Crying of Lot 49

I had much difficulty reading this novel. A lot of the thought transitions were difficult for me to follow as well as some of the events that occured. " 'I heard that,' Pierce said. 'I think it's time Wendell Maas had a little visit from The Shadow.' " I never did fully comprehend exactly what they were referring to. The rhetorical style of confusion played a major part. As Chelsea mentioned in the post before, the novel gives less clarity as it progresses. However the lack of clarity plays greatly to a theme that I discuss later on. The rhetorical choice is a great foundation for the relevance toward the Oedipa as she becomes more confused and continually understands about this "mystery" and herself as the novel progresses.

The continuing theme of increased confusion as the book progressed often paralleled the involvement of the U.S. in the Vietnam war. One of the most influential themes I left throughout this book derived from the issue of ownership or in Oedipa's case, the issue of will. Though she was left to execute the will of her ex-boyfriend, one who a distinct relationship (besides a past one) is hard to view. When she is first given the request to execute her ex-boyfriend's will, she doesn't necessarily have any obligation to accept, but the more she involves herself into his will, the more she realizes the difficulty of pulling out. The United States had a small reason to enter the war in the first place: the fear of communism and the Domino Theory. However, the more they invested time, money, and soldiers into the war, the more they were pressed to actually show significant results. The longer, we stayed in the war, the clarity of the reason and purpose was slowly degraded until we had to really and thoroughly question the purpose behind this war and whether the red scare was really a scare.

From an outsiders point of view, sometimes I do feel like like Oedipa especially in her use of reasoning, claimed from outside evidence. Rather than have a theory, I feel that more than not, I seek the evidence and apply a theory afterward. She often looked for patterns to dictate her conclusions as well hence the repetition of the muted trumpet or the realization toward the end of the novel of all the influences connected with Pierce's company and that it could all be a ploy. Whoever ends up buying Lot 49, there's always the possibilities of different endings. As a reader, I usually apply to vote for a theory and then selectively or objectively look for evidence to support, almost exactly the opposite of how Oedipa chose to look for her evidence.