It was not difficult to notice the satirical elements in Voltaire’s Candide, which ridicules society and the principles of the universe, religion, and war that existed during the XVIth century. Like Gulliver’s Travels, Candide uses a lot of strange names which are very difficult to pronounce, such as the Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh and metaphysico-theologo-cosmoloniglogy. I believe Voltaire decided to employ these complicated words in order to mock social pretensions and show that these were completely unnecessary and ridiculous for the development of mankind. Voltaire uses satire in order to appeal to society, especially the higher classes which were the only ones able to understand his humor, by taunting and undermining the ideas of war and religion that existed during that time.
Master Pangloss was instantly portrayed as a brute who taught metaphysico-theologo-cosmoloniglogy, a field of study too absurd to even make sense. During that time, many people used to believe that misfortunes and successes were attributed to God. Since no one could defy the word of God, every event that had taken place or was taking place was always perfect and the best outcome. Since an almighty God had created everything, nothing was useless and everything had a predefined purpose. “… there is no effect without a cause… ‘things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for as all things have been created for some end, they must necessarily be created for the best end. Observe, for instance, the nose is formed for spectacles, therefore we wear spectacles.’” (Chapter 1). Individuals at that time could not accept the fact that something could be wrong, as God was the Creator and he never made mistakes. Human inventions were not made to cure a problem, but rather to exalt God’s beauty and perfection.
This innocent view towards life presented by Pangloss was adapted by Voltaire in order to deride the fact that war, massacres, and death were simply the effect of a cause, and that certainly this effect was always the best outcome.
“After passing over heaps of dying men, the first place he came to was a neighboring village, in the Abarian territories, which had been burned to the ground by the Bulgarians, agreeably to the laws of war. Here lay a number of old men covered with wounds, who beheld their wives dying with their throats cut, and hugging their children to their breasts, all stained with blood. There several young virgins, whose bodies had been ripped open, after they had satisfied the natural necessities of the Bulgarian heroes, breathed their last; while others, half-burned in the flames, begged to be dispatched out of the world. The ground about them was covered with brains, arms, and legs of dead men.” (Chapter 3).
An endless panorama of human suffering and cruelty is described to the reader in a very casual and careless manner. After all, every disaster is the best possible outcome for everybody. Voltaire uses pain, death, and destruction not only to reveal the horrors of war, but also to ridicule mankind’s view of life. He is trying to appeal to the society of his time by emphasizing the difference between a right and a wrong indirectly through the use of irony. Humanity is imperfect, death and suffering still occur, and it is up to us, not God or destiny, to determine what the best outcome actually is. We must rely on human disposition, not submission to religion, in order to judge and act according to what is right or wrong. “Never was anything so gallant, so well accoutred, so brilliant, and so finely disposed as the two armies. The trumpets, fifes, hautboys, drums, and cannon made such harmony as never was heard in Hell itself. The entertainment began by a discharge of a cannon, which, in the twinkling of an eye, laid flat about 6,000 men on each side.” (Chapter 3).
The universe does not revolve around theology. In fact, human goodness is not based on religion, either. Contrary to what was believed during the eve of the Enlightenment, one does not have to believe in the deity of the Pope or repeat the words of the Bible in order to be considered a good, pious person. As Voltaire depicted in his work, individuals were perceiving an erroneous image of God, where people and words were more important than actions, which actually demand a lot more of self-sacrifice and benefit a greater amount of people.
“‘Hark ye, friend,’ said the orator, ‘do you hold the Pope to be Antichrist?’
‘Truly, I never heard anything about it,’ said Candide, ‘but whether he is not, I am in want of something to eat.’
‘Thou deservest not to eat or drink,’ replied the orator, ‘wretch, monster, that thou art! Hence! Avoid my sight, nor ever come near me again while thou livest.’…
A man who had never been christened, an honest Anabaptist named James, was witness to the cruel and ignominious treatment showed to one of his brethren, to a rational, two-footed, unfledged being. Moved with pity he carried him to his own house, caused him to be cleaned… ‘I am infinitely more affected with your extraordinary generosity that with the inhumanity of that gentleman in the black cloak and his wife.’” (Chapter 3).
This passage not only makes a parody of the Bible by making the Catholic man speak like the apostles in the Gospels, but also proposes a secular life. As Candid said, eating, drinking, and staying alive are matters which need to be accomplished independent of whether or not someone is religious. Voltaire proposes a separation of the Church with everyday life, which, according to Candide, is not to be influenced by God-fearing people or ecclesiastical matters. The man with the black cloak that denied to aid Candide is actually a priest (I mean, who else would wear a black cloak?) who, ironically, denies to perform the function that has been assigned to him by God. On the other hand, Voltaire shows that a secular person can, in fact, be good and help other people, arriving to the conclusion that one does not have to be a devout Catholic in order to obey the will of God. Voltaire even goes to the other extreme, up to the point where his satire is used to condemn the clergy and, therefore, advocate a shift of values of the society of his time.
lunes, 31 de marzo de 2008
Doublethink and Paranoia in a Misunderstood Life: The Crying of Lot 49
Although The Crying of Lot 49 uses satire in order to ridicule elements in society and create a humorous tone in the novel, Pynchon also employs many objects and people that serve as symbols to portray something important and relevant in society. The characters in the story generally bear names that are ironical, absurd, and contradictory, such as Dr. Hilarious, discussed in previous chapter. But what does this mean? Dr. Hilarious, a shrink, is supposed to cure society from all its pain and suffering; however, Hilarious is probably one of the characters that suffers the most because of his delirium and psychosis. What Pynchon may be trying to say through this individual is that society as a whole is pursuing the wrong purposes and taking the wrong paths in life, which will ultimately lead to nothing. Hilarious represents a person’s tool for achieving a goal, in this case sanity, which is way too corrupted to be able to heal humanity, thus making it achieve a false sense of security. Mankind is pursuing the wrong paths in life, ones that will ultimately lead to a false destination that is only a specter of what we wish to achieve or, as Orwell would have said in 1984, a manifestation of our ability to doublethink.
