Gravity's Rainbow exemplifies postmodernism, a literary perspective that emerged in reaction to the atrocities of World War II, including the Holocaust and the atomic bomb. Postmodernist authors argue that traditional literary conventions are inadequate in the wake of such calamities. They believe that conventional notions of plot, character, and meaning must be discarded to address a new era of uncertainty. The preceding literary movement, modernism, represented by writers like T. S. Eliot and James Joyce, suggested that escaping industrial society through art was possible. Postmodernists particularly critique this viewpoint. Much critical analysis of Gravity's Rainbow revolves around postmodernist philosophy.

1. Refer to a literary dictionary for a more comprehensive discussion of postmodernism. Identify the postmodern elements in Gravity's Rainbow.

2. What are the benefits and drawbacks of Pynchon's technique of digression upon digression?

3. What is the significance of Enzian and Tchitcherine not recognizing each other when they meet?

4. How do the female characters function in Gravity's Rainbow? If you've read other novels by Pynchon, compare the female characters in those works to the ones in this book.

5. Analyze Pynchon's use of myths and fairy tales in Gravity's Rainbow.

6. Does Pynchon's alarming prediction of future death by nuclear rocket retain its relevance in a post-Cold War era?

7. Discuss the role of movies in the novel. (Some critics suggest that the rows of squares marking textual divisions in the novel resemble film sprocket holes, implying that the book should be experienced like a movie.)

8. Is Slothrop an effective protagonist, or is the antagonist Weissmann a more compelling character?

9. Why was Gravity's Rainbow labeled "obscene and unreadable"?

10. With both the Axis and the Allies depicted as evil, is there any source of good in the book?

11. Given Pynchon's concerns about the depletion of global resources by industrial powers, can he be considered an environmentalist?

12. Compare Gravity's Rainbow to other World War II novels such as The Naked and the Dead (Mailer, 1948) or The Caine Mutiny (Wouk, 1951).