Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon

Thomas Pynchon’s novel the Crying of Lot 49 is full of ambiguity. Pynchon creates this ambiguity in the novel by mixing Oepida’s search for meaning with other elements such as his humorous portrayal of American society in the 60s in the story that seem to have little meaning to Oepida’s journey. Another feature of the novel that creates this ambiguity is the fact that very piece of information or evidence Pynchon presents about the tristero and WASTE does not fit perfectly with other information. The reader, therefore, never gets a complete or clear picture of WASTE or the tristero and their purpose. This ambiguity in the novel contributes to the ambiguity that Oedipa discovers at the end of her journey.

The novel is about Oedipa, who seeks to escape her world in search of a deeper meaning to life. At first, Oedipa imagines herself being rescued by Pierce but she later realizes that Pierce cannot help her escape from the confines of her tower; “Pierce had taken her away from nothing, there’d been no escape.” In order to escape her world, Oedipa goes on a journey to discovery the truth behind WASTE and the tristero. Oedipa hoped that by discovering the truth behind WASTE and the tristero, she will discover reality and her relation to this reality. Instead, Oedipa only finds isolation and ambiguity. Oedipa feels herself becoming isolated from all the men in her life. Hilarius, Mucho, Metzger, Driblette, and Fallopian were unable to help her. Oedipa appeals to Arnold Snarb last, “So you are the only one I have.” However, she looses Snarb also, leaving her in complete isolation. “She stood between the public booth and the rented car, in the night, her isolation complete, and tried to face the sea.”

Though Oedipa also searches for reality, the information she finds cannot be verified. Is all the things and people Oedipa encounters during her journey a coincidence or did they have a connection. Oedipa is not even sure if her search for the truth behind the tristero and WASTE was not a conspiracy invented by Pierce to fool her. In the end, Oedipa chooses to continue searching for truth; she shows up to the auction to find out who the mystery bidder was in hopes that he will lead her to the truth. Oedipa knew that she must either accept that her search for truth was just a joke or that she is paranoid. Oedipa thinks to herself, “It must have meaning beyond just a practical joke. Or you are fantasying some such plot, in which case you are a nut, Oedipa, out of your skull.”

Willaim Faulkner's "The Brooch"

William Faulkner’s short story “The Brooch” is about a man who is desperately trying to escape his mother’s control over his life. Because the story is told from the point of view of Howard, the son, the reader is able to see the mother through the eyes of Howard and get a sense of his desperation. Howard sees his mother as a controlling, possessive person who gives him no privacy. His description of Mrs. Boyd gives the reader a sense that she is not human. Mrs. Boyd knows and hears everything “that happened at any hour in the house.” Throughout the story, her words show no emotions and she is never described in any way that would allow the readers to associate an emotion to her. Her words are cold and emotionless. The description of Mrs. Boyd and her room adds to this impression that Mrs. Boyd is inhuman, Mrs. Boyd is described as “a thick woman with a face the color of tallow and dark eyes apparently both pupil-less and iris-less beneath perfectly white hair.” Just like the clock that sits on her nightstand, she has a “dead face.” The lamp beside her room gives off a “stale glow of sickroom lights.”

In comparison to Mrs. Boyd, Howard and Amy are described as emotional and human. Unlike Mrs. Boyd, the description of their actions and their words gives the readers a sense of how they feel. Readers can clear imagine how angry Howard is when he exclaims “With the—Hah!” and the actions he takes. “He stepped back and jerked the door open with something of his father’s swaggering theatricalism.” In this story, Amy is also portrayed as someone with emotions. Amy “spoke through the weeping in the choked gasping of a child, with complete and despairing surrender: ‘Oh, Howard! I wouldn’t have done that to you! I wouldn’t have! I wouldn’t have!” Unlike his mother’s room, the light in his room is not cold and stale. The fire which he makes gives off a “pulsing and gleaming” quality to his furniture. With this fire, Howard and Amy are warmed.

The narration allows the readers to get into Howard’s mind and read his thoughts. His sense of desperation is shown through the conflict between his mind and himself and his attempts to avoid his problems. Howard feels that he has no way out; he cannot escape his mother’s control. The inhuman and all-knowing description of his mother adds to this impression that Howard cannot hide or escape. Howard finally decides to commit suicide because he knows of no other way to escape his mother.

William Faulkner's "There Was a Queen"

William Faulkner’s “There Was a Queen” points out the injustice suffered by a child born fathered by a master and a slave woman. Elnora does not know that she has Satoris blood in her. Elnora,however, feels that she is more worthy of the Satoris name than Narcissa is; she feels that she is a part of the family and not someone who simply takes care of the family. This feeling comes from the fact that Elnora cares for and takes pride in the family. Elnora states, “Because it’s a Satoris job. Cunnel knowed that when he died and tole me to take care of her. Tole me. Not no outsiders from town.” Elnora’s statement reveals that she considers herself as a Satoris, and it was her job to take care of Virginia. Elnora clearly takes pride in the Satoris name. Elnora remarks, “Ain’t no Satoris man never missed nobody;” this statement implies that a man missing his mother is a sign of weakness, and Satoris men are not weak.

