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The Crying Of Lot 49 - Online Term Paper

The Crying Of Lot 49


Thomas Pynchon's is a very deep, complex, and demanding novel, requiring the wide breadth of knowledge. One of the most fascinating aspects of the novel is Pynchon's choice -- or rather, invention -- of the names he gives the characters and organizations described in the novel. These names function as metaphors for the people and things they represent, thus enabling us to understand the hidden meaning of the novel.
The protagonist of is a woman named Oedipa Maas. Oedipa's first name, obviously, derives from Oedipus, the hero of Sophocles' famous play. According to the legend, Oedipus' parents found out that he was fated to kill his father and marry his mother. Therefore, they arranged ...

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Oedipus as a metaphor for the wish of every small boy to get his father out of the way so he could have his mother all to himself. Most men resolve this dilemma by the time they reach adulthood; some do not, and are therefore unable to cope with the stresses of adult life. Men do not want to recognize this tendency in themselves, but -- like Oedipus -- once they are aware of this, it intrudes itself on their consciousness at every move, until they begin to doubt their own sanity. This is very much the case with Oedipa as well. Once she begins to pick up on the difference appearances of the existence of Tristero, it seems to be everywhere, and its pervasiveness seems impossible. She has other ties to Oedipus as well. Like him, she originally belonged to the society of which she claims to be a part -- in Oedipus' case, Thebes; in Oedipa's, twentieth-century America. But her discovery makes her an alien, and she comes to doubt her own sanity like Freud's conflicted ...

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The Crying Of Lot 49. (2005, December 18). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Crying-Of-Lot-49/38196
"The Crying Of Lot 49." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 18 Dec. 2005. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Crying-Of-Lot-49/38196>
"The Crying Of Lot 49." Essayworld.com. December 18, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Crying-Of-Lot-49/38196.
"The Crying Of Lot 49." Essayworld.com. December 18, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Crying-Of-Lot-49/38196.
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PAPER DETAILS
Added: 12/18/2005 03:38:40 PM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 384
Pages: 2

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