Critical Analysis: "The Crying of Lot 49"

Paper Summary:

This essay explores Pynchon's novel, "The Crying of Lot 49". It also looks at a critical essay written by Molly Hite and discusses the ways in which Oedipa becomes both isolated and at one with society. As more people join the "society of isolates", they become assimilated as one, rather than separate in their isolation. This essay covers some of the questions that arise when reading Pynchon's famous novel and it delves into the subject of love in "The Crying of Lot 49".

From the Paper:

"In her essay "Purity as Parody in _The Crying of Lot 49_," Molly Hite repeatedly argues that as Oedipa attempts to define her universe in terms of either absolute coherence, the "Word," "one," or "Meaning," or absolute incoherence, the "Void," "zero," or non-meaning, she misses a possible assimilation of these two ideas and thus becomes a failed heroine. Between these two apparently irreconcilable interpretative definitions that Oedipa gives to her universe, Hit posits that the novel suggests a third reality that the protagonist rejects during her alienated despair: "The idea of a community of isolates is a paradox.""

More papers on Critical Analysis: "The Crying of Lot 49":

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• Term Paper # 97875 : "The Crying of Lot 49"
• Analytical Essay # 28106 : "Music in "The Crying of Lot 49"

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