The Function of Paranoia in Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow

• Thesis title in Czech: Funkce paranoi v Pynchonově románu Duha gravitace
• Thesis title in English: The Function of Paranoia in Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow
• Key words: Thomas Pynchon|Gravity’s Rainbow|paranoia|americká literatura|Tyrone Slothrop|Zone
• English key words: Thomas Pynchon|Gravity's Rainbow|paranoia|American literature|Tyrone Slothrop|the Zone
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2018/2019
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK)
• Supervisor: doc. Erik Sherman Roraback, D.Phil.
• Author: hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
• Date of registration: 06.02.2019
• Date of assignment: 06.02.2019
• Administrator's approval: not processed yet
• Confirmed by Study dept. on: 13.02.2019
• Date and time of defence: 10.09.2019 00:00
• Date of electronic submission: 20.08.2019
• Date of proceeded defence: 10.09.2019
• Submitted/finalized: committed by student and finalized
• Opponents: David Lee Robbins, Ph.D.

Guidelines

The onset of modernity in twentieth century America would exacerbate a sense of paranoia present from this country's inception. The first Red Scare would occur roughly towards the end of World War I. President Woodrow Wilson signed the Sedition Act of 1918 into law, which curtailed freedoms regarding what one could say about the United States government. Punishment included prison time. Following the end of World War II the second Red Scare would take place under the form of two guises. First, there was McCarthyism featuring trials resembling those of Stalin’s in order to determine if someone was a communist. The second instance is the beginning of the Cold War wherein a deep paranoia about communism and the Soviet Union would infect American minds well into present times. There would be no reprieve from paranoia at the beginning of a new century. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 would shatter the false belief that the United States was an invincible fortress. The invasion of Afghanistan occurred and a nation blinded by paranoia would also permit the United States to invade Iraq. The events listed are by no means exhaustive. They are simply there to show the extent in which paranoia's role in the national psyche of the United States is a dominant force.
There are examples from the body of American literature that undoubtedly showcase occurrences of paranoia. Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter displays a religious fanaticism that clearly resembles paranoia, as does the racial hysteria so prominent in William Faulkner’s Light in August. However, in both instances paranoia is isolated and entirely dependent on just one issue. This is not the case with Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow. Paranoia is so central to this text it is difficult to imagine Gravity’s Rainbow existing without it. To fully understand Gravity’s Rainbow it is crucial to examine Pynchon’s use of paranoia throughout the text.
First, it would be helpful to get a working definition of paranoia based on several theories that exist outside of a dictionary. Paranoia in Gravity’s Rainbow is in no way a lone entity and attempting to define it in a singular fashion would be problematic. The preliminary texts chosen in order to ascertain various meanings of paranoia will include Sigmund Freud’s The Schreber Case, excerpts from Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, and Richard Hofstadter’s essay “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.” It will then be useful to examine any correlations between theories of paranoia presented in these texts before moving on to Pynchon’s use of paranoia in Gravity’s Rainbow.
Next, the stylistic and narrative devices deserve special scrutiny. The first example is Pynchon’s use of language throughout the body of this text. The repeated capitalizations of pronouns and various other words adds considerable depth to the “We” versus “They” dichotomy found in Gravity’s Rainbow. By capitalizing these words Pynchon grants them more power than they would normally possess, which only adds to the paranoia that permeates the entire book. The embedding of language found throughout Gravity’s Rainbow is also intriguing, as there are countless buried references found beneath the surface narrative. The very meaning of language has thus morphed into something different thereby shattering a uniform and singular understanding of the words presented.
Finally, Gravity’s Rainbow is regularly seen as one of postmodernism’s central texts. However, characteristics of postmodernism from Fredric Jameson, Linda Hutcheon, and Brian McHale, among others, must enter the debate in order to achieve some sort of consensus. An exploration of these postmodern themes should find how Pynchon exploits these tendencies that will only add further refinement to the overall study of paranoia in Gravity’s Rainbow.
The concluding chapter will argue why this exploration of paranoia in Pynchon's text is needed in present times. Gravity's Rainbow is not merely representative of post-World War II America because paranoia is something found throughout the annals of American history and Thomas Pynchon is well aware of this fact. He allows America’s paranoid inferno to torch every page thus making a study of paranoia not only important in understanding Gravity’s Rainbow, but a necessity in comprehending the arc of the American thought process from past to present.

References

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