

...and, in keeping with the notion of family as people who watch the
Tube together, the whole process is in the throes of being wrapped up
into a movie for their delectation...

f) Zoyd's viewpoint is like a photo-negative of Oedipa's: while Oedipa
in the course of receiving a measure of control over Pierce's estate
loses her mental and philosophical bearings, Zoyd in the course of
being dispossessed from his physical premises undergoes a series of
meetings with friends and opportunities to reflect on his life that
actually (imho) give him a chance to gain his psychological footing,
maybe for the first time ever, and meet his hazards with aplomb
(aplomb?)...with gusto (gusto?)...with courage (courage?)...well, with
half a chance of bringing the song of his life across the bridge and
into the chorus...

g) maybe Zoyd's artistic activism and political quietism and his
wide-ranging social ties offer Prairie a rhythm section, laying down a
groove...
while Frenesi's political idealism, no matter how squelched, is the
guitar lead that has been held in abeyance during the long "space" and
"drums" jams of her growing up...