Inherent Vice found only in the unstable
Set in 1970 Los Angeles, we follow private investigator Sportello, or better known as Doc, on
a search for a missing real estate big shot. His search connects to a murder and other cases
which are out of the ordinary. What does the title, Inherent Vice, mean? The definition given
by the Cambridge dictionary is the spoil or deterioration of an object because of a natural
characteristic causing a fundamental instability. This means that an object is meant to
deteriorate and destroy itself, because it’s embedded in its nature. Interestingly, Thomas
Pynchon, the author of Inherent Vice, has laid out examples of deterioration throughout the
whole novel. The most apparent and significant cases of deterioration are the death of
Glenn, Coy Harlingen, the golden fang and the main character, Doc Sportello. The thing
someone would ask themselves now is if all of these cases of deterioration are also cases of
inherent vice The most significant case of inherent vice is to be found in Doc, while all other
significant cases are just a case deterioration. First will be explained why most cases are not
a case of inherent vice. After that will be explained why Doc’s case is indeed one of inherent
vice.
The first reason why some cases are cases of deterioration, but not of inherent vice, is
because significant objects that do deteriorate do not do so because of a case of
fundamental instability, but rather get influenced by outside sources, making them not to be
eligible as case of inherent vice. . The most apparent case of this is the deterioration of
Glen. Glenn was working as a security guard when he gets murdered. A quite literal case of
deterioration. His case is significant, because Glen’s case keeps appearing throughout the
novel, as being a key factor in the bigger picture of the mystery that Doc is trying to solve.
Doc was also searching for Glen the morning he was killed. “” Who is it?” Doc nodding at the
corpse. “Was, Sportello. Here on earth we say ‘was.’ Meet Glen Charlock, whom you were
asking for by name only hours ago, witnesses will swear on that”” (p.56 Pynchon 2009). This
caused Doc to be even intertwined more in the story’s main conspiracy. What caused
Glenn’s death is not one of his natural characteristics, but rather a consequence from the
input of another separate factor, in this case the killer, or the one who gave the order for
Glenn to be killed. This is a case of deterioration, but not a case of inherent vice.
The second reason why some object are cases of deterioration, but not of inherent vice, is
because some objects that do deteriorate still return to their former state at the end of the
story.. That would take a change in a natural characteristic of the object. After all, how can
something return from before being flawed when being naturally flawed? It would mean that
the object has to be changed in its core, its nature, but that would make it a different object.
Such is quite frankly impossible. One example of deterioration being reversed is the case of
Coy Harlingen. Coy had many debts. So many in fact, that he was in danger. With the aim to
not involve his family in his own problems, Coy faked his own death. To do this he had to
leave his family and life behind. It can be argued that this is a case of deterioration, because
faking one’s own death has the same effect on their former surroundings as being dead.
There is a catch. At the end of the story, Doc uses his money, gained by selling cocaine, to
buy off Coy’s debt. In the end, Coy is able to return back to his wife and daughter. “He’s
back, Doc, he’s really alive and back and I’ve been tripping for twenty-four hours now, and I
don’t know what to believe” (p.777 Pynchon 2009).He is indeed back, back to his former self,
hence his case being not a case of inherent vice.
Another example of an object returning is seen in ‘The Golden Fang’. What the Golden Fang
exactly is, is not really stated clearly in the book, but in this case the ship carrying that
particular name is what it will be referring to. The original name of the ship was ‘Preserved’, a
name that is contradictory to the act of deterioration. Even though it carries that particular
name, it still disappears in the midst of the Bermuda Triangle, with rumors saying it had sunk.
The ship appears years later again on the other side of the world. This time not carrying the
