The Disdainful Use of Names in Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49
While reading Pynchon’s, The Crying of Lot 49, I found myself fascinated with the names of the characters. I tried to analyze them and make them mean something, but it seems that Pynchon did not mean for the names to have a specific meaning. This deduction made me think about the satirical nature of the naming of the characters. Which led me to muse on the chaotic nature of the naming. The apparent disdain for the characters by their naming seems to imply that the author is poking fun at the reader and society through the characters.
The first character is Oedipa Maas and the reader cannot help but immediately think of Oedipus the King and the implications of that naming. As I read, I was on the alert for the characteristics of the Oedipus story. Although Oedipa does have a mystery to solve in the novel, I found I really could not relate her to Oedipus in any other way. And what does ‘Maas’ mean? Mass, as in a solid mass? Mass, as in the Catholic rite? Is Oedipa perhaps performing a rite of some kind? These questions plagued me as I read and by the conclusion of the story, I was no wiser.
Then there is Oedipa’s husband, Mucho Maas. What kind of a name is Mucho? It implies, to me at least, that Mucho is somehow superior to his wife. But as the story progresses, Mucho seems to become less and less. Perhaps a comment by Pynchon on the declining status of a husband in American society? Perhaps a satirical jab at the rising state of women’s rights as equal instead of subordinate in a marriage? Whatever it means, the name Mucho didn’t seem to fit the character.
Next we encounter Oedipa’s therapist. His character was bizarre from beginning to end. His name, Dr. Hilarious, worked for me. His name was fitting in many ways. That he goes berserk in the end was a fitting touch in depicting a shrink. His character was ‘hilarious’ in a way. I mean, come on, what therapist actually believes in telepathy?
The absent character in the book, Pierce Inverarity, is a puzzle. The closest definition for Inverarity that I could find in the dictionary was a definition for ‘inveracity’. Inveracity means untruthfulness, which is fitting for the absent Pierce, since we never do discover if the man is actually dead or not.
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,
Throughout more than two hundred years Americans have witnessed more then fifty-six inaugural addresses. In those speeches presidents have been utilizing rhetoric to make their points and outline their positions on important issues before the nation. Both of President Obama’s Inauguration Speeches successfully craft rhetoric through
Words have power. However, for them to have the desired impact on the audience, some styles have to be incorporated in articulating them out. Orators of the time are best known for their ability to touch people through words. One such person is President Obama. He has a way of making people remember what he has said. This is because; he has styles that he uses in his speech which capture the interest and emotions of the listener. Oppositely, a speaker may want to bring out a certain point, but the choice of technique may impede the passage of such a point to the audience. Basing on this, it is vital for speakers not just to come with word they think are appropriate but also make a choice of the techniques that will influences the delivery of the desired message. Information regarding the styles and techniques utilized by the speaker cannot be gathered unless thee speech is critically analyzed. Accordingly, one of the speeches by President Obama is going to be analyzed.
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.
Obama, Barack H. "The 2013 State of the Union Address." The White House. N.p., 13 Feb.
Barrack Obama’s inauguration speech successfully accomplished his goal by using rhetoric to ensure our nation that we will be under safe hands. The speech is similar from ideas obtained from the founding documents and Martin Luther King’s speech to establish ‘our’ goal to get together and take some action on the problems our country is now facing. As President Barrack Obama starts his speech, he keeps himself from using ‘me’, ‘myself’, and ‘I’ and replacing it with ‘we’, ‘us’, and ‘together’ to achieve ethos. He makes sure his audience connects with him directly by making them feel at his level, and him at theirs. This way he connects to the audience, and in exchange, helps his statement of unity. Using various examples of parallelism, anaphora and refrain, Obama brands the theme of equality and togetherness in our country throughout the speech, vital to gain the respect of his audience. Obama recalls the ‘enduring strength of the constitution’ by delving into the past alluding to America’s allegiance to the Declaration of Independence by quoting “we hold these truths… that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. This expression clearly shows more ethos by reminding us that the quote of equality is of great importance today as it was the time it was written.
Student loan debt makes up a large portion of the debt in this country today. Many defaulted loans are the demise of high interest rates, poor resources to students in educating them on other avenues and corruption in the governmental departments that oversee education and financing. There are many contributing factors that lead to the inability to pay off student loans which need government reform to protect the borrower’s best interests.
In January of 2010, President Obama presented the annual State of the Union address. In the address Obama speaks about many things he has accomplished in the past year and hopes to accomplish in the coming year. The first thing he wants to accomplish is health care reform. The next issue he needs to accomplish is the budget. Then, Obama speaks about some bills and policies that he wants to go into place. The ones that were specifically brought up were the climate bill and the cap-and-trade. Lastly, they share their views and perceptions on Obama and his administration. In the Washington Post Will and Gerson discuss the State of the Union address. In these works the authors both agree about the address and the messages sent to the American
The quality of being larger than life, or a royal figure, is one main aspect of a tragic hero. Oedipus is the king of Thebes, appointed there after solving the riddle of Sphinx, a supernatural creature that once held the city captive. He is born into a family of the highest social rank: King Laius and Queen Jocasta, and is adopted into the family of King Polybus and Queen Merope. In being royalty, Oedipus is an important figure. Without the aspect of an important man that the viewers could recognize, Oedipus would not be held in such light. Oedipus is the “peerless king” and the “first of men,” as referred to by the priest. Oedipus knows his fame, as well: “Here I am myself— you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus.” He declares this in the prologue, showing that he has a high notion of himself, shared by many others. The entirety of the world is aware of Oedipus, according to him, and they shoul...
Prompt: How does Oedipus see himself? How do others perceive him? Explain how the author uses this juxtaposition to communicate theme?
The main characters of each work are automatically associated with each other by their names, but they also share similar personalities and characteristics. Odysseus is a wily hero of the Trojan War who uses his deceptive...
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.
“The Odyssey” is an epic poem that tells the story of Odysseus and the story of his many travels and adventures. The Odyssey tells the main character’s tale of his journey home to the island of Ithaca after spending ten years fighting in the Trojan War, and his adventures when he returns home and he is reunited with his family and close friends. This literary analysis will examine the story and its characters, relationships, major events, symbols and motifs, and literary devices.
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.
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.