The Paranoids, another character in the novel, would generally be seen as a ridiculous boy-band that hangs out with girls and sings awkward songs; however, they behaved in a very peculiar and mysterious manner by following Oedipa wherever she went, possibly symbolizing something abstract and invisible but of great importance in her life. “Change your name into Miles, Dean, Serge, and /or Leonard, baby, she advised her reflection in the half-light of that afternoon’s vanity mirror. Either way, they’ll call it paranoia.” (p. 140). The Paranoids were more of a presence rather than a body, a feeling more than something tangible. They were permanently haunting Oedipa wherever she went, constantly reminding her that she carried a burden within herself that followed her everywhere she went, pursued her in her thoughts, and visited her in her dreams. The Paranoids started appearing when Oedipa began her quest of the Trystero and Pierce’s mystery, which is where all of her delirium, nervousness, and questioning about life originated; consequently, the Paranoids, as their name indicates, symbolize one’s psychosis when one decides to question the intricate web of “why’s” and “how’s” in life, ultimately leading to paranoia itself: “The toothaches got worse, she dreamed of disembodied voices from whose malignance there was no appeal, the soft dusk of mirrors out of which something was about to walk, and empty rooms that waited for her.” (p. 144).
Another symbol that caught my attention throughout the entire novel was the WASTE acronym, which is supposed to stand for We Await Silent Trystero’s Empire. Why did Pynchon decide to use the word “waste” as an acronym for the Trystero? One possible approach to this question may be found in what I discussed in my entry for chapter six, which you might want to refer to in order to possess a more complete idea of what I am talking about. The Trystero was a representation of God’s evil, or the Other, which corrupted the Word by establishing a secret web engaged in creating another truth people adhered to. The triumph of evil (Trystero) over good (Thurn and Taxis) fits perfectly into the definition of WASTE, which may be interpreted to signify the decline and deterioration of a civilization that has succumbed to the Other.
Finally, I would like to comment on the significance of Oedipa, the pillar on which the entire novel rested upon. Every time I used the Spell Check in Microsoft Word to revise my typos and spelling mistakes in my entries, I found that another option for spelling Oedipa was the word “oedipal”. This aroused a lot of curiosity in me, as the phonetics of these two words is very similar; besides, I believe that this “discovery” is not a coincidence, as the name Oedipa is not that common and there aren’t any other words that sound like it. The word “oedipal” is derived from Freud’s Oedipus complex, which can be understood as “The complex of emotions aroused in a young child, typically around the age of four, by an unconscious sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex and a wish to exclude the parent of the same sex.” (Mac Dictionary). As the reader could notice, there weren’t any other major female characters in the novel besides Oedipa, who possessed and immense sex appeal towards men, such as Metzger. According to this theory and its relationship with Oedipa’s name, I can understand that this character behaves like a four-year-old. She has an naïve view of life, shattered when she became engaged in the complex Trystero mystery which, as I said before, tells the reader a lot about life as well. Oedipa may be the representation of those individuals that live a life in a carefree, superficial way (such as Mean Girls… no, I’m kidding). They don’t want to find answers, but once the mystery becomes a door she has to unlock in order to continue on with life, it becomes very difficult for her to arrive at the correct conclusion, never discovering the true reasons that make the mystery keep on going. “He might have written the testament only to harass a one-time mistress, so cynically sure of being wiped out he could throw away all hope of anything more. Bitterness could have run that deep in him. She just didn’t know. He might himself have discovered The Trystero, and encrypted that in the will, buying into just enough to be sure she’d find it. Or he might even have tried to survive death, as a paranoia.” (p. 148). Innocent people like Oedipa will never be able to understand the complexity of their own lives.
The Paranoids, another character in the novel, would generally be seen as a ridiculous boy-band that hangs out with girls and sings awkward songs; however, they behaved in a very peculiar and mysterious manner by following Oedipa wherever she went, possibly symbolizing something abstract and invisible but of great importance in her life. “Change your name into Miles, Dean, Serge, and /or Leonard, baby, she advised her reflection in the half-light of that afternoon’s vanity mirror. Either way, they’ll call it paranoia.” (p. 140). The Paranoids were more of a presence rather than a body, a feeling more than something tangible. They were permanently haunting Oedipa wherever she went, constantly reminding her that she carried a burden within herself that followed her everywhere she went, pursued her in her thoughts, and visited her in her dreams. The Paranoids started appearing when Oedipa began her quest of the Trystero and Pierce’s mystery, which is where all of her delirium, nervousness, and questioning about life originated; consequently, the Paranoids, as their name indicates, symbolize one’s psychosis when one decides to question the intricate web of “why’s” and “how’s” in life, ultimately leading to paranoia itself: “The toothaches got worse, she dreamed of disembodied voices from whose malignance there was no appeal, the soft dusk of mirrors out of which something was about to walk, and empty rooms that waited for her.” (p. 144).
Another symbol that caught my attention throughout the entire novel was the WASTE acronym, which is supposed to stand for We Await Silent Trystero’s Empire. Why did Pynchon decide to use the word “waste” as an acronym for the Trystero? One possible approach to this question may be found in what I discussed in my entry for chapter six, which you might want to refer to in order to possess a more complete idea of what I am talking about. The Trystero was a representation of God’s evil, or the Other, which corrupted the Word by establishing a secret web engaged in creating another truth people adhered to. The triumph of evil (Trystero) over good (Thurn and Taxis) fits perfectly into the definition of WASTE, which may be interpreted to signify the decline and deterioration of a civilization that has succumbed to the Other.
