The Crying of Lot 49: Oedipa the executor

This first chapter of the book took me a lot of time to read, the writing is very hard to follow. Not only the sentences are organized in a strange way but there seems to be information shot at the reader about many topics in disorder. In the beginning of this first chapter Pynchon describes the main character, Oedipa Maas. She has been named to execute the will of her former boyfriend Pierce Inverarity.

This book is full of interesting topics, just looking at the characters names is very interesting. Oedipa resembles Oedipus, from Greek mythology. Oedipus was a boy who was abandoned by his family but faith said that he would kill his father, without knowing he was his father, and that he would marry his mother. After all this he would punish himself by taking out his eyes. How will Oedipa resemble this? will she have a similar destiny?

"Mucho" Maas is also a very interesting character; he is totally obsessed with used cars and works as a DJ. "Mucho" is Oedipas husband. I think this character will be very important in the chapters to come. "Mucho" is a kind of non-social character, he is not understood by others and seems to have a life with lack of friendship. “Mucho” Maas´s name means “Much More” in Spanish, This could mean that either this character is much more than it seems or that he has way too much things going on in his head. "Mucho" is a person that can be defeated easily.

"Mucho Maas, home, bounded through the screen door. "Today was another defeat," he began. (page 3)

Mucho just accepts the fact that he was defeated, and his says, today was just another defeat, which means he has had a number of defeats from day to day. Maybe these defeats happen in his different jobs or even with his relationship with Oedipa.

This first chapter has left me with a lot of doubts about this book and the chapters to come. What will happen to Oedipa and the other characters? This book is a satire that mocks modern world and human society, each page is full of meaning and because of this it´s very hard to follow.