Dissipating subject and realizing humanity: An analysis of Pynchon's postmodernist characters

Though the postmodernist characterization differs from that of realist novels, its inheritance from the traditional writings is evident. Facing the force of alienation, the subject of Thomas Pynchon's postmodernist characters keeps dissipating. Spiritually these postmodernist characters have degenerated from heroes into antiheroes. Visually their coherent identity and "self" are getting increasingly vague, dissipating into shadows and fragments. However, humanity remains a permanent theme in postmodernist literature. Pynchon's shadows and fragments of antiheros send out the luster of humanity, which adds to the charm of his postmodernist fictions.