I think it’s appropriate that Pynchon made his main character Oedipa, for a woman seems to be the most alienated in this postmodern society. Capitalistic Postmodern American society seems to need expansion and commodities in the same way Inverarity feels “the need to possess, to alter the land” (148). The men in Lot 49 are scientists, capitalist, attorneys, etc. while women are left to attend Tupperware parties and be sexual objects. Oedipa may be the novel’s only strong female character; however, this is only because she is the protagonist. A list of the women in the novel goes as such: Oedipa, a married, adulterous woman. Francesca, incestuous and almost oedipal (coincidence?). Serge’s girlfriend, a 15-year-old who ran off with an aging Metzger. The women at The Scope, twined about Fallopian’s body like whores. Grace Bortz, a mother who can’t seem to control her children. All of the above are either sexual conquests or mother-figures since there is no place for them in society and they, like Oedipa, would be alienated if they tried for more. After all, American society is only concerned with reproduction, right?
It seems that Oedipa’s only power over the men in the novel is her sexuality. She is repeated referred to as Inverarity’s mistress, strips for Metzger in order to get the “truth” out of him, and when she can be no help to Nefestis and his demon, his immediate response is sexual intercourse. When posing as “Arnold Snarb” in The Greek Way (which, by the way, also contains no women as it is a gay bar), Oedipa finds that a sect of society does not even want her for sex…the man she meets has no need for her either mentally or sexually.
So what are we to learn from this? Well, Oedipa’s struggle to find herself in a society that seems to only have a superficial use for her may represent the alienated and lost individual in a society where mass production and “more” or mucho maas (Much more) is valued over singularity or individualism. Also, it may be commenting on the fact that, as sex becomes less and less of a taboo in postmodern culture, women themselves are becoming a commodity.
Right now I feel as if I’m making a bit of a stretch. I feel I need more time to flesh out my thoughts, but alas I only finished reading today (having felt the same road blocks as Karen).
On a final note: I have Two questions.
1. I was actually going to write something similar (although not quite so eloquent) as Julie/Jules’ post about the nature of Trystero and the “muted horn” until I was too late and she got there first…One thing I’d like to add though is that I feel it’s ironic that Pynchon has the characters in his novel place their letters of dissent in a trashcan labled “WASTE.” Is it a waste, this search for the truth? Is it a waste to dissent? Are we all going to be taken, like it or not, by mainstream society (or, as Julie/Jules puts it, “Whole Foods Culture”)?
2. Is Trystero mainstream? Trystero itself seems to mutate and change throughout history in order to meet its needs in each new society. Perhaps it represents the oppression of the revolution in each society that is systematically dominated at each step by the more conservative sect? The more powerful agents?