I find it interesting how Pynchon portrays World War II. The common view would be that WWII was one of the most coherent wars, evil versus good, plain and simple. (I don’t really believe that, as a disclaimer). WWI, on the other hand, was murky and ridiculous and insane…rather like the Vietnam War. By focusing on the end of WWII, Pynchon manages to make it seem as stupid as Vietnam. The characters don’t seem to know why they are there, and do not seem to feel any real emotion in regards to winning or losing. In fact, it seems like most of the characters don’t really talk much about Hitler, or the Nazis…it’s not the issue. The rocket is the issue. Now, if one views the book as something about the Cold War then this makes sense…to look at it as a WWII novel doesn’t seem right. Ultimately it’s not about WWII at all…only in setting.
In class we talked about the differences between WWI and WWII, in regards to love among men. It almost makes it sound like WWI was, somehow, a more moral war than WWII. This is backwards (I think). WWI was filled with more personal interaction, but the conflict was not the conflict of those fighting. Thus you have the bonding of soldiers from different sides: it’s because they have no reason to kill each other…it’s just their respective leaders decided to send them to die for politics that would never directly affect them. During WWII, there was animosity between sides, between ideologies, between cultures. That’s why there was no love…and that there was love in WWI is not a positive thing. Instead, it indicates how stupid the whole affair was.
I guess what I’m trying to get at (in a very rambling way) is that WWII was not just about the rockets and the technology. (Oh, and although I wasn’t there, I seriously doubt one can compare a mushroom cloud to a penis...just had to mention that) Pynchon’s book just doesn’t seem like a WWII book, and the characters, for the most part, don’t seem to think like someone from WWII…rather, as someone coming out of Vietnam, or the Cold War. So, why write a book about one thing when it’s actually on someone else? I know this wasn’t a very clear blog entry, sorry…