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

[Dave Williams]

I can understand why one might be inclined to focus on Zoyd, then Frenesi, and then, other characters or groups of characters around these two. And, your reading below is a fine example of the kind of readings such an approach can generate. I wonder, though, if relegating Prairie to an afterthought or to minor or not-quite developed or not quite essential character status is something the text or the author tries to prevent, and, if this is the case, does the text or author fail. And, if the text or author fails, is the failing owed to the success of Zoyd and Frenesi, or, perhaps the failure of the DL and Takeshi or the "Japanese" part of the novel? I say the text succeeds only if we can stay focused on Prairie. Doing so, though, makes the work rather grim. I can appreciate what the novel celebrates, mourns, comes to terms with, but Prairie, as you note, hasn't a very bright future. Where will she work next? Who will she work for? And, what, if anything,
 did she learn on her quest to find her past and the recent past of American Labor? Maybe, she didn't learn a G-Dmn thing.