The Crying Of Lot 49

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Oedipus as a metaphor for the wish of every small boy to get his father out of the way so he could have his mother all to himself. Most men resolve this dilemma by the time they reach adulthood; some do not, and are therefore unable to cope with the stresses of adult life. Men do not want to recognize this tendency in themselves, but -- like Oedipus -- once they are aware of this, it intrudes itself on their consciousness at every move, until they begin to doubt their own sanity. This is very much the case with Oedipa as well. Once she begins to pick up on the difference appearances of the existence of Tristero, it seems to be everywhere, and its pervasiveness seems impossible. She has other ties to Oedipus as well. Like him, she originally belonged to the society of which she claims to be a part -- in Oedipus' case, Thebes; in Oedipa's, twentieth-century America. But her discovery makes her an alien, and she comes to doubt her own sanity like Freud's conflicted ...

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