Chapter Two of "The Crying of Lot 49" was not nearly as difficult to follow as Chapter One, however, I became lost again in Chapter Three. I could definitely piece together parts of the chapters that made sense to me and consequently figure out what was going on. Also, the satire of "The Crying of Lot 49" was more evident in Chapter Two than it was in Chapter One.
On page 22, Pynchon uses an excessive amount of repetition, "...impersonating a lawyer, who in front of a jury becomes an actor. Me, I'm a former actor who became a lawyer... a one-time lawyer who quit his firm to become an actor. Who in this pilot plays me, an actor become a lawyer reverting periodically to being an actor." This paragraph created what felt like a revolving door and it almost felt as though Pynchon was beating a dead horse, yet simultaneously this repetition was actually entertaining. It took me a minute to untangle what Pynchon was truly trying to say by going back and forth, confusing the reader.
The second passage that stood out to me, was probably one that would stand out to anyone reading this story. On page 24, "...quickly undressed and began putting on as much as she could of the clothing she'd brought with her: six pairs of panties in assorted colors, girdle, three pairs of nylons, three brassieres, two pairs stretch slacks..." and the list continues on. I was actually picturing Oedipa doing this, which made me giggle. It seemed as if she was going a little overboard to try and prepare herself for not ending up naked at the end of their "Strip Botticelli" because she could have saved herself from that situation by having not agreed to such an absurd bet in the first place. By the end of that scene, I was confused as to why she even wanted to cover up so much, when in the end she planned on being "laid" by Metzger anyway--maybe she was just putting on a show to act like a tease.
There was one last excerpt that reminded me of something I had read in the past--everything else in Chapter Three I was very confused by. On page 50, "...Being in thick with the Duke of Squamuglia, Pasquale plots to do away with young Niccolo by suggesting a game of hide-and-seek and the finessing him into crawling inside of an enormous cannon, which a henchman is then to set off, hopefully blowing the child, as Pasquale recalls ruefully, later on in the third act..." Oedipa is reflecting on a play in which the older half-brother is plotting against his younger half-brother in order to succeed him. This reminded me of the play "Hamlet," in which I vaguely recall a half-sibling plotting against his half-sibling. It seems as though many "older" plays have family members deceiving each other.
Vocabulary I was not familiar with:
Nexus: a connection; a link
Convolution: rolled up; coiled
Penal: prescribing punishment
Proselytizing: to convert someone/something
Ogive: a pointed arch
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