In "A Journey Into The Mind of Watts," Pynchon takes a much more straightforward approach. Compared to The Crying of Lot 49, he doesnt leave as much room open for interpretation, his argument and purpose is more clear. While we are in a daze of confusion and frustration in Lot 49, we are simply given info, being persuaded, in Watts. In 49, Pynchon wants the reader to be thrown into the same state as Oedipa, it is a much more personal, engaging read.
Both stories speak of "escapism" and show how people who are unhappy with their reality try and find a way to free themselves from it. "But alcohol is a natural part of the Watts style; as natural as LSD is around Hollywood. The white kid digs hallucination simply because he is conditioned to believe so much in escape, escape as an integral part of life." In "Watts" Pynchon is arguing that people accept their fate instead of changing it. They feel that it will always be the way it is, that the racism will always exist, The Man will always bring them down-"because their world and their scene cannot accept the possibility that there may be, after all, no surprise. But it is something Watts has always known."