Finally, I would like to comment on the significance of Oedipa, the pillar on which the entire novel rested upon. Every time I used the Spell Check in Microsoft Word to revise my typos and spelling mistakes in my entries, I found that another option for spelling Oedipa was the word “oedipal”. This aroused a lot of curiosity in me, as the phonetics of these two words is very similar; besides, I believe that this “discovery” is not a coincidence, as the name Oedipa is not that common and there aren’t any other words that sound like it. The word “oedipal” is derived from Freud’s Oedipus complex, which can be understood as “The complex of emotions aroused in a young child, typically around the age of four, by an unconscious sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex and a wish to exclude the parent of the same sex.” (Mac Dictionary). As the reader could notice, there weren’t any other major female characters in the novel besides Oedipa, who possessed and immense sex appeal towards men, such as Metzger. According to this theory and its relationship with Oedipa’s name, I can understand that this character behaves like a four-year-old. She has an naïve view of life, shattered when she became engaged in the complex Trystero mystery which, as I said before, tells the reader a lot about life as well. Oedipa may be the representation of those individuals that live a life in a carefree, superficial way (such as Mean Girls… no, I’m kidding). They don’t want to find answers, but once the mystery becomes a door she has to unlock in order to continue on with life, it becomes very difficult for her to arrive at the correct conclusion, never discovering the true reasons that make the mystery keep on going. “He might have written the testament only to harass a one-time mistress, so cynically sure of being wiped out he could throw away all hope of anything more. Bitterness could have run that deep in him. She just didn’t know. He might himself have discovered The Trystero, and encrypted that in the will, buying into just enough to be sure she’d find it. Or he might even have tried to survive death, as a paranoia.” (p. 148). Innocent people like Oedipa will never be able to understand the complexity of their own lives.
domingo, 30 de marzo de 2008
Reflections on Life and Death: The Crying of Lot 49
The final pages of the book The Crying of Lot 49 mark the reader the most because they escape the fictitious world in order to give the reader many insights about life. Oedipa never really discovered Pierce’s true intentions with the Trystero mystery. Although this may disappoint the reader, it actually gives us a life lesson much more valuable than the true identity of the stamp bidder or Oedipa’s fate. The novel ends with the words “Oedipa settled back, to await the crying of lot 49.” (p. 152). These few words, contained in the title as well, possess a vast significance. As the mystery unfolded, Oedipa became less and less curious about the outcome of events, until finally, at the auction, she didn’t care at all about what could happen. By saying the words “Oedipa settled back”, Pynchon is actually implying that in life, one must tranquilly wait for events to occur and not fret about what may or may not happen. What matters is the journey, not the final destination. Pierce’s true intentions were never revealed, which shows us that the end does not justify the means, but rather the means justify themselves. Who cares about the truth when you are doing what you think is correct, like Oedipa?
Like the Trystero mail system, life is composed of many hidden truths. There is always a reason, a plan, that explains the outcomes of every major event in life. Fate is not determined by luck or a predestined existence, but rather by a plot someone or something made up in order to alter the course of events. “Look at England, the king about to loose its head. A set-up.” (p. 130). What Pynchon is really trying to say is that everything happens for a reason. Many times we don’t know what this explanation is, and therefore recur to destiny as a justification for the events that happened. Like the Trystero, the real reason behind events is often a mystery which needs to be uncovered; however, the mystery is always there, no matter how difficult it may be to find it.
Death is a reality none of us can avoid, a fact that us humans cannot alter. Throughout the course of history, many men have tried to achieve eternal life, starting with Ponce de Leon’s search for the Fountain of Eternal Youth in Florida, continuing with Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone, and finally concluding with all the esthetic surgeries and procedures people subject themselves to today in order to look younger. However, like the Seventh Seal, death is always present. It haunts us everywhere we go, up to the point where it becomes completely unavoidable even in our fantasies. “‘Notice how often the figure of Death hovers in the background.” (p. 125). Although we cannot escape death, we can escape the dullness of life. Many times people break the rules not because they want to achieve a special purpose, but because it makes them feel free and powerful in an existence which will always lead to death. "Onto a network (Trystero) by which X number of Americans are truly communicating whilst reserving their lies, recitations of routine, arid betrayals of spiritual poverty, for the official government delivery system; maybe even onto a real alternative to the exitlessness, to the absence of surprise to life, that harrows the head of every American you know, and you too, sweetie.” (p. 141). People could have their letter delivered in the same way by the U.S. Postal system, but they decide to keep the Trystero alive just because they want to put an edge to their lives and break the pattern of events they would otherwise be subjected to.
Once we die, every memory of our existence is forgotten forever. Pierce managed to prolong his life with the Trystero mystery and his numerous assets around the state; therefore, he will be remembered for a vast amount of time. “…he might even have tried to survive death, as a paranoia… had a plot finally been devised too elaborate for the dark Angel to hold at once …?” (p. 148). Death cannot be avoided, but oblivion can be evaded. The only thing Pynchon tells us to do is to leave a legacy, a mark of our existence in the world which will able everybody to remember us by. Many individuals, such as Jesus, Einstein, and Madame Curie, have been so successful in achieving this purpose that they are known more than most of the people that exist in the world today. “‘Keep it bouncing,’ he’d told her once, ‘that’s all the secret, keep it bouncing.’” (p. 148).
Like the Trystero mail system, life is composed of many hidden truths. There is always a reason, a plan, that explains the outcomes of every major event in life. Fate is not determined by luck or a predestined existence, but rather by a plot someone or something made up in order to alter the course of events. “Look at England, the king about to loose its head. A set-up.” (p. 130). What Pynchon is really trying to say is that everything happens for a reason. Many times we don’t know what this explanation is, and therefore recur to destiny as a justification for the events that happened. Like the Trystero, the real reason behind events is often a mystery which needs to be uncovered; however, the mystery is always there, no matter how difficult it may be to find it.
