Parallel Journeys in The Crying of Lot 49
The Crying of Lot 49 offers two journeys into the text: that of it's protagonist Oedipa, and that which the reader is forced to take with her. His brilliant use of detail and word plays blur the lines between the two. The main factor in this journey is chaos, here referred to by its’ more scientific name entropy. Oedipa and the reader get lost in a system of chaos and the task of deciphering the clues within the intricate system. The reader has no choice but to become part of this system through cleverly employed tactics Pychon uses to draw one in.
The uncertainty and complication of the mystery are the devices typically used to bring a character and or reader to an understanding of oneself, in this case it is questionable whether Oedipa or the reader reach this sort of consciousness. Oedipa through Pynchon's scientific/literary metaphors, has a personal awakening that is not quite resolved with the end of the novel. The reader and the protagonist are both left to question what is real and what is fantasy. Pynchon offers clues to the puzzle, but the truth in question is not the Trystero, but Oedipa's sanity.
Oedipa Mass is forced to involve herself in what seems to be a conspiracy. Her job can be compared to that of Maxwell's Demon. "As the Demon sat and sorted his molecules into hot and cold, the system was said to lose entropy. But somehow the loss was offset by the information the Demon gained about what molecules were where¨ (p.105). Perception is blurred in the novel through the use of alcohol and drugs and the blurring of communication systems. In this case a form of entropy linked to the chaos of a communication system is embodied by the W.A.S.T.E. system Oedipa stumbles upon. She must attempt to separate what is real and what is fantasy, to decipher what is important and what is useless information. Pynchon's use of detail makes this a difficult task, and the reader is caught up in her world of symbols and imagery. His mixture of fiction with history further confuses the reader with the Thurn and Taxis system and the Peter Piguid Society one is drawn into a world where he/she is reliant upon Oedipa to decipher the clues.
Oedipa and the reader are drawn into a constant fear of paranoia.
In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, there is a deception where readers think one thing, but are presented with a different point of view. They are profoundly similar for various reasons regarding structure and theme. They are complementary in establishing the primary conflict of drama during the storyline; however, Oedipus Rex encompasses foreshadowing that divulges drama from past experiences. Additionally, the authors incorporate violence as a key component in the conflict presented. However, the drama differs in plot, as well as symbolism, in which the reader understands it before or amid the story through gradual discovery. The themes and presentation of these dramatic plots are initially compelling, distinctive,
The Oedipus complex came to my knowledge in my first semester of college, during my English class as we study Greek mythology. The first time I read the story I took it as it was; a story. But later on, on my first psychology class I finally understood the complexity of it and how it was used. Even now after a few more classes on psychology I still have some disagreements and have a hard time accepting it. It is because of my background that I’m facing challenges with t...
Vanilla Ice is a prime example of a young man who became part of the hip hop community. The clothing he wore and the songs he wrote may have reflected an insult to the black hip hop community. However, the white community became happy and excited to see a thriving white rapper. Many members of the black society were offended and disgusted by the clothes worn by Vanilla Ice. They were not used to seeing another race expressing his emotion through rap lyrics. The change in the state of mind for black and white members of the hip hop community were beginning to alter. It was remarkable to learn about the different perspectives black and white members, however to learn about the acceptance of one another was outstanding.
Another example was the individualization of spirituality that came with the various denominations of Christianity, forced by missionaries. Traditionally, their spirituality was community driven in relation with not only humans but with all “relatives,” such as mountains, rivers, animals, etc. While this example has religious implications as well, it also illustrates the cultural shift from community focused to individual salvific gain which takes away from the connection with
Alexander the Great conquered city of Persepolis, and after looting its treasures, burned surrounding city to the ground. In 326 B.C. Alexander and his troops traveled to Punjab, India where they had fought a fierce and famous battle with King Porus. During the Battle of the Hydaspes, Alexander’s horse was injured and died. Most of Alexander’s men died while crossing the Gerdosian desert on their route to Babylon the middle of summer 325 B.C. 336 B.C. to 323 B.C. Unfortunately Alexander faced a rebellion within his own army when he wanted to discharge over 10,000 men and bring in reinforcements. While planning his campaign for Arabia in 323 B.C. Alexander developed a strong fever that led to his death at the age of 33. During this period of timing of conquests Alexander establishes his authority over Asia and Europe.
Prompt: How does Oedipus see himself? How do others perceive him? Explain how the author uses this juxtaposition to communicate theme?
Thomas Pynchon's novel, The Crying of Lot 49 is a one of American after modernism writing. As the story proceeds, the writer initially introduces the torment of existence after explaining on the essential idea “existence precedes essence” in Sartrean existentialism, and then talks about the torment of insignificance and of isolation ensuing from lack of essence and the irrationality. Approaching torment, the central character is required to inspect the condition of her existence, therefore recognizing that she has to eliminate the situation of missing meaning in order to attain genuine human being. Inside Sartrean existentialism, open selection is the precondition for selecting one’s condition of existence. It is all the way through free choice that the central character of The Crying of Lot 49 selects to run away from the unreal existence and put efforts to rebuild a proper identity by running away from the domination, imprisonment and conventionality of developed nation, through which the main character wishes to discover the sense of existence and breathe in real living. Though, all the pains completed by the central character lastly finish in breakdown, which makes her wish of rebuilding her individuality. The failure of individuality breaks down the central character into separation and desolation. For the meantime, she can't anticipate to discover the denotation of existence. What the main character has to look is confusion, disarray, invalid and illogicality of existence. The writer of the theory depicts the discussion that The Crying of Lot 49 provides a methodical display of the quandary of the human existence in modern world.
