Crying of Lot 49 Ch. 3-4
[insufficient -- rework w/ specific references]
These chapters introduce more characters with ridiculous names, such as Mike Fallopian, that further proves the idea that Pynchon was going for in making this a very satirical story. Mike Fallopian's right wing society is actually based on a real organization and Pynchon seems to have fun mocking them. The Tristero is also briefly mentioned in chapter 3, and Oedipa seems to be very intrigued by it, lading to her getting a copy of Jacobean Revenge Plays. In chapter 4, Oedipa reminds me of the two other detectives we have discussed in this class as she is getting intel from many different sources trying to get to the bottom of this mystery.
The repetition of the the symbol that is related to the Tristero is very intriguing as it seems like everyone that she comes in contact with is in some way connected to the conspiracy. In chapter 4 she notices Stanley Koteks drawing the symbol while attending the stockholder's meeting: "As it turned out he wasn't working, only doodling with a fat pencil this sign: [insert symbol]" It comes up again in the chapter a little later when she randomly, or so it appears to be, meets an old guy named Mr. Thoth who shows her his ring with the same symbol engraved in it: "'My grandfather cut this from the finger of one of them he killed. Can you imagine a 91-year old man so brutal?' Oedipa stared. The device on the ring was once again the WASTE symbol."
While it is true that she is not covering that much ground when she goes from place to place, it seems very odd that all of a sudden, after noticing the symbol once, she sees it everywhere. However, this is true for many things in real life as well. For example, I used to grind my teeth all the time and never noticed until my mom pointed it out to me. Now, if I ever do it, even for a second, it doesn't go unnoticed. Perhaps this is the same with the symbol. Maybe it has always been there but she never noticed it until she looked at it directly.
These chapters introduce more characters with ridiculous names, such as Mike Fallopian, that further proves the idea that Pynchon was going for in making this a very satirical story. Mike Fallopian's right wing society is actually based on a real organization and Pynchon seems to have fun mocking them. The Tristero is also briefly mentioned in chapter 3, and Oedipa seems to be very intrigued by it, lading to her getting a copy of Jacobean Revenge Plays. In chapter 4, Oedipa reminds me of the two other detectives we have discussed in this class as she is getting intel from many different sources trying to get to the bottom of this mystery.
The repetition of the the symbol that is related to the Tristero is very intriguing as it seems like everyone that she comes in contact with is in some way connected to the conspiracy. In chapter 4 she notices Stanley Koteks drawing the symbol while attending the stockholder's meeting: "As it turned out he wasn't working, only doodling with a fat pencil this sign: [insert symbol]" It comes up again in the chapter a little later when she randomly, or so it appears to be, meets an old guy named Mr. Thoth who shows her his ring with the same symbol engraved in it: "'My grandfather cut this from the finger of one of them he killed. Can you imagine a 91-year old man so brutal?' Oedipa stared. The device on the ring was once again the WASTE symbol."
While it is true that she is not covering that much ground when she goes from place to place, it seems very odd that all of a sudden, after noticing the symbol once, she sees it everywhere. However, this is true for many things in real life as well. For example, I used to grind my teeth all the time and never noticed until my mom pointed it out to me. Now, if I ever do it, even for a second, it doesn't go unnoticed. Perhaps this is the same with the symbol. Maybe it has always been there but she never noticed it until she looked at it directly.
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