The story starts out with the husband learning that his wife has an old friend coming to visit them. She then tells him that the person coming to visit it an older blind man named Robert and that his wife had just passed away. The narrators wife had worked for the blind man one summer before the two had become married and her and the blind man had stayed in touch since then, I think it said it had been ten years or so since they had last seen each other. The two stayed in contact with each other over the years by sending audio cassette tapes to each other. On the tapes were the events and things that had happened in each others lives since they had sent the last tape. Well to start with the husband wasn't very thrilled with the idea of the blind man coming to stay at his house as he says, " I wasn't enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me."...(pg. 108). At this point if i was in the husbands shoes i would have more than likely felt the same way.
The story then goes on to tell some of the events that happened on the tape from both the wife's life and the life of Robert the blind man. The husband still doesn't like the idea of Robert coming to visit and his wife i think started to get annoyed with him as she says, "If you love me, you can do this for me. If you don't love me, okay. But if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I'd make him feel comfortable." (pg 111). His wife then becomes more frustrated as he responds by saying he doesn't have any blind friends. The wife then responds by saying " you don't have any friends, period. Besides goddamn it his wife just died! Don't you understand that. The man's lost his wife!" (pg 111) His wife then starts to tell him of how Robert had meet his wife. The he starts to feel kind of bad for Roberts wife because she had to go through life with her husband not being able to see anything. He said she must have been hurt a lot by the fact that she could never get a compliment from her spouse about how nice she looked or anything.
His wife then goes to the train depot to pick up Robert and brings him back to the house. They all gather in the house and the wife and Robert talk non stop about the train ride and all the things that have happened lately in their lives. The husband tries to chime in from time to time but i can tell he still feels pretty awkward about the situation. Then they eat supper and no one says a word and the husband says, " We dug in . We ate everything there was to eat on the table. We ate like there was no tomorrow." (pg 115) My guess is that they scarfed down their food so fast because they had been drinking the whole time that they were talking. The husband just like i would seems to be amazed by the fact that Robert seems to know were everything is on his plate and uses his knife and fork to cut his meat as though he can see everything perfectly. After supper they go back into the living room to talk and have some more drinks. After a while his wife goes up stairs to change into her robe and the husband is left there with the blind man. Even though i think he has become a little more comfortable with the situation i still think its a little awkward for him, which is understandable. While his wife is gone he turns the tv on and the two men start to talk a little more. His wife comes back down stairs and sit between them on the couch and falls asleep shortly after. To me this is when the two men seem to become comfortable with each other. They both watch tv, well one watches tv and the other one listen, have drinks and smoke cigarettes and dope. They can't find anything good on tv so they end up watching a program about cathedrals. The husband tries to describe to Robert how a cathedral looks put does a pitiful job at it.
Robert then ask the husband to try and draw a cathedral for him while he holds on to his hands so that he can kind of get a feel for how one looks. This is the point in the story that i believe the husband really starts to connect with Robert. The husband starts out slow thinking that he can't do it but with Robert encouraging him he continuous on and starts to feel really good about his drawing. Robert then ask the husband to continue drawing but with his eyes closed. he does and when they are done drawing Robert ask him what he thinks. The husband replies by saying, " My eyes were still closed. i was in my house. I knew that. But I didn't feel like I was inside anything. Its really something." (pg 124) I can't really get a feel for how the husband feels at this point.
To me this story seemed to be kind of a feel good story. It starts out with the husband not wanting this strange man in his house, especially since he was blind. But over time I think he really made a connection with Robert. In the end of the story when they are done with the drawing of the cathedral I think the husband kind of gets a feel for how Robert has to live his life without being able to see and starts to feel sorry for the man. I think he kind of had a feeling of pride or accomplishment when he got done drawing the picture while having his eyes closed. Something that kind of randomly pops out at me now is the fact that the wife has a tendency to repeat a lot of things. For example when she tells them to wake her up when they are on the couch talking she must have told them 2 or 3 time in a row. Another thing is that the blind man doesn't wear any kind of glasses, he has a beard, doesn't use a cane, and he smokes non stop. This doesn't really fit into place right here but it was just a random thought that popped into my head at the moment. Overall i thought this was a really good book. I liked it.
Disconcerting- to upset the self possession of...to frustrate.
Gargoyles- a carved stone statue usually made of granite...used to convey water from the roof and away from the side of a building.
Cathedral- a religious building for worship....used by Roman Catholic, some Methodist, and some Lutheran churches.
