Crying Lot 49 - afs PDF

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The Crying of Lot 49

1 Christian Castorena

Thomas Pynchon’s novel, The Crying of Lot 49, follows around a middle-aged housewife by the name of Oedipa Maas. Oedipa is introduced as this common conception of what it means to be a middle-aged housewife, attending to affairs such as Tupperware parties. As such for her to be named as a will executioner, it is a pivotal moment in her life. She has her inquiries as to why her, why would Pierce Invararity would choose her? Was this one of his infamous pranks? Despite her doubts, she decides to accept her role and carry out Pierce’s final wish. What begins as Oedipa being named as the executioner of her ex-boyfriend’s will, turns into a quest in uncovering a century old conspiracy. There is no clear defined answer as to Oedipa is searching for. Her whole life has been exposed to the reality of a new culture she was unaware even existed. Yes, Oedipa is on a quest for meaning and information. Her whole motive is driven with gaining answers. But Is she genuinely just looking for the answers as to what this conspiracy composes of; or is there more than what she leads us to believe? of Oedipa’s search quest could be about self-identity. For here she is presented with opportunity to venture away from her standardized life she settled on and instead take on a new approach to developing herself. Perhaps she feels she owes it to herself to solve this mystery to prove herself worthy in her eyes and all that might have subdued her. One of the central questions to this novel, does this conspiracy exist or has Oedipa created this illusion of a conspiracy? This leads to one of the major influences throughout this novel is paranoia. Whether it is the main character or one of its supporting characters, there are numerous examples of paranoia. Somewhere from initiating the execution of her ex-boyfriend’s will to uncovering the matters of a long-established conspiracy, Oedipa Maas begins to lose her grip on reality. Oedipa begins to question situations that she encounters as to whether they are a

The Crying of Lot 49

2 Christian Castorena

coincidence or if they are “all part of an elaborate plot”. The line of reality and whether every event that Oedipa has occurred begins to blur, as she starts to gain anxiety in these occurrences. As mentioned, some of the supporting characters share their fair share of paranoia as well. For instance, Manny Di Presso, Metzger’s friend. Presso has convinced himself that the Mafia, or some other notable sized organization, is concerned to Presso’s whereabouts at all times. He expresses his concern that he feels someone is spying in on him and bugging his house so they can spy on Presso. Then there is Oedipa’s own psychiatrist. What seems to be particular psychiatrist, pretty well-balanced with the exception of wanting to prescribe Oedipa LSD, turns to have succumb to some form of paranoia towards the end of the novel. Dr. Hilarious has gone delusional, making claims that government officials are coming after him and begins to start shooting blindly. However, despite the numerous accounts of paranoia found throughout the novel, Oedipa does stand out from the other characters in this novel. Compared to her various male counterparts in this novel, Oedipa comes out standing with more confidence and a better understanding of life then her fellow male companions. When we were first introduced to Oedipa, she was nothing but an average everyday housewife. Yet at the end of the novel Oedipa comes to learn about herself. She has witnessed and experienced life outside her suburban culture. No longer is she this naïve and helpless individual who has to rely on these male figures. This novel develops into a story about the progression of femi The ending is a rather ambiguous one. There is no happily-ever-after ending. Oedipa quest remained unanswered. Yet by the end of the novel, the entirety of the Tristero matter appears to be on the backburner compared to Oedipa’s developed issues. Oedipa has endured so much struggles and setbacks in trying to uncover this conspiracy that one has to question was it

The Crying of Lot 49

Christian Castorena 3

worth the sacrifices and behavioral issues that entailed in the process? Oedipa lost her significant other and friends due to it being either drugs or miscommunication. She has lost her prior understanding of what was once her simple yet familiarized life and now stands on the brink of the disorderly and blindsided standpoint....