Vineland

“You and me Zoyd, we’re like Bigfoot. Times go on, we never change.”

Zoyd is representative of the 1960s counterculture movement (See: Background). By 1984, he is as much a piece of folklore as Bigfoot, a mythical creature from a different time and place which is glimpsed at increasingly infrequent intervals, and which may never have existed at all. The hippies have now spent longer in the time after than they ever did in the countercultural moment, making them question their own existence in these ever-changing times. This sense of alienation introduces The Failures of the Counterculture.

“You’ve turned into exactly the same kind of father that used to hassle you, back when you were a teen hippie freak.”

The closeness between Prairie and her father is evident in her choice of insult. She is trying to manipulate Zoyd, encouraging him to invest in her boyfriend’s business idea. She knows exactly what words to make the old hippie feel obliged to help her: The insult is calibrated to hurt his ego and pride, indicating how well she knows him, but the speed with which the insult is forgotten suggests that they know each other well enough to make such remarks. Their close bond reflects The Importance of Family throughout the novel.