Death is a reality none of us can avoid, a fact that us humans cannot alter. Throughout the course of history, many men have tried to achieve eternal life, starting with Ponce de Leon’s search for the Fountain of Eternal Youth in Florida, continuing with Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone, and finally concluding with all the esthetic surgeries and procedures people subject themselves to today in order to look younger. However, like the Seventh Seal, death is always present. It haunts us everywhere we go, up to the point where it becomes completely unavoidable even in our fantasies. “‘Notice how often the figure of Death hovers in the background.” (p. 125). Although we cannot escape death, we can escape the dullness of life. Many times people break the rules not because they want to achieve a special purpose, but because it makes them feel free and powerful in an existence which will always lead to death. "Onto a network (Trystero) by which X number of Americans are truly communicating whilst reserving their lies, recitations of routine, arid betrayals of spiritual poverty, for the official government delivery system; maybe even onto a real alternative to the exitlessness, to the absence of surprise to life, that harrows the head of every American you know, and you too, sweetie.” (p. 141). People could have their letter delivered in the same way by the U.S. Postal system, but they decide to keep the Trystero alive just because they want to put an edge to their lives and break the pattern of events they would otherwise be subjected to.
Once we die, every memory of our existence is forgotten forever. Pierce managed to prolong his life with the Trystero mystery and his numerous assets around the state; therefore, he will be remembered for a vast amount of time. “…he might even have tried to survive death, as a paranoia… had a plot finally been devised too elaborate for the dark Angel to hold at once …?” (p. 148). Death cannot be avoided, but oblivion can be evaded. The only thing Pynchon tells us to do is to leave a legacy, a mark of our existence in the world which will able everybody to remember us by. Many individuals, such as Jesus, Einstein, and Madame Curie, have been so successful in achieving this purpose that they are known more than most of the people that exist in the world today. “‘Keep it bouncing,’ he’d told her once, ‘that’s all the secret, keep it bouncing.’” (p. 148).
sábado, 29 de marzo de 2008
The Oxymoron in Opposites: The Crying of Lot 49, Chapter 6
It has always been said that in order for something to exist, its opposite must be created, too. For example, in the KJB the figure of God, or Light, came into existence; therefore, the opposite of light, dark, must have come alive simultaneously. A point of comparison must be established between opposite extremes in order for these to gain strength and credibility when compared to their adversary. In the Crying of Lot 49, the reader was presented with the figure of God, or goodness, and the Other, its evil opposite, represented by the Trystero postal system. “…the Scurvhamite part, ran off the will of God, its prime mover. The rest ran off some opposite Principle, something blind, soulless; a brute automatism that led to eternal death… But the brute Other, that kept the non-Scurvhamite universe running like clockwork, that was something else again. Evidently they felt Trystero would symbolize the Other quite well.” (p. 128). By undermining the foundations of a postal system, which relies on other people’s written words in order to carry out its functions, the Trystero was impairing the importance of the Word, or God. There existed a complex web of secret letters and words which remained hidden from the world, and which in some sense corrupted the identity of the Thurn and Taxis system by concealing in itself another truth, another version of people’s accounts. In the KJB, the Word was the only light, the only reality people were expected to subject to; however, the evil and dark presence of the Other produced different words, a different and secret truth people began to adhere to. The Thurn and Taxis system declined with time, while the Trystero flourished in its own, private empire. “If Trystero has managed to maintain even partial secrecy, if Thurn and Taxis have no clear idea who their adversary is, or how far its influence extends, then many of them must come to believe in something very like the Scurhamite’s blind, automatic anti-God… It is their time’s ghost, out to put the Thurn and Taxis ass in a sling.” (p. 136). The Thurn and Taxis’ victory symbolized the triumph of an evil presence in the world, an unknown force that many times manages to absorb people into its reality, like it did to Oedipa. The contending identities of God and evil, subjected to eternal fighting, will someday come to an end with the triumph of the Other. Sins will continue to corrupt humanity, like the Trystero has done with Hilarious, Mucho, Metzger, and Driblette, until the end of the days.
Like the contrary existence of a good and evil force, reality and its opposite, nothingness, come alive in our world, too. “For it was now like walking among matrices of a great digital computer, the zeroes and ones twinned above, hanging like balanced mobiles right and left…Ones and zeroes… Another mode of meaning behind the obvious, or none. Either Oedipa in the true ecstasy of a true paranoia, or a real Trystero.” (p. 150). Life is compared to the binary system of a computer, where ones mean “on” and zeroes mean “off”. It evolves around the concept of truth and nonexistence. Objects, feelings, and anything else tangible or intangible must be real in any of the worlds in which we inhabit, whether it be the world inside our minds or the external world. Therefore, nothing can be half-true; either it is or it isn’t. Like Hamlet’s over used, clichéd phrase explains, the overall question in life relies on whether “to be or not to be.”
Both people and their souls are real beings that inhabit the earth. Although the external body of an individual is able to carry out more functions in life because of the messages the brain sends to the other organs, the soul possesses the ability to break itself apart into infinite pieces and travel around from person to person and from memory to memory. “Oedipa sat on the earth, ass getting cold, wondering whether, as Driblette had suggested that night from the shower, some version of herself hadn’t vanished with him. Perhaps her mind would go on flexing muscles that no longer existed…Only bring me that memory, and you can live with me for whatever time I’ve got.” (p. 133). People’s souls are composed of many small fragments that drift away once the individual has established a relationship with someone else. Sometimes people say that they will always carry each other in their hearts; however, the heart is a muscle that performs no other function than pumping the blood through our arteries and receiving the blood that comes from our veins. Although we depend upon it to live, our hearts do not possess the ability to love, which is contained in the subjective worlds inside our own minds. When two people share experiences together, a part of each of themselves will inevitably separate itself from the soul and come to inhabit the other person’s world inside his/her mind. This means that other individual’s souls, as well as our own experiences and thoughts, make us who we are. Our bodies are composed of one person, but our souls are composed of millions of individuals we encounter throughout life; therefore, the soul is much more powerful than the body.
The Crying of Lot 49 is composed of many symbols that talk about Oedipa’s and our own struggles with life. Its ending tells the reader a lot about life as well. These topics will be discussed in more detail in the next two entries.
Vocabulary:
Automatism: the performance of actions without conscious thought or intention.
Vertiginous: causing vertigo, especially by being extremely high or steep.
Cudgel: a short thick stick used as a weapon.
Addendum: an item of additional material, typically omissions, added at the end of a book or other publication.
