The Crying of Lot 49

The novel The Crying of Lot 49 chronicles the journey of Oedipa, the story’s protagonist, as she tries to discover the truth behind a conspiracy she believes her ex-boyfriend got himself involved with. As the story progresses, so does the complexity and mystery behind the elusive Tristero conspiracy. In order to better understand the premise behind many of these complexities, the reader can look to the context in which the novel was written. In the midst of the Vietnam era and the discovery of U.S. counterculture, Pynchon drew most of his satire from this rich time period.

As Oedipa continues to discover more and more behind the underground postal service, she feels the satisfaction of finding answers, but simultaneously the unease of unraveling more mysteries. In examining this trend, it is easy to relate the progression of the book to the progression of the U.S. war effort in Vietnam. Even though the United States is gaining ground against its enemy, it realizes that the bigger picture hints towards an overall loss. In the end, Oedipa questions whether or not her pursuit of the truth was worth the answers she uncovered, and is even hesitant to believe them herself. She begins to wonder if she actually discovered a conspiracy, or if she was intrigued by the idea of conspiracy so much, that she pursued fiction. This, again, relates to the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. The country as a whole began to question whether or not its involvement was due to an illusion of democratic prosperity, or the fact that it honestly thought it could win. The disillusionment felt by Oedipa after finishing her task is echoed through the thoughts and feelings of anyone involved with the war.

In addition to the main storyline, one minor piece of satire that Pynchon uses within his work is the presence of drugs in the form of LSD. Though this impacts the big picture of the novel in a minor way, this fictional culture still draws upon its real life counterpart. It points out the fact that drugs and hallucinogens such as LSD helped to ruin many relationships within the United States during the Vietnam Era. The fact that the people you least expect to be using these chemicals is highlighted by the fact that Oedipa’s therapist becomes destructive while on drugs himself. This sub-plot to the main storyline seems incredibly prevalent to the Vietnam Era. It pointed out that people weren’t themselves while high.