Though Elnora considers herself a Satoris, she is reminded again and again of her status as a black woman and a servant. When she calls Narcissa lazy, she is corrected by Virginia who says, “You stop talking that way about her” and “you keep it to yourself. She’s Bayard’s wife. A Satoris woman, now.” Elnora replies that Narcissa “won’t never be a Satoris.” Elnora’s strong remark shows that she feels the injustice of her status. While she cares for the Satoris family, she will never be considered a part of the family by Virginia. Narcissa, on the other hand, is considered a Satoris by Virginia even though Elnora feels that Narcissa does not deserve the name. Elnora points out that Narcissa is “Trash, Town trash.” Though Narcissa enjoys the lifestyle of a Satoris living in the house, she does not live within the standards Elnora finds acceptable for Satoris women.

In the beginning of the story, the narrator remarks that Elnora was Bayard’s half-sister, though most likely Elnora, Bayard, and their father did not know. At first, this statement by the narrator seemed out of placed with regard to the rest of the story. However, Faulkner may be pointing out the injustice suffered by Elnora. Though Elnora has Satoris blood in her, she is not considered a Satoris because of her status as a black woman. She is more considerate towards the family than Narcissa, who is only a Satoris by marriage.

William Carlose Williams "The Young Housewife" and "Portrait of a Lady"

William Carlos Williams’ two poems “The Young Housewife” and “Portrait of a Lady” allude to the role that power plays in the relationship between the two sexes. Linda A. Kinnahan, who wrote Poetics of the Feminine: Authority and Literary Tradition in William Carlos Williams, Mina Loy, Denise Levertov, and Kathleen Fraser, believes that Williams undermines the male’s “claim to mastery” by writing poems “about women that focus upon female vulnerability to forms of masculine power while signaling his own culpability within these culturally encoded dynamics.” Kinnahan seems to say that Williams is critiquing women’s vulnerability to male dominance by showing this dominance in his poetry and allowing the speaker to be judged. I agree that Williams does deliberately undermine masculine power in his poems. I, on the other hand, do not believe that Williams means to portray the female as completely vulnerable in the poem “The Young Housewife” and “Portrait of a Lady.” Describing the housewife Kinnahan states, “she ventures with full vulnerability onto the streets, where she becomes the unwitting object of another form of masculine mastery—the poet's gaze and the poet's representative possession of her.” The housewife is not actually vulnerable, but she is depicted as being vulnerable because she is being described through a male perspective.

Though the housewife is socially vulnerable, she does maintain sexual power over the poet. The housewife is socially vulnerable because she is defined by a male voice in a society dominated by males; this social vulnerability can be seen when the poet describes the housewife as being behind the “wooden walls of her husband’s hosed.” The poet is also able to present the housewife in the way that he sees her, and he describes her in a sensual manner. The poet describes the housewife as “shy, uncorseted, and tucking in stray ends of hair.” The poet, however, does not have any real power over the housewife. Though the poet wishes to dominate her by crushing her under the wheels of his car like the fallen leaves he compares her to, his desire is confined to his fantasy. The poet can only “bow and pass smiling.” The housewife, however, does have a sexual power over the poet, which is seen in the way the poet is mesmerized by the housewife.

This sexual power that women have over men can also be seen in “Portrait of a Lady” in the interaction between the male and female voices. In this poem, the man is attempting to flatter the woman by describing her in flowery language; the woman interjects with questions that cause the man to make mistakes and fumble over his descriptions. The woman asks, “Which sky?” and the man answers, “The sky where Watteau hung a lady’s slipper. Your knees are a southern breeze—or a gust of snow.” Realizing that he had mentioned the wrong artist, the man exclaims, “Agh! What sort of man was Fragonard?” The woman responds, “—as if that answered anything.” The woman continues to question the man causing him to make more mistakes. In this poem, the woman’s voice clearly has the power over the man’s voice. At the beginning, the man’s voice is confidence. This confidence quickly fades, and he becomes unsure of his descriptions. The man says, “Agh, petals maybe.” The presence of the woman’s voice causes the man to lose confidence. The poem “Portrait of a Lady” does not present female vulnerability from the male perspective; when the female voice is added, the male’s voice is the one that becomes vulnerable.

Poetics of the Feminine: Authority and Literary Tradition in William Carlos Williams, Mina Loy, Denise Levertov, and Kathleen Fraser. Copyright © 1994 by Cambridge UP.