Affluent: (especially of a group or area) having a great deal of money; wealthy.
Like the contrary existence of a good and evil force, reality and its opposite, nothingness, come alive in our world, too. “For it was now like walking among matrices of a great digital computer, the zeroes and ones twinned above, hanging like balanced mobiles right and left…Ones and zeroes… Another mode of meaning behind the obvious, or none. Either Oedipa in the true ecstasy of a true paranoia, or a real Trystero.” (p. 150). Life is compared to the binary system of a computer, where ones mean “on” and zeroes mean “off”. It evolves around the concept of truth and nonexistence. Objects, feelings, and anything else tangible or intangible must be real in any of the worlds in which we inhabit, whether it be the world inside our minds or the external world. Therefore, nothing can be half-true; either it is or it isn’t. Like Hamlet’s over used, clichéd phrase explains, the overall question in life relies on whether “to be or not to be.”
Both people and their souls are real beings that inhabit the earth. Although the external body of an individual is able to carry out more functions in life because of the messages the brain sends to the other organs, the soul possesses the ability to break itself apart into infinite pieces and travel around from person to person and from memory to memory. “Oedipa sat on the earth, ass getting cold, wondering whether, as Driblette had suggested that night from the shower, some version of herself hadn’t vanished with him. Perhaps her mind would go on flexing muscles that no longer existed…Only bring me that memory, and you can live with me for whatever time I’ve got.” (p. 133). People’s souls are composed of many small fragments that drift away once the individual has established a relationship with someone else. Sometimes people say that they will always carry each other in their hearts; however, the heart is a muscle that performs no other function than pumping the blood through our arteries and receiving the blood that comes from our veins. Although we depend upon it to live, our hearts do not possess the ability to love, which is contained in the subjective worlds inside our own minds. When two people share experiences together, a part of each of themselves will inevitably separate itself from the soul and come to inhabit the other person’s world inside his/her mind. This means that other individual’s souls, as well as our own experiences and thoughts, make us who we are. Our bodies are composed of one person, but our souls are composed of millions of individuals we encounter throughout life; therefore, the soul is much more powerful than the body.
The Crying of Lot 49 is composed of many symbols that talk about Oedipa’s and our own struggles with life. Its ending tells the reader a lot about life as well. These topics will be discussed in more detail in the next two entries.
Vocabulary:
Automatism: the performance of actions without conscious thought or intention.
Vertiginous: causing vertigo, especially by being extremely high or steep.
Cudgel: a short thick stick used as a weapon.
Addendum: an item of additional material, typically omissions, added at the end of a book or other publication.
Affluent: (especially of a group or area) having a great deal of money; wealthy.
jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008
Our Existence in Two Worlds: The Crying of Lot 49, Chapter Five
Our lives are marked by a succession of events that in one way or another influence who we are and what we accomplish; however, these incidents are relative. What may seem important or controversial to us is influenced by the people, goals, and feelings we cherish at that particular moment. The muted post horn and the Thurn and Taxis sys tem were Oedipa’s main focuses in life at the moment she began seeing the horn drawing everywhere she looked at. “And spend the rest of the night finding the image of the Trystero post horn.” (p. 94). When your mind is focused on something specific, everything around you suddenly becomes relevant and related to the purpose you want to accomplish. This principle undermines the idea of a predestined fate in the sense that what your mind sees and interprets is not always what is there, but what is important at that moment. “Now here was Oedipa, faced with a metaphor of God knew how many parts; more than two, anyway. With coincidences blossoming these days wherever she looked, she had nothing but a sound, a word, Trystero, to hold them all together.” (p. 87). It can be inferred that fate is just a product of each person’s mind, which remembers certain events not because of destiny, but because it sees what it wants to see. Einstein’s theory of relativity is not only true in the tangible universe we inhabit, but in the private, subjective worlds that exist in each of our minds as well.
According to this theory, humans inhabit two worlds: one in which experiences are lived, and another private one which interprets, analyzes, and sorts these events. “Since they could not have withdrawn into a vacuum (could they?), there had to exist the separate, silent, unsuspected world.” (p. 101). It can be said that the Earth and Tralfamadore were Billy Pilgrim’s two worlds, the last one being the personal universe that unfolded inside his mind. According to Dr. Hilarious, our subjective worlds mold our characters and make us the individuals we reveal to be in the external world. Fantasies, dreams, and illusions are formed in our minds and influence the actions we commit and the goals we accomplish in life. “‘Cherish it!’ cried Hilarious, fiercely. ‘What else do any of you have? Hold it tightly by its little tentacle, don’t let the Freudians coax it away or the pharmacists poison it out of you. Whatever it is, hold it dear, for when you lose it you go over by that much to the others. You begin to cease to be.” (p. 113). Both worlds, therefore, are necessary to carry on with one’s existence: the tangible world to make you real and the subjective world to mold your mind and soul into being a unique individual.
There is nothing more than this existence in parallel, alternate universes. The figure of God and other superior beings, therefore, is just and illusion which takes form inside our minds. “‘You know what a miracle is. Not what Bakunin said. But another world’s intrusion into this one. Most of the time we coexist peacefully, but when we do tough there’s cataclysm..” (p. 97). Each person’s minds recreates different forms of superior beings, whether it be conscience, the universe, or an all-powerful god. Our mind gains part of an identity, which is in charge of uniting our surroundings with what we think and who we are. When this is accomplished, a miracle, or an intersection between two parallel universes, takes place. Miracles were taking place in Oedipa’s mind every time she saw the Trystero symbol, which connected the exterior world with the one inside her mind. For the Stoics, miracles were taking place every time they managed to behave indifferently towards the events that took place. According to this, exterior happenings are molded by the all-powerful presence the mind has conceived in order to create an interpretation and a response that unfolds in the tangible world.
