Abstract
The December 1995 discussion of Bianca's age on pynchon-I, an Internet discussion group (at www.waste.org), shows that a deep concern about child molesting makes readers worry about whether child characters are presented as sexually abused. However, this preoccupation with sexual molestation is only the tip of the iceberg, because Pynchon deals with an abuse of the child more deeply ingrained in our rational and scientific Western culture. The images of children and childhood in Gravity's Rainbow can be interpreted as a reflection on the use of the child as the Other, the use which consists of reducing an archetype to a signifier.
How to Cite:
Kolbuszewska, Z., (1998) “"It Has to Be More Than the Simple Conditioning of a Child, Once Upon a Time": The Use of the Child in Gravity's Rainbow”, Pynchon Notes , 111-120. doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/pn.143
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