Black Boy :: essays research papers

The Crying of Lot 49In a story as confusing and ambiguous as Thomas Pynchons The Crying of Lot 49, it is difficult to connect any aspect of the book to a piece of modern culture. How ever so, Oedipas involve, her inquisition for the faithfulness, and the paranoia therein, atomic number 18 inherent in the plots of todays most-watched television and movies. though many themes from the story can be tied to modern culture, possibly the most prominent is the theme of a quest for truth. Oedipas quest is best represented via a popular FOX television luff called The X-Files.At first sight, the comparison is almost too obvious. Agent throw Mulder, played by David Duchovny, seeks the truth behind the apparent brain-teaser of stranger abduction and the supernatural, a quest that he dubs the X-Files. Oedipa, too, is looking for the truth underneath her mystery WASTE. Both characters yearn for the truth behind events, a truth that may or may not exist, in mysteries that fold plots up on themselves endlessly. Beyond the obvious similarities, however, lie more, almost uncanny, parallels.Though some(prenominal) Mulder and Oedipa claim to seek the truth, what they twain seek is resolution to the questions within themselves. For example, it is understood by fans of The X-Files that Mulder began his search for alien life with the supposed alien abduction of his child. The quest for the truth, then, is personalized for Agent Mulder, as he himself claims that he would not work as an FBI agent if his sister had not been supposedly abducted. Oedipa is on a personal quest as well. No other character in the story seeks the truth behind WASTE, the ho-hum couriers horn, the play The Couriers Tragedy, Pierce Inveraritys stamps, and a secret postal service. In fact, no one else has ever before made such a possibly ridiculous connection So, as both characters seek their personal truths, they slowly begin to fear that no help exists.The motives of these two seekers are impo rtant, and indeed similar. There seems to be an obsession to get word a truth in symbols (be they horns or crop circles), a truth that both characters come to realize may not even exist. By definition, obsession is a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often incorrect idea or feeling. Therefore, the moment that their questions are absolved, the moment that their hypotheses are proved, the quest and its subsequent paranoia, frustration, and pain are removed.