Another detail that caught my attention was the ethical dilemma raised when Oedipa decided to aid Dr. Hilarious instead of running away. “Oedipa noticed that the window opened on a safe line of retreat. ‘You could’ve run,’ she said.” (p. 108). Instead of fleeing, Oedipa chose to enter the psychiatrist’s office, although her own life was at stake because of the gun Hilarious was holding. “In front of his door, Oedipa stood hipshot awhile, questioning her own sanity. Why hadn’t she split out through Blamm’s window and read about the rest of it in the paper?” (p. 109). Everybody is confronted with decisions they must make in life. Many times, we are presented with options that will provide an easy solution to the problem. We must choose between that or its alternative, which is to get involved in the problem. This will probably be a barrier in one's life, but will ultimately benefit the greatest amount of people. Although the first option is easier and better for us, we often decide to make a sacrifice for other people. This decision is influenced by the morality one possesses, by an inner force commonly called conscience that makes a person feel remorseful when he or she is acting selfishly. Someone’s conscience is personal; thus, this force inhabits in the subjective worlds inside our minds. If our reality is divided completely between the external and internal worlds, what determines the ability of a superior force to act upon us and influence the decisions we make?
Vocabulary:
Numen (plural numina): The spirit or divine power presiding over a thing or place.
Cherubic: having a child-like innocence.
Interregnum: a period when normal government is suspended; an interval or a pause between two events.
Grit: small, loose particles of stone or sand; courage, resolve, and strength of character.
Innocuous: not harmful or offensive.
According to this theory, humans inhabit two worlds: one in which experiences are lived, and another private one which interprets, analyzes, and sorts these events. “Since they could not have withdrawn into a vacuum (could they?), there had to exist the separate, silent, unsuspected world.” (p. 101). It can be said that the Earth and Tralfamadore were Billy Pilgrim’s two worlds, the last one being the personal universe that unfolded inside his mind. According to Dr. Hilarious, our subjective worlds mold our characters and make us the individuals we reveal to be in the external world. Fantasies, dreams, and illusions are formed in our minds and influence the actions we commit and the goals we accomplish in life. “‘Cherish it!’ cried Hilarious, fiercely. ‘What else do any of you have? Hold it tightly by its little tentacle, don’t let the Freudians coax it away or the pharmacists poison it out of you. Whatever it is, hold it dear, for when you lose it you go over by that much to the others. You begin to cease to be.” (p. 113). Both worlds, therefore, are necessary to carry on with one’s existence: the tangible world to make you real and the subjective world to mold your mind and soul into being a unique individual.
There is nothing more than this existence in parallel, alternate universes. The figure of God and other superior beings, therefore, is just and illusion which takes form inside our minds. “‘You know what a miracle is. Not what Bakunin said. But another world’s intrusion into this one. Most of the time we coexist peacefully, but when we do tough there’s cataclysm..” (p. 97). Each person’s minds recreates different forms of superior beings, whether it be conscience, the universe, or an all-powerful god. Our mind gains part of an identity, which is in charge of uniting our surroundings with what we think and who we are. When this is accomplished, a miracle, or an intersection between two parallel universes, takes place. Miracles were taking place in Oedipa’s mind every time she saw the Trystero symbol, which connected the exterior world with the one inside her mind. For the Stoics, miracles were taking place every time they managed to behave indifferently towards the events that took place. According to this, exterior happenings are molded by the all-powerful presence the mind has conceived in order to create an interpretation and a response that unfolds in the tangible world.
Another detail that caught my attention was the ethical dilemma raised when Oedipa decided to aid Dr. Hilarious instead of running away. “Oedipa noticed that the window opened on a safe line of retreat. ‘You could’ve run,’ she said.” (p. 108). Instead of fleeing, Oedipa chose to enter the psychiatrist’s office, although her own life was at stake because of the gun Hilarious was holding. “In front of his door, Oedipa stood hipshot awhile, questioning her own sanity. Why hadn’t she split out through Blamm’s window and read about the rest of it in the paper?” (p. 109). Everybody is confronted with decisions they must make in life. Many times, we are presented with options that will provide an easy solution to the problem. We must choose between that or its alternative, which is to get involved in the problem. This will probably be a barrier in one's life, but will ultimately benefit the greatest amount of people. Although the first option is easier and better for us, we often decide to make a sacrifice for other people. This decision is influenced by the morality one possesses, by an inner force commonly called conscience that makes a person feel remorseful when he or she is acting selfishly. Someone’s conscience is personal; thus, this force inhabits in the subjective worlds inside our minds. If our reality is divided completely between the external and internal worlds, what determines the ability of a superior force to act upon us and influence the decisions we make?
Vocabulary:
Numen (plural numina): The spirit or divine power presiding over a thing or place.
Cherubic: having a child-like innocence.
Interregnum: a period when normal government is suspended; an interval or a pause between two events.
Grit: small, loose particles of stone or sand; courage, resolve, and strength of character.
Innocuous: not harmful or offensive.
domingo, 23 de marzo de 2008
Projecting Different Worlds: The Crying of Lot 49, Chapter Four
This chapter, although short, concealed a lot of hidden meaning, confusing insights, and connections that tied almost every event in the novel together. “For one thing, she read over the will more closely. If it was really Pierce’s attempt to leave an organized something behind after his own annihilation, then it was part of her duty, wasn’t it, to bestow life on what had persisted… Under the symbol she’d copied off the latrine wall of The Scope into her memo book, she wrote Shall I project a world?” (p. 64). The phrase Oedipa copied into her notebook can have a wide variety of different meanings. “Shall I project a world” can be applied to the tangible world we inhabit, everybody’s world, or to her own, personal subjective world. When applied to the world humanity inhabits, the phrase may be interpreted to say that Oedipa, like most individuals, desires to leave a legacy or a mark of her existence. Oedipa wants to accomplish her current mission, unraveling the secret around the muted post-horn symbol, and therefore share a fragment of her life and accomplishments with the rest of the world. When applied to the world-within-a-world Oedipa may conceal within her mind, “Shall I project a world” may come to mean the desirability of this character to project, or reveal, her personal findings inside the universe of her mind. She is asking the question of whether or not she will someday be able to discover every meaning and truth about the symbol she found inscribed on the latrine wall. Oedipa believes it is her duty to bestow life upon the mystery that destiny has assigned her and give meaning to it inside her own, personal world. Will she be able to accomplish both missions?
