A WASTE of symbols? Chapter 4 of the Crying of Lot 49

In the fourth chapter of The Crying of Lot 49, Oedipa begins to tie the loose ends of Inverarity’s clues and she finds out on her own about various scandals while no one really suspects that all of that is going on. The author doesn’t give the reader the chance to make that much connections and interpretations because the main character begins to discover everything and she states it directly without hiding information.

The first big clue is the symbol that Oedipa finds in the bathroom door. This symbols appears many times throughout the chapter and there is an specific moment were it is given a lot of importance, “‘The watermark’ Oedipa peered. There it was again, her WASTE symbol showing up black...”(77) I this part of the novel, Oedipa unites the WASTE inscription that she had found before with the symbol. The use of clues hieroglyphics and secret codes, are very innovative in literature. The author is establishing a genre that uses elements that make the novel interesting to read. The interpretation given by the characters to the symbols may not always be the correct one. The author may do this to trick the reader so that it is more challenging to find out what is really going on.

More of the words and terms from the play continue to reappear and they contribute to the development of the plot. One perfect example of this is the following quote, “From the same plastic folder he now tweezed what looked like an old German stamp, with the figures ¼ in the center, the word Freimarke at the top, and along the right –hand margin the legend Thurn and Taxis ... From about 1300, until Bismark bought them out in 1867, Mix Maas, they were the European Mail system.”(77) The Thurn and Taxis are mentioned her as well as in the play. Oedipa finds out they were the European mail system and so she begins to understand that Pierce knew something about all of this that nobody else did and that he put all of this clues in different places, such as the play, public places, etc so that Oedipa also knew the truth and would be able to revel it. The tone that is used by the characters, specially the new ones, seems to indicate that there is some kind of conspiracy going on, and that it has to do with a lot of people. I would say that this great mystery will have a world wide importance and that it’s probably because of that why Pierce left so many tracks to follow. Although the book tends to be mysterious, it is written in a way that it doesn’t allow it to be categorized as a mystery and suspense book. The elements that are used are unique and the connections are made by the characters, and not the readers, probably because of its complexity.

In this chapter I didn’t find any allusions or obvious connections to other pieces. The text has been sending many signals towards us, the readers to begin to analyze the plot and unravel the mystery that has been building up intrigue on us. The historical background has been a useful tool because it makes is sound more real and less fictitious. The novel has developed quickly and I’m sure that soon the truth will be unrevealed.

The apearence of entropy in the novel is the most absurd literary element that I had ever seen in a novel. Belivig that you can challenge certain forces and laws of nature makes no sense at all. The demon is probably a fake excuse to drag Oedipa into beliving, but at the end we can see that the intention is practically sexaul. Pychon uses the absurd to achieve a satirical tone to his text, so that the readers can think that it was a clever move from the author, and that it was actually very funny, although it wasn't as obvious.

Vocabulary:

protruded: to thrust forward; cause to project.

hatching: To devise or originate, especially in secret

languidly: lacking in vigor or vitality; slack or slow

The Trysteros Tragedy: Chapter 3of The Crying of Lot 49

The third chapter of The Crying of Lot 49, was divided into two main parts. The first one consisted of Oedipa and her discoveries of many secrets, especially about Pierce. The second part consisted mainly on a very literal description of a play that at the end relates deeply to Oedipa’s findings while executing the will.

As I began to read this chapter I encountered again with the use of rare names that the author of this novel has. A character named Mike Fallopian appears in the story, “introduced himself as Mike Fallopian, and began proselytizing for an organization known...”(34) This character makes part of an organization that seems to have very strong military roots and is very manly due to the fact that it was created to honor a war hero. By naming one of the members, Fallopian, there is great irony there because that word is very feminine simply because it is a female structure. It is probable that the author wants to allude to topics that have brought conflict in society such as homosexuals in the army or the participation of women in wars, just to mention some.

Later on, the “paranoid” topic reappears, this time coming from Fallopian himself, “They accuse us of being paranoids.”- “‘They?’ inquired Metzger, twinkling also.

‘Us?’ asked Oedipa? (35) This segment of the text can be interpreted in many ways, but the most logical one is that the society that is being described in the novel is full of groups of people that act strangely or differently to what society has established, and therefore they are considered “paranoid.” It seems that the excuse used by society to discriminate a certain group consists on focusing on how different they are. In my personal opinion, this is terrible because everyone has the right to express their thoughts and be different, for difference is what makes us human beings equal.

In the play that is described in this chapter, there is an allusion that can be made, when referring to the following, “...Marrying of the only royal female available, his sister Francesca, to Pasquale the Faggian usurper. The only obstacle in the way of this union was is that Francesca is Pasquale’s mother.”(51) The allusion is with King Oedipus, the king that murders his father and marries his mother without knowing that they share his blood. As I could see throughout this chapter, the play is directly related to everything that is going in with Oedipa, and because of this it is important to focus on the significance that incest has in this novel. Also, I realized that Oedipa id the female version of Oedipus, which surely has some kind of meaning in the story.