Oedipa Mass is the protagonist of Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, who looks into her ex-boyfriend Pierce Inverarity’s life and legacy after she is named executor of his estate upon his death. As she examines Pierce’s life, she begins to discover details about herself that she was never sure existed before. The only th...
The play "Oedipus Rex" is a very full and lively one to say the least. Everything a reader could ask for is included in this play. There is excitement, suspense, happiness, sorrow, and much more. Truth is the main theme of the play. Oedipus cannot accept the truth as it comes to him or even where it comes from. He is blinded in his own life, trying to ignore the truth of his life. Oedipus will find out that truth is rock solid. The story is mainly about a young man named Oedipus who is trying to find out more knowledge than he can handle. The story starts off by telling us that Oedipus has seen his moira, his fate, and finds out that in the future he will end up killing his father and marrying his mother. Thinking that his mother and father were Polybos and Merope, the only parents he knew, he ran away from home and went far away so he could change his fate and not end up harming his family. Oedipus will later find out that he cannot change fate because he has no control over it, only the God's can control what happens. Oedipus is a very healthy person with a strong willed mind who will never give up until he gets what he wants. Unfortunately, in this story these will not be good trait to have.
In The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon, Oedipa Mass leaves her uniform world to execute the estate of her ex-boyfriend in San Narsicso. While executing the estate she finds herself thrust into a complex search for the estate, which becomes a search for meaning. During the search for meaning, the myth of Narcissus and Echo is used as a stylistic tool through out the novel to show the self-evaluative journey that Oedipa embarks on and exposes her true self-identity in modern American culture. This tool can be seen clearly in the love scene between Oedipa and Metzger, the motel Echo Courts, and the gender roles that are prevail throughout the novel. The myth of Narcissus and Echo in this novel points out a point that is stressed by Marshall
Aldous Leonard Huxley: English novelist, essayist, critic, and poet. On July 26, 1894, Aldous was born of Leonard and Julia Huxley in England. The infamous Huxley family possessed both scientific and literary fame throughout Europe. As a teenage, Aldous developed a bizarre eye disease which left him blind for over two years. This traumatic event changed Aldous's career as a medical doctor to a writer instead. "…I should infallibly have killed myself in the much more strenuous profession of medicine." But he was used to work, even in the literary world.
In Oedipus the King, Sophocles suggests that the impact of seeing the truth is harmful rather than enlightening. Whenever Oedipus strives to discover more to strengthen Thebes’ perspective of him, it leads him closer to his fate as determined by prophesy. Tiresias stands as a model in the play for the individual who is able to see the meaning beyond plot of events although his is blind, and Oedipus represents the oblivious arrogant individual who is never content because they need to be the unsurpassed individual. In the play, Sophocles illustrates the downside of a personality like Oedipus who desires to see the truth by ending the play with the brutality of gouging out his own eyes. Ultimately, the play reinforces that seeing the truth is harmful and being content with what you have, without greedily striving for more, can help avoid fate and a related deposition.
The paths leading toward knowledge (of self, of others, of the world around us) are circuitous. Thomas Pynchon, in his novel The Crying of Lot 49, seems to attempt to lead the reader down several of these paths simultaneously in order to illustrate this point. Our reliance on symbols as efficient translators of complex notions is called into question. Beginning with the choice of symbolic or pseudo-symbolic name, Oedipa Maas, for the central character of his novel, Pynchon expands his own investigation of symbol as Oedipa also attempts to unravel the mysteries surrounding the muted horn of the Tristero.
Oedipus’ quest is revealed to him early on in the play, though it undergoes a number of transformations before he is actually examining his own life and heritage. He begins with the reasonable search for the motive behind the wave of death and destruction that has overcome Thebes. This leads into his search for the man who murdered Laius, and finally to Oedipus questioning his own innocence and origin. The final stage of his search is where he becomes most fervent, regretfully not considering the magnitude of the effect his discovery will have on him. In order to assess Oedipus’ search for truth, one must first look at each transformation separately before tying them together.
Gradually Tiresias' and Oedipus' relationships with the truth are revealed as that of knowledge and ignorance, respectively. The anxieties that plague Oedipus, making him weak and prone to paranoia, are rooted in the obscurity of his origins. In response to accusations made by Oedipus, Tiresias declares that he is neither a conspirator in a scheme concocted by Oedipus' paranoid mind, nor his supplicant. Rather, Tiresias states that he is a slave of Loxias: the ambiguous one.