The Crying of Lot 49 - Ch. 3-4
In just the first four chapters of this novel, Pynchon has managed to make the plot of the story very convoluted and difficult to follow. The structure of the novel is sound, however, he certainly seems to be jumping all over the place in the telling of this story. Odepia, for this reason, is a very confusing character, one who is intensely inquisitive, but seems to be jumping from one conclusion to another or from one obsession to another very quickly.
Of further interest is Pynchon's inclusion of The Courier's Tragedy in his novel, a play inside a play almost. Being the driving force of Odepia's ever-changing interests, the inclusion of a short summary of the events in the play helps understand some of her thoughts. I got caught up on the viciousness of the murders in the play. Everyone seems to be dying brutal deaths, or being tortured to within inches of death. Domenico's torture, in particular, stood out to me because of Ercole's brutal tactics, as well as his remarks on religion, which he mentions while he is torturing Domenico. Ercole essentially proclaims himself to be "the zany Paraclete", or the Holy Spirit, coming to "begin thy frightful Pentecost"(pg.52). In this sense, he relates a sickening act to the purity of something like the Holy Spirit, which could possibly foreshadow some imminent dangerous or otherwise negative event which will soon happen in the novel. Overall, the book is rather eccentric, and it yet remains to be seen if something will come out of Odepia's random interests, or if something more can be made out from events that happen in The Courier's Tragedy.
Of further interest is Pynchon's inclusion of The Courier's Tragedy in his novel, a play inside a play almost. Being the driving force of Odepia's ever-changing interests, the inclusion of a short summary of the events in the play helps understand some of her thoughts. I got caught up on the viciousness of the murders in the play. Everyone seems to be dying brutal deaths, or being tortured to within inches of death. Domenico's torture, in particular, stood out to me because of Ercole's brutal tactics, as well as his remarks on religion, which he mentions while he is torturing Domenico. Ercole essentially proclaims himself to be "the zany Paraclete", or the Holy Spirit, coming to "begin thy frightful Pentecost"(pg.52). In this sense, he relates a sickening act to the purity of something like the Holy Spirit, which could possibly foreshadow some imminent dangerous or otherwise negative event which will soon happen in the novel. Overall, the book is rather eccentric, and it yet remains to be seen if something will come out of Odepia's random interests, or if something more can be made out from events that happen in The Courier's Tragedy.
This book definitely got super complicated in these chapters. I found it hard to get into the play; I actually found it really boring. The only significant part of it is the mention of the Tristero, yet the author felt the need to use pages explaining the plot. I agree that Oedipa is difficult to characterize. I feel like this book focuses too much on her experiences rather than who she is as a person.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you, and Carly, that Oedipa is very difficult to characterize because of how inconsistently she is portrayed throughout the chapters. Besides being curious and, albeit naïve, quick-witted, we don't have anything solid to use to judge her character nor is she really developing as a person. I noticed that we have a lot fewer personal monologues in Chapter 3-4 than in Chapter 1-2, and honestly at this point I am not sure exactly what narrating under 3rd person limited is doing for the story. Honestly, if we weren't aware of what was going on inside Oedipa's head, it would not really detract from the mystery itself.
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