The Dark Irony of Society in The Crying of Lot 49

Word Count: 881

The Crying of Lot 49 views society with irony, evident through the absurd events and characters throughout the novel. Some of the most prominent examples include the odd names of the characters, the conflict with Pierce Inverarity’s use of soldier’s remains, and Oedipa’s relentless search for patterns or conspiracies within the world around her. Although, the novel’s view of society is less than ideal, it does not seem to argue for change. The novel seems intent on pointing out and mocking some of the more absurd aspects of society, but it does not seem to offer any solutions to these absurdities or very much hope that there is anything redeeming about it. The most evident example of the novel’s lack of an argument for change is the lack of resolution or validation of the main protagonist’s ideas/suspicions at the end of the novel.

            One of the most evident aspects of the novel that seem to mock society is the naming of the characters, both main and peripheral characters. For example, the main character, whose point of view is traditionally able to be somewhat, if not the most, trusted in a novel, being named Oedipa reveals an ironic twist to the typical treatment of the main character of a story. Oedipa is strikingly similar to the name Oedipus, originally known by the Greek tragedy, but became more widely known for Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical diagnosis termed the “Oedipus Complex,” in which a child desires their opposite-sex parent and hates/is in rivalry with their same-sex parent. The fact that the main, and supposedly most trustworthy character of the novel shares a similar name to a psychoanalytical diagnosis, and such a widely controversial one, is a strong indicator that the novel views widely accepted ideas, such as those surrounding main protagonists in a story, of society with irony and mockery. Another example of this irony is Oedipa’s therapist, revealed to have been a Nazi who experimented cruelly on Jews (112), named Dr. Hilarius. Not only is the name kind of distasteful and insensitive, especially with how close to the Holocaust this novel was published ( Fountain, Lecture), but it turns society’s view of doctors as the most sane or trustworthy public servants on its head; the doctor in this novel is not only a former Nazi trying to get Oedipa on LSD (8), but he is also literally, and ironically, named something strikingly close to a joke.

            One of the more shocking and ironic events of the novel is when Di Presso, the lawyer of Tony Jaguar, confronts Metzger about Inverarity not paying his client for human remains he supplied to make “bone charcoal” or filters for cigarettes (45-46). This new conflict is shocking in its casual treatment of disturbing and destroying soldiers’ bones to make something as trivial, and temporary, as cigarette filters, but it also sheds light on the society’s casual overlooking of the suffering necessary to produce their comfortable, convenient life (such as child labor and exploiting poorer countries to make the commodities sold in America for a much larger profit). The irony is that readers can see the offense in disturbing the remains of American soldiers, but most do not blink at (or choose to ignore) the many adults and children in other countries who suffer, and even die, to produce even the most trivial of products, like toys and designer clothes. The characters of the novel also reflect this irony in their concern over payment and contracts, rather than over the idea that a man went digging up cemeteries in Italy (46).

            Finally, although the novel depicts a dark, irony-filled society, it also does not offer much of an argument for change or hope for change. There can be an inferred argument for change by depicting society in so obviously mocking terms (i.e pointing out the flaws in anything is implicitly saying it should be improved), but the lack of resolution or tying up loose ends at the end of the novel seems to dispute this “implicit” argument. Rather than the reader coming to understand the true meaning of “tristero” or the muted-horn symbol or realizing the connection between all of the odd events and people Oedipa comes across, the reader is left with an abrupt ending; Oedpia sitting at the auction of Inverarity’s estate, “to await the crying of lot 49” (152). Thus, the reader is not only left with remaining questions regarding Oedipa’s theories and conspiracies, but also with an incomplete and unsatisfying explanation for the novel’s title – why is the crying of this lot so significant? This ending puts an ironic twist to the traditional expectations of ending supplying understanding and the significance or reason for a novel’s title being revealed at some point in the story. Additionally, this abrupt ending that lacks resolution or understanding seems to symbolize the novel’s view of society and the possibility for its change or improvement. If the novel is supposedly arguing for a change in society or depicting some superior method or way of life, then the ending does not make sense. If this were the case, it should have, if not provided a resolution, at least some hope that Oedipa was on to something and not simply doomed to forever be finding odd connections and conspiracies in the world.