Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon, has definitely been the hardest read so far. I am still very confused as to the plot line and what direction the novel will go in. The main character, Oedipa, has just come into an estate, left by a man named Pierce in his will. Then the story takes a turn and you see Oedipa being called by a doctor at 3:00 a.m. asking her to participate in a drug experiment. She refuses to take the pills saying, “I don’t know what’s inside them” (Pynchon 9). The doctor is concerned that she doesn’t trust him but Oedipa stands strong and will not be a part of the experiment.
The next day Oedipa goes to see her doctor, Roseman, who asks her to run away with him. He blatantly says, “Run away with me,” and Oedipa’s response is “Where” (Pynchon 10)? This response seems to catch him off guard and then the story changes to some reference to Rapunzel. I am not quite sure what this reference is supposed to represent. As a whole, Oedipa seems to be a woman with a lot of control and very desirable among men. The characters all float around her and now with this potential inherited wealth through the Estate I expect many more people to be coming up to her. I believe that the novel seems confusing now because there the plot keeps jumping around. It’s difficult to tell when Oedipa is having a flashback and when she is talking to people around her.
Good blog, I agree that the plot line is confusing. It would be much easier to read if the comparisons were not so layered and deep. None the less its an interesting read that hopefully will get better to read.
ReplyDeleteI found The Crying of Lot 4 confusing as well. The long paragraphs that take up practically an entire page without even ending the sentence make things a lot harder to understand and I do know see the purpose of the author writing in this manner except for creative style to set him apart from other authors. As for the Rapunzel part, I was also confused so I looked it up on SparkNotes to see if they had any logical explanation. SparkNotes explains the Rapunzel analogy as a sort of daydream Oepida was having about Pierce because she envisioned her relationship with him as some sort of escape from real life, however, she didn't truly escape (which is what happens in Rapunzel).
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