Ernie and March: "my grandson Kennedy" (BE130)

[ish mailian]

Pynchon has the parents name the boy Kennedy.

A somewhat popular name, especially with the Tallis and Ice community,
of the time the novel is set, but, and while this is not simple naming
allegory here, never is with Pynchon, it fits with Pynchon's satire of
the Lefty grandparents Ernie and March.

Here March is satirized.

Again, the satire of the Left by the Leftist Pynchon critiques the
politicization of family relations and how the elders try to control,
steer and direct the grandchildren.

March says, "You never want to see kids repeat your own mistakes."


She's talking about her daughter, who, like March married, "a
promising entrepreneur." 129

So her daughter made the marriage mistake, and March has given up her,
but is now focused on her grandson, Kennedy.

To March, her daughter's choice of mate and of career make her "a
perverse child" married to Ice, and "He's evil." 129
He owns her daughter, as March sees it.

And, the bond she has with her grandson is founded on hate, on hating
the same people. 130

What's in a name?

Kennedy? A fight for the boy. Has it anything, this fight, to do with
the famous Kennedy clan?
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l