Gravity's Rainbow Ending

[nathank]

So I just finished up a reread of GR and I loved the 1st 500+ pages or so, but what is going on for the last 200 pages or so, especially the counterforce section? I'm sure there are as many interpretations as there are people, but what are some of your thoughts as to the purpose of the novel becoming so incredibly disjointed, bizarre, rambling, etc towards the end? (Yes, even more so than would normally be the case for Pychon :) )

Thanks

[DanielBenoit]

*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*(well duh, it's about the ending)

In Part 4 of the novel, Pynchon begins to wrap things up by presenting the mental collapse or at least the failures of at least three of the main characters (Slothrop, Mexico, Tchitcherine) in their paranoiac battles against the System as well as the failure of each man's 'quest' for Enzian or the 00000 or in Roger's case, keeping Jesisca.

One perfect example of this is the next Slothrop chapter after he cries at the sight of the rainbow with "not a thing in his head, just feeling natural." This marks a somewhat Learian shift in Slothrop's state-of-mind which was bound to occur. By the next chapter featuring Slothrop, it becomes filled with fragmented paranoid fantasies and hallucinations juxtaposed into nostalgic childhood fantasies, comparable to when he was being tested and drugged at 'The White Visitation'.

In the final chapter, Pynchon, having pretty much all of the main protagonists off-stage or in other states of mind, he breaks away from conventional narrative entirely with the long and digressive description of the launch of the 00000 as it crashes right through the narrative itself.

Just go with the flow is all I can say. Part 4 may loose some of the emotional force and slapstick humour of Part 3 (which is the heart of the novel), but it still ends with a bang and one of the most astonishing final pages in 20th century literature.

[nathank]

Wow, thanks for the thoughts. That really gives me something to chew on!