The Crying of Lot 49

Chapter 3 of The Crying of Lot 49 begins to explore the Tristero mystery in explicit terms. The conspiracy has lingered in the background of the text throughout, glimpsed more through an ambient sense of unease and alienation than through anything else. First, Oedipa sees the symbol of the muted post horn on the bathroom stall. Then she watches The Courier's Tragedy. These events are not linked in an obvious way, but they trigger Oedipa's subconscious. They continue the Conspiracies and Pattern Recognition and Interpretation that comprise the novel. That same ambient alienation that permeates society seems to burst through the veneer of reality and confront her with some deeper mystery. She copies down the post-horn symbol without knowing its history; she is immediately struck by the play's mention of "Trystero" (54). This fascination, however, develops into an obsession. As Oedipa's interest evolves, she feels compelled to know more about Tristero but has no idea why. In America 1960s Alienation and Aimlessness compels her to search for a meaning in the world, but this impulse will only end in endless conspiracies and pattern recognition and interpretation. The coincidences seem impossible, but so does the possibility of a conspiracy. It all connects too well but also connects toward a nonexistent end. This obsession causes Oedipa to disassociate from the world she actually knows. As she is driving along, she fails to recognize her own husband's voice on the radio. He belongs to a previous existence, a world that has been pushed aside by the emergence of her obsession. The 1960s has liberated women to search for meaning, to enter a new world of agency, but the novel questions if there is any meaning to be found; it all seems to be simply an arbitrary pattern of Oppressive Traumas and Patriarchal Constructs.

The nature of this obsession perplexes Oedipa. When she does receive answers, they are unsatisfying. In the bar, sat beside Mike Fallopian, Oedipa and Metzger see their first example of a clandestine mail delivery. Mike is handed a letter, revealing for the first time the functionality of a secret, private mail network that has existed for centuries. This revelation deepens Oedipa's obsession, but the strength of her obsession contrasts with the actual content of the letter. In the letter, Mike reads out the dull platitudes of his correspondent. The letter contains nothing of value; the only thing that matters is the way in which it was delivered. The mail system emphasizes the communication at the heart of society, the transmission of meaning and messages, but there is no substance behind these messages. There are alternate institutions to the primary ones, this being an underground mail network, but they too seem to be only about the conveyance of messages and not the messages themselves. There are only conspiracies and pattern recognition and interpretation.

The reveal speaks to a deeper sense of unease that Oedipa will feel throughout the novel, pointing to 1960s alienation and aimlessness. Rather than discovering some great secret or truth at the heart of the conspiracy, Oedipa succeeds in revealing yet more alienation and dissatisfaction. Mike says he sends these types of letters out of a formality. To remain a part of the network, he must use it. The result is the content-less drivel found in the letter, a formality rather than a sincere interest in his life; the institutions exist simply to exist. Society is organized around oppressive traumas and patriarchal constructs that exist simply because their meaning has, of course, been constructed. The terrible truth for Oedipa is that a secret world does exist, but it is as full of dull repetition and hollow social interaction and meaning as the alienated society from which she is trying to escape. There is no greater truth hidden in the conspiracy, only more alienation waiting to be uncovered.

The play is presented in synopsis form. For several pages, the narrator walks the audience through the twists and the turns of the play. The actual content of the play remains hidden from the audience, glimpsed only through the fragmentary snippets of lines that are shared. Instead, the actors provide meaning in the form of "an ambiguity" (51) in the words. The actors exchange "Significant Looks" (52) rather than actual lines of dialogue, further removing the audience from the actual content of the play. Like Mucho watching conversations from behind a panel of glass, the audience is removed from the actual conversations. These are then conveyed through layers of obfuscation, gesture, and interpretation. Like the novel itself, the play ends in an "anticlimax" (54). Oedipa never uncovers the full mystery of the Tristero, and the plot of the play is never resolved. She works to uncover the meaning of the play, of the conspiracies and pattern recognition and interpretation, and the reader does, too, as they attempt to interpret the novel itself. Oedipa instead will find meaning in the quest for information rather than the information itself. The play does not fascinate Oedipa; only the broader conspiracy to which it gestures does. Likewise, the plot of the novel is not resolved, but the audience can come to understand the broader social alienation that it seeks to describe.