Going back Beyond the Zero...

So I've returned to Part 1 of Gravity's Rainbow in order to trace a couple of prevalent themes:

1. I've noted the use of the term zero, as in Absolute Zero, which reflects Pynchon's use of entropy (also significant in the Crying of Lot 49) and equilibrium in the novel.

2. Paranormal existence and the occult...reflected by Slothrop's memory of seeing the Northern lights as a child, and his sensing the supernatural forces that exist beyond them. Pynchon then parallels this phenomenon to the "great bright hand reaching out of the cloud..." (29) before the V-2 rockets are fired (Pynchon, Thomas. Gravity's Rainbow. New York: Penguin Books. 1963.) This theme is further explored in the seánce where Roger Mexico and Jessica are introduced. The ritual reveals an encounter with the omniscient power of death as a guiding force, or as Pynchon describes, an "Invisible hand" (30).

These underlying elements create the negative space that molds the plot, similar to how gravity can dictate an object's course of motion or determines the shape of the Universe.