ENG 112: The Crying of Lot 49

Assesses the concept of patriotism and its implication on the concept of democratic politics. Discussion on the history of U.S. government and politics; Reference to the U.S. politics based on the motion pictures, 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' and 'Guadalcanal Diary'; Details of the book 'The Crying of Lot 49,' by Thomas Pynchon.

Comments on how order is defined out of chaos without falsifying the world by Oedipa Maas in `The Crying of Lot 49,' by Thomas Pynchon. Maas finds herself increasingly lost in dilemmas; Dilemma of the artist who, in the very process of fashioning his work fashions its systems; The quality of Oedipa's perceptions; More.

This article examines the act of naming in The Crying of Lot 49 and its relevance to the gendering of Oedipa's pursuit of knowledge. By examining the grand narratives implied by Oedipa's name, the paper explores the potential for this novel to be a feminist narrative which makes statements about the female religious role and the position of women in relation to psychoanalysis.The novel is considered against its contemporaneous cultural climate in terms of the second wave of feminism, the discovery of previously suppressed religious texts and the emerging emphasis on psychoanalytic discourse in everyday speech.