Oedipa theorizes near the end of the novel that she has either stumbled onto the Tristero's plot, or she has been self-deceived into believing in the Tristero, or she has been deceived by a plot against her, or she is fantasizing some such plot.

Considering a passage earlier in the novel, it seems that at least her two notions of self-deception and fantasy can be marked off. Although she may exist as a typical suburban house wife who goes to Tupperware parties, gets drunk, and watches television when she's not tending to the house, she is not trying to escape her boring life by creating a conspiracy or dilemma to amuse herself because departure from this lifestyle is impossible.

"What did she desire to escape from? Such a captive maiden... soon realizes that her tower, its height and architecture, are like her ego only incidental: that what really keeps her where she is is magic, anonymous and malignant, visited upon her from outside and for no reason at all. Having no apparatus except gut fear and female cunning to examine this formless magic, to understand how it works, how to measure its field strength, count its lines of force she may fall back on superstition."

Thus, Oedipa is where she is because of chance, luck, something she has no control of. She does not choose where she is, nor can she escape it, because it's formless magic that dictates her life. Fate prevails over choice.

So, Oedipa cannot create this fantasy. It already exists and she has become part of it.

As I read the first chapter of The Crying of Lot 49, I - as everyone else, I'm sure - was taken aback by the crazy names in the novel. Oedipa? Mucho? Pierce Inverarity? Dr. Hilarius? None of them seem to be something parents would want to name their kid. That makes me think there must be a specific reason why Pynchon chose each one.

Perhaps they represent a character trait for each person. However, because it is so early in the story, I can only make a guess as to what the names mean.

"Oedipa" sounds very much like the female form of the name "Oedipus" - the subject of the Theban Cycle, a series of three plays by the Greek dramatist Sophocles. According to J. Kerry Grant's "A companion to The Crying of Lot 49," "The general pattern of Oedipus's and Oedipa's lives is identical: during their investigations, both characters move away from absolute positivism to relative indeterminacy; the 'crime' that both find so appalling is that they were so self-absorbed that they never saw the danger of the former position."

"Maas" sounds like a corrupted form of "mass"--something that resists change. Perhaps then, Oedipa is at once an active detective who also is sluggish and reluctant.

"Pierce Inverarity" sounds like "piercing variety" or "peers in variety," an identification that could be supported by Pierce's use of many different voices and vast array of dissimilar land-holdings.

In William Faulkner’s short story “The Brooch,” Mrs. Boyd’s brooch is a clear symbol for the traditional aspects of her household, as well as the controlling, materialistic ties she has with Howard. As he comes of age and begins to seek autonomy from her household, Mrs. Boyd uses her brooch to undermine his relationship with his new wife, Amy. Amy, who seems to be of questionable background and moral standing, is given the brooch in a rite of passage manner, as many mother-in-law’s pass down heirlooms to their husband’s wives. During the morning Amy called Mrs. Boyd “Mother,” for the first time, was the same day “Mrs. Boyd formally presented Amy with the brooch: an ancient, clumsy thing, yet valuable.” Although Amy consigns the brooch to her top dresser drawer at first, Howard chides her that she “has to wear it sometimes,” and she concedes to his point. As Amy started wearing the brooch in a regular fashion, Howard’s feelings on the subject soon went from pleasure that his new bride honored his family traditions to concern over his bride’s motives.

Soon, it became evident that Amy wore the brooch “not for pleasure but for vindictive incongruity; she wore it for an entire week on the bosom of a gingham house dress, an apron.” Instead of honoring his mother’s symbol of Her authority and traditional edge, Amy wore the brooch in an act of defiance against the influence of Howard’s mother upon him. In wearing the tradition-laden brooch on an apron or on a house dress, Amy lowered the value associated with the piece of jewelry, also symbolizing the value Amy places on the relationship between Howard and his mother.

Toward the end of the story, when Amy leaves the brooch in the car, the relationship between Amy, Howard, and his mother strongly deteriorates, underscoring the symbolic relationship between the value Amy holds for the brooch and those she holds for Howard’s mother. As Amy would not go in to bid goodnight to Howard’s mother, she basically rejects the necessity for her presence in the Boyd household, and ultimately rejects the relationship between Howard and his mother. With the rejection of the brooch, and with the brooch as a symbol of Boyd family tradition, Amy does not prove to be able to commit to a life with Howard and his mother. In the end, the failure of this relationship puts Amy back into the line of her old life’s work and Howard in the face of suicide.

H.D.’s Helen provides a surprising depiction of Zeus’ much desired daughter, revealing man’s dislike for a woman’s sexuality. Instead of romanticizing Helen – often called the most beautiful woman in the world, she describes her beauty but then expresses Greece’s distaste for her. This notion comes in stark contrast to other’s portrayals of the figure, such as Edgar Allen Poe. As suggested by Susan Stanford Friedman, in H.D.’s poem, “Helen does not stand alone, unveiled before the adoring eyes of [Poe]. Instead, she is accompanied by a hate-filled gaze that never leaves the beauty of her body.” Her good looks, it seems, are a reason for dislike.