As I was finished reading the description of the play, I saw that the relation between its content and characters was very similar to some of the affairs that Pierce had been involved in the past and some people he had met as well. The most important connection is that of the “Trysteros.” When I read the word I was very curios and so I decided to look up for its definition, but I could find it. Then almost at the end of the chapter this word reappears this time as the name of the murderer in the play. This word represents a lot more than it appears to mean and the symbolic significance that the author gives it is not to be ignored. The device used by the author of using words with various meanings and reputing them to emphasize on their importance is very new to me, but it is very clever and insightful.

After knowing that, my question is,

What does Trystero mean, and what is its importance?

Vocabulary:

scope: space for movement or activity; opportunity for operation

proselytizing: To induce someone to convert to one's own religious faith

poignant: affecting or moving the emotions

coy: shy; modest.

tegument: A natural outer covering

larceny: the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods of another from his or her possession with intent to convert them to the taker's own use.

Corrections

1. to emphasize on specific regions in Europe like Germany and France besides from England.

-to emphasize specific....

There is no need to use an “on” in that segment. Omitting makes the sentence clear and less wordy.

2. mentions names of places in German

mentions names of places in Germany.

The “y” was accidentally omitted. I was referring to the country and not to the language.

3. These is one of those poems

This is one of those poems

Because I was talking about one singular poem and comparing it to the rest, the correct use of the word should have been “This”, which is singular. “These” would be used when mentioning a plural subject instead of a singular.

4. Many of the time, the author

Many of the times

“time” should have been plural because I was referring to how in various occasions something happens, not how in one time or occasion.

A Complex Serenade: Chapter 2 of The Crying of Lot 49

Chapter two of The Crying of Lot 49, gave me a more clear image of what is going on in the story. In the last chapter it was a little complicated to understand, but in this new chapter, everything makes more sense.

In chapter two, Oedipa begins to reveal her true personality. She acts very different from her behavior in the first section of the book, which shows the reader that this woman has a lot of secrets. An important part of these secrets, is her mysterious past and how it hunts her in the present as seen with the will left by Inverarity for her to execute. When the book makes reference to how the past will always affect your present and therefore will have an effect on your future, I related to Slaughterhouse- Five and the constant time traveling of Billy. Although Billy uniquely relives his memories without changing their course, every time he goes back, he is affected in some way, and you can see it in the change of tone that the author conveys. This same theme can also connect to the movie The Butterfly Effect. In this film, the main character goes back into his past and he changes something negative hoping to have a positive result, but when he returns to the present something else goes wrong as a consequence of the aspect that was changed in the past. Oedipa made a mistake in the past and now she is paying for it in some strange way, even though she tries to manipulate her reality.

Further on in the text, I found the following quote, “ ‘It’s a group I’m in,’ Miles explained, ‘the Paranoids. We’re new yet’...‘You hate me too.’ Eyes bright through his bangs. ‘You are a paranoid,’ Oedipa said. ” (17) This fragment made an impact on me when I read it, simply because it was a very idiotic comeback made by Oedipa towards Miles. When she refers to Miles being a paranoid, she tries to convey that he is truly a paranoid besides from making part of a band that has that same name. The fact that the author uses these devices in his novel probably means that he wants to make a statement. In this part of the novel that statement is not as clear but maybe further on it will reaper. The author could be trying to say that young people are very paranoid now days, due to the fact that society is full of danger and unreliable intentions.

Some pages after, I found a very interesting citation that consists of a small metaphor that related directly to an allegory found in Epictetus, “A lawyer in a courtroom, in front of any jury becomes an actor, right?”(21) This is very similar to the 17^th segment of The Handbook which comments on the following, “Remember that you are an actor in a play, which is as the playwright wants it to be...If he wants to play a beggar...a cripple, or a public official or a private citizen. What is yours is to play the assigned part well. But to chose it belongs to someone else.”(Epictetus 17) As I read both of these fragments I realized that the second one is an extension of the first, and it is precisely because of that why the one mentioned last is an allegory. A lawyer has to become an actor so that the jury believes him and votes on his side. If he fails to play his role correctly, then he will loose the trial. This happens as well in life. If you as an actor don’t follow the playwright as it is written, then his job is not accomplished. We are all actors because we have to act in a certain way to be able to fulfill what destiny has in store for us.

Finally I found an allusion between the serenade in this chapter and the poem, “The World is too much with us; Late and soon.” As I read the Serenade I found that there were similar elements in both poems.

“As I lie and watch the moon

On the lonely sea,

Watch it tug the lonely tide

Like a comforter over me,

The still and faceless moon

Fills the beach tonight

With only a ghost of day,

All shadow gray, and moonbeam white.

And you lie alone tonight,

As alone as I;

...

The night has gone so gray, I’d lose the way, and it’s dark inside.

No, I must lie alone,

Till it comes for me;

Till it takes the sky, the sand, the moon, and the lonely sea.” (27)

Elements such as the moon, sea, wind, etc are also found in the poem The World is Too Much With Us Late and Soon. Things such as the tide are mentioned in both. In the first one it is stated, and in the second one it is inferred, “The sea that bares her bosom to the moon” (5) as the sea is facing upwards towards the moon in the high tide. When in the Serenade it mentions how “Till it comes for me” it is very similar to the idea that is being stated in the other poem that seems to be related to natural disasters and the end of the world. Both of these poems have similar voices and apparently they have a analogous topic.

Vocabulary

Frug: a dance that derives from the twist

Hierophany: Manifestation of the sacred

Sax: A method of reading data files in computing