The Crying Of Lot 49 Character Analysis

Just like every person has their own journey through life, every character has their own quest on which they embark and learn from. In Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, the main character, Oedipa, undertakes a quest of not only fulfilling her duties to her ex boyfriend, Pierce, but fulfilling something within herself as well. Pynchon’s application of the quest model in this book portrays Oedipa’s personal development through use of symbolism and metaphor, and also brings forth greater implications about the universal struggles of every being’s individual journey. The quest is often influenced by society. In The Crying of Lot 49, there are a lot of references to women’s empowerment such as character’s names being female-associated terms.

Mysteries may remain mysteries indefinitely. The answer is not the answer. The point of the quest has never been the treasure at the ending; it has always been learning and self-discovery. Taking away the answer to the mystery that the readers have all anticipated brings forth the truth that the end result is not, and has never been the point of the journey. Humans think they have the answers, the ultimate truths, in their brains. They take bits of information and piece them together until it makes sense, and that is the Truth. However, there is no real truth. The existence and creation of the universe, the higher powers, the meaning of life, and the mere concept of existing in general are all things that people think they have the answers to because the unknown is what propels their fears, but there is no ultimate truth; only the truth that people decide is the truth. Every human lives their own truth. The answer to these mysteries is not the answer to life. The quest of how we came to our own conclusions about these mysteries is the point of the quest itself. The story may not feel resolved to the reader, but the quest served its full purpose to the character in self-discovery and lessons