Chapter four not only comprised a very implicit meaning of some details, but also tied together every small element presented to reader thus far. “Decorating each corner of the stamp Oedipa saw a horn with a single loop in it. Almost like the WASTE symbol. ‘A post horn,’ Cohen said; ‘The Thurn and Taxis symbol. It was in their code of arms.’ And Tacit lies the gold once-knotted horn, Oedipa remembered. Sure. ‘Then the watermark you found,’ she said, ‘is nearly the same thing, except for the extra little doojigger sort of coming out of the bell.’” (p. 77). The Thurn and Taxis symbol, as Cohen said, was muted, or silenced, probably in a conspiracy against this postal delivery agency. This means that every object with the muted post horn inscribed in it is in some way linked to the WASTE symbol in the bathroom nobody ever seems to want to talk about and to The Courier’s Tragedy and Tristero, from which Oedipa remembered the verse in italics. Everything has been interwoven into a type of mysterious conspiracy involving the WASTE acronym many people know but never really want to talk about. “She asked him then about the initials W.A.S.T.E., but it was somehow too late. She’d lost him. He said no, but so abruptly out of phase now with her own thoughts he could even have been lying.” (p.79). Pynchon uses this technique of avoiding one of the central questions of the novel in order to give a special importance to WASTE and everything it may conceal. But why is WASTE more important than the muted post horn or Tristero?
There was a very peculiar detail about Oedipa that really caught my attention throughout chapter four. Every time she visits a place or talks to somebody, the mystery about Tristero and the horn always comes up. For example, she discovered that there had been a T, standing for Tristero, on the night of the murder in 1853 in Fangoso Lagoons. “A cross? Or the initial T? The same stuttered by Niccolò in The Courier’s Tragedy. Oedipa pondered this.” (p. 71). Why did Oedipa infer that this incident was somehow related to a Jacobean play that was written in England? Aren’t there millions of names that begin with a T too? On her visit to Vesperhaven House, Oedipa found out that Mr. Thoth, a senior citizen, had a ring with the same muted post horn sign she had seen on the latrine door. What are the chances that one may encounter the same drawing in two very different places with dates a hundred years apart? Is all of this destiny, or is it mere coincidence? Was the order of the universe somehow manipulated to make Oedipa be at the right place at the right time, or was she simply lucky to find all these signs and make the correct connections between them?
Vocabulary:
Dross: something regarded as worthless.
Waive: refrain from insisting on or using.
Demur: raise doubts or objections or show reluctance.
Philately: the collection and study of postage stamps.
Chapter four not only comprised a very implicit meaning of some details, but also tied together every small element presented to reader thus far. “Decorating each corner of the stamp Oedipa saw a horn with a single loop in it. Almost like the WASTE symbol. ‘A post horn,’ Cohen said; ‘The Thurn and Taxis symbol. It was in their code of arms.’ And Tacit lies the gold once-knotted horn, Oedipa remembered. Sure. ‘Then the watermark you found,’ she said, ‘is nearly the same thing, except for the extra little doojigger sort of coming out of the bell.’” (p. 77). The Thurn and Taxis symbol, as Cohen said, was muted, or silenced, probably in a conspiracy against this postal delivery agency. This means that every object with the muted post horn inscribed in it is in some way linked to the WASTE symbol in the bathroom nobody ever seems to want to talk about and to The Courier’s Tragedy and Tristero, from which Oedipa remembered the verse in italics. Everything has been interwoven into a type of mysterious conspiracy involving the WASTE acronym many people know but never really want to talk about. “She asked him then about the initials W.A.S.T.E., but it was somehow too late. She’d lost him. He said no, but so abruptly out of phase now with her own thoughts he could even have been lying.” (p.79). Pynchon uses this technique of avoiding one of the central questions of the novel in order to give a special importance to WASTE and everything it may conceal. But why is WASTE more important than the muted post horn or Tristero?
There was a very peculiar detail about Oedipa that really caught my attention throughout chapter four. Every time she visits a place or talks to somebody, the mystery about Tristero and the horn always comes up. For example, she discovered that there had been a T, standing for Tristero, on the night of the murder in 1853 in Fangoso Lagoons. “A cross? Or the initial T? The same stuttered by Niccolò in The Courier’s Tragedy. Oedipa pondered this.” (p. 71). Why did Oedipa infer that this incident was somehow related to a Jacobean play that was written in England? Aren’t there millions of names that begin with a T too? On her visit to Vesperhaven House, Oedipa found out that Mr. Thoth, a senior citizen, had a ring with the same muted post horn sign she had seen on the latrine door. What are the chances that one may encounter the same drawing in two very different places with dates a hundred years apart? Is all of this destiny, or is it mere coincidence? Was the order of the universe somehow manipulated to make Oedipa be at the right place at the right time, or was she simply lucky to find all these signs and make the correct connections between them?
Vocabulary:
Dross: something regarded as worthless.
Waive: refrain from insisting on or using.
Demur: raise doubts or objections or show reluctance.
Philately: the collection and study of postage stamps.
sábado, 22 de marzo de 2008
A Satirical Reality: The Crying of Lot 49, Chapter Three
Since the beginning of the chapter, one could notice the importance of Tristero in The Courier’s Tragedy because of the foreshadowing of events Pynchon used. The first paragraph of chapter Three started talking about the play, an event that would unfold much later. “Things then did not delay in turning curious. If one object behind her discovery of what she was to label the Tristero System or often only The Tristero…” (p. 31). This peculiar character was also mentioned right before the play began, even though he would come to appear at the very last line of the tragedy. “So began, for Oedipa, the languid, sinister blooming of The Tristero. Or rather, her attendance at some unique performance, prolonged as if it were the last of the night…” (pgs. 39-40). Naturally, the reader became curious about the play and conscious that it concealed some sort of significance. Its plot resembled the reality of the characters in The Crying of Lot 49 not only in the bone digging system, but also in the Thurn and Taxis’ monopoly of the mail conspiracy. Both of these events were notable in the play as well as in chapter Three, in Mike Fallopian’s Peter Pinguid Society and in Manny di Presso’s sue against Pierce Inveraity. Pynchon may be suggesting that we are all actors in a play, omitting the Stoic belief in the presence of a superior force and suggesting that life is a cycle. Events repeat themselves, giving time a circular, non-linear pattern.