The poem only describes Helen’s physical appearance – which “All Greece hates.” With “still eyes in the white face, the lustre as of olives…and slenderest knees,” Helen is beautiful but that is all we know. Nothing is said of her personality or what she has done. However, in mythology, Helen instigates the Trojan War when she is abducted because of her beauty. Thus, her sexuality can be considered dangerous because it literally starts a war. Greece can hate her because she tears the country apart because she is an attractive woman. Linking a woman’s beauty and sexuality to war suggests that it is a bad thing, perhaps because it makes her important, a threat to men.

The only way to suppress Helen’s sexuality so that Greece “could love indeed the maid” is through her death, if she “were laid, white ash amid funereal cypresses.” The word “laid” also carries sexual connotations. Lay can mean to sleep with someone, so if Helen were laid, she may be taken advantage of sexually, allowing for male dominance.

In a world where men have historically been in power, Helen acts as a threat. Her beauty can captivate men, have power over them, and lead them to such conflicts as war. Because she is empowered, Helen is hated.

The end of "The Passing of Grandison" is definitely unexpected. It leads readers to question the slave's rationale for delaying his escape for so long, even when he had the opportunity to do so with ease. Some people may suppose Grandison to be clever, thinking that he planned the flight all along, always outwitting his masters. I, however, reckon he may postpone his departure so that he can make the journey with his wife. In that case, the story works to reveal men's dedication to women, and the opposite sex's power over them.

The story opens with the line "When it is said that it was done to please a woman, there ought perhaps to be enough said to explain anything, for what a man will not do to please a woman is yet to be discovered." So, from the beginning, we see how men will do whatever they can to make a women happy.

Both Dick and Grandison have women in their lives that affect their decision making. Dick, who is "as lazy as the devil" needs only a mere suggestion from a female to "prompt him to the most remarkable thing he accomplished before he was twenty-five." When he wants to win the hand of Charity Lomax, he asks her, "Could you love me, Charity, if I did something heroic?" She responds that she'll consider him if he does something to prove his "quality." Because of her proposition, he decides to free a slave - a radical idea for Kentucky boy before the Civil War. Thus, Dick's actions are driven by a women's desires. Grandison, too, thinks with a woman in mind, although, he does not say it - his master, the colonel, does. While explaining to Dickwhy he shouldn't be afraid of Grandison running away the colonel says, "I reckon we can trust him...he's sweet on your mother's maid, Betty, and I 've promised to let 'em get married before long." He also promises to get him a "present, and a string of beads for Betty to wear when [he and Betty] get married in the fall" so he'll come back. Hence, Colonel support the slave's faithfullness by showing his faithfulness to a women. Surely he'll return so he can be with her.

And that's why I think Grandison waits to run away. He is dedicated to his love and will do what he can to be with her. Although he may be too stupid to initially realize freedom is better than bondage, he does know that he will be happier with his love. So when he firsts sees that Canada offers freedom, he waits to exploit it. He takes the arduous trip back home and then escapes with Betty. Love and women are worth it.

In class, I mentioned I would like to discuss the importance of the Mississippi River in Huck Finn, so here it goes.

In Huckleberry Finn, the Mississippi symbolizes the difficult search for freedom and escape. Huck and Jim float alone down their river in pursuit of their goals. Huck hopes to escape being “sivilized” by Widow Douglas and the abuse of his father. Jim seeks freedom from slavery. However, we see that the pursuit of freedom is not an easy journey. At first, the trip appears to run smoothly, like the river, as Huck learns to tolerate Jim and his character. Life on the river is easy. They “feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.” Later, though, the two learn they are not completely free from nature and the evils and influences of the towns on the river’s banks. The real world hinders their voyage. During their trip, the river floods, bringing Huck and Jim into contact with criminals like the Duke and the Dauphin, wrecks, and stolen goods which all hamper their trip. Then, a thick fog causes them to miss the mouth of the Ohio River - their route to freedom. This actually ends the search because Jim temporarily becomes a slave. Thus, freedom does not come easily; it is an arduous journey in which many do not succeed. Huck and Jim’s journey actually parallels what southern black’s search for freedom might have been like before slavery abolished.

I’m going to go out on a limb and mention something slightly, okay, very risqué and a little out of line, but hey, this is college.

There’s a chance I could be completely off, but I see a huge parallel to sex, specifically an orgasm in this poem. It appears that Dickinson might have wanted to talk about the subject, but had to hide her opinions by using seemingly contradictory words to avoid conflict in a conservative society.

I believe the speaker is describing her lover’s face as he reaches orgasm. She stares into his eyes that exhibit “a look of Agony” because the feeling is so overwhelming. Although agony usually means severe distress, it can also represent intense pleasure. She follows with “Men do not sham Convulsion, Nor simulate, a Throe.” These spasms that come with orgasm (right?) are real and true. His “Eyes glaze once” like “Death” because the sensation is too awesome to control, so extraordinary that it is “impossible to feign.” At the end, the lover is covered with sweat “beads upon the Forehead” that this anguish has “strung.” All his work amounted into the great climax, the anguish. He has just made love to the speaker.

So, at first, one might see the words in the poem as symbols of death and the despair because that is what they mean. However, many of them can have double meanings. Agony, convulsion, throe, and even death can be associated with orgasm.