“Dear Mike, it said, how are you? Just thought I’d drop you a note. How’s your book coming? Guess that’s all for now. See you at the Scope.” (p. 39). The Peter Pinguid Society’s mail delivering system is so ineffective that its members are forced to send weekly letters to prevent the organization from collapsing. The majority of these letters are irrelevant and useless. In fact, I believe that Peter Pinguid Society members waste more money sustaining their mail delivery system and sending worthless weekly letters than if they were to use the U.S. Postal Service periodically. This reminds me of the character of Julia in the book 1984. Many times individuals disagree with an idea but are unable to eliminate or replace it. So, their only remedy is to satisfy themselves by breaking the rules even though they know that losses will be their only accomplishment, like Julia’s capture in 1984. Human nature is not based on achieving supremacy over others, but in relieving one’s self from what you think is incorrect.
The Crying of Lot 49 seems fictional at first because of its satirical tone and comic plot; however, it manages to portray, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, the reality and behavior of the human race. Maybe the ridiculous, sarcastic mood of the novel is used by Pynchon to highlight the queer, often absurd character of individuals today. The bone affair Inverarity was involved in seemed humorous at the beginning. I mean, who would ever think of digging and selling a massive quantity of human bones? As the case advanced, the reader noticed that human vices, such as corruption and robbery, began taking hold of the situation. “‘No bribes, no freeways,’…” (p. 46). Many people today are involved in fraudulent businesses where bribes and money take the lead role to dominate the affair. By merging this reality with the satirical, humorous tone of the novel, Pynchon manages to portray the ridiculousness of human vices and the way that they undermine the seriousness of our civilization. Does this have anything to do with the WASTE acronym Oedipa found on the bathroom door? Is the author of the novel trying to suggest that humanity is a waste, an annoyance, a plague?
In all the utopia/dystopia novels we have read thus far, literature was suppressed in an attempt to restrain individuality and freedom of thought; hence, nobody knew who Shakespeare was. On the contrary, literature and freedom of expression are permanently present in The Crying of Lot 49. This is the reason why Oedipa’s ignorance of Shakespeare seemed so weird. “‘Who was he?’ she said. ‘Who was Shakespeare. It was a long time ago.’” (p. 60). Why does Pynchon undermine the importance of the greatest playwright in history? What effect is he trying to create on the reader?
Vocabulary:
Proselytize: convert or attempt to convert someone from religion, belief, or opinion to another.
Reconnoiter: make a military observation of a region.
Poignant: evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret.
Indite: write, compose.
Ancillary: providing necessary support to the primary activities or operation of an organization, institution, or system, such as ancillary services.
Strafe: attack repeatedly with bombs or machine-gun fire from low-flying aircraft.
Interim: the intervening time; meanwhile. Example: In the interim I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
“Dear Mike, it said, how are you? Just thought I’d drop you a note. How’s your book coming? Guess that’s all for now. See you at the Scope.” (p. 39). The Peter Pinguid Society’s mail delivering system is so ineffective that its members are forced to send weekly letters to prevent the organization from collapsing. The majority of these letters are irrelevant and useless. In fact, I believe that Peter Pinguid Society members waste more money sustaining their mail delivery system and sending worthless weekly letters than if they were to use the U.S. Postal Service periodically. This reminds me of the character of Julia in the book 1984. Many times individuals disagree with an idea but are unable to eliminate or replace it. So, their only remedy is to satisfy themselves by breaking the rules even though they know that losses will be their only accomplishment, like Julia’s capture in 1984. Human nature is not based on achieving supremacy over others, but in relieving one’s self from what you think is incorrect.
The Crying of Lot 49 seems fictional at first because of its satirical tone and comic plot; however, it manages to portray, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, the reality and behavior of the human race. Maybe the ridiculous, sarcastic mood of the novel is used by Pynchon to highlight the queer, often absurd character of individuals today. The bone affair Inverarity was involved in seemed humorous at the beginning. I mean, who would ever think of digging and selling a massive quantity of human bones? As the case advanced, the reader noticed that human vices, such as corruption and robbery, began taking hold of the situation. “‘No bribes, no freeways,’…” (p. 46). Many people today are involved in fraudulent businesses where bribes and money take the lead role to dominate the affair. By merging this reality with the satirical, humorous tone of the novel, Pynchon manages to portray the ridiculousness of human vices and the way that they undermine the seriousness of our civilization. Does this have anything to do with the WASTE acronym Oedipa found on the bathroom door? Is the author of the novel trying to suggest that humanity is a waste, an annoyance, a plague?
In all the utopia/dystopia novels we have read thus far, literature was suppressed in an attempt to restrain individuality and freedom of thought; hence, nobody knew who Shakespeare was. On the contrary, literature and freedom of expression are permanently present in The Crying of Lot 49. This is the reason why Oedipa’s ignorance of Shakespeare seemed so weird. “‘Who was he?’ she said. ‘Who was Shakespeare. It was a long time ago.’” (p. 60). Why does Pynchon undermine the importance of the greatest playwright in history? What effect is he trying to create on the reader?
Vocabulary:
Proselytize: convert or attempt to convert someone from religion, belief, or opinion to another.
Reconnoiter: make a military observation of a region.
Poignant: evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret.
Indite: write, compose.
Ancillary: providing necessary support to the primary activities or operation of an organization, institution, or system, such as ancillary services.
Strafe: attack repeatedly with bombs or machine-gun fire from low-flying aircraft.
Interim: the intervening time; meanwhile. Example: In the interim I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
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