Viaducts-a bridge composed of several small spans.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
"The Crying of Lot 49" Chapter 6
The last chapter begins with Oedipa going back to the hotel in San Narcisco after I think they has separated from her husband , which is not official but is more than likely. Oedipa then gets in touch with Professor Bortz and drives out to his house to talk about the play with him. On the way out to the professors house she drives by the bookstore where she first bought a copy of play and found the building burned to the ground. "Driving over she passed by Zapf's used books, and was alarmed to find a pile of charred rubble where the bookstore only a week ago had stood" pg. 122). Oedipa then went to the government surplus store next door to find out what happened. The owner of the store tells Oedipa "Zapf, the damn fool, has set fire to his own store for the insurance" pg. 122). After she finally gets to the professors house the professor says Tristero's version of the play is " A pornographic Couriers Tragedy. pg 125). Oedipa then finds out from the professor that Driblette has committed suicide and now she realized that she will never know why he mentioned the tristero in his own version of the play.
From some information that the professor gave her, which is somewhat confusing to me, Oedipa begins to put together how the Tristero was created. This too seems rather confusing to me as there are cousins fighting and going to war against each other. Oedipa then spends the next few days doing more and more relentless research and she also attends Driblette's funeral.
Oedipa eventually goes back to the scope were she talks to Mike Fallopian. She begins telling him about everything she has found out and then Mike tells her, "Has it ever occurred to you, Oedipa, that somebody's putting you on? that this is all a hoax, maybe something Inverarity set up before he died?".pg138). This thought has came across her mind before but she continues to refuse it. Oedipa talks with Mike a little more and then becomes angry and leaves the bar.
After recieving a letter from the bookstore that has already burned down Oedipa goes back to Pierce's home to do some research as the idea that he may have been playing a joke on her is finally starting to sink in. She finds out that most of the places and people she has meet along the way were in some kind of contact with Pierce. He either owned the building or had supported the person with money or help of some kind. I start to become a little more confused towards the end of the story but Oedipa finds out that Pierce's stamps on being auctioned off over a lot 49. Oedipa thinks that whoever bid on most of the stamps may be the person to talk to in order to figure out the whole thing, and then the story ends.
This book to me was good and times and at other times i didn't like it all that much. There seems to be tom much jumping around from place to place and to many character for me to keep up with. At other times it kept me on edge wondering what would happen next. To me a secrete underground mail service doesn't seem all that exciting of a story for a book. But like i said at times it did keep me wondering what would happen next. I also would have like to figure out what happened in the end instead of the story just ending.
vatican-a city state in Italy
swastika- a cross with arms bent at right angles, famous for the nazi party but the swastika was used by many different cultures around the world.
From some information that the professor gave her, which is somewhat confusing to me, Oedipa begins to put together how the Tristero was created. This too seems rather confusing to me as there are cousins fighting and going to war against each other. Oedipa then spends the next few days doing more and more relentless research and she also attends Driblette's funeral.
Oedipa eventually goes back to the scope were she talks to Mike Fallopian. She begins telling him about everything she has found out and then Mike tells her, "Has it ever occurred to you, Oedipa, that somebody's putting you on? that this is all a hoax, maybe something Inverarity set up before he died?".pg138). This thought has came across her mind before but she continues to refuse it. Oedipa talks with Mike a little more and then becomes angry and leaves the bar.
After recieving a letter from the bookstore that has already burned down Oedipa goes back to Pierce's home to do some research as the idea that he may have been playing a joke on her is finally starting to sink in. She finds out that most of the places and people she has meet along the way were in some kind of contact with Pierce. He either owned the building or had supported the person with money or help of some kind. I start to become a little more confused towards the end of the story but Oedipa finds out that Pierce's stamps on being auctioned off over a lot 49. Oedipa thinks that whoever bid on most of the stamps may be the person to talk to in order to figure out the whole thing, and then the story ends.
This book to me was good and times and at other times i didn't like it all that much. There seems to be tom much jumping around from place to place and to many character for me to keep up with. At other times it kept me on edge wondering what would happen next. To me a secrete underground mail service doesn't seem all that exciting of a story for a book. But like i said at times it did keep me wondering what would happen next. I also would have like to figure out what happened in the end instead of the story just ending.
vatican-a city state in Italy
swastika- a cross with arms bent at right angles, famous for the nazi party but the swastika was used by many different cultures around the world.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
"The Crying of Lot 49" chapter 4
In chapter 4 Oedipa goes from person to person and from place to place trying to piece together clues and trying to figure out what W.A.S.T.E may stand for, and she is also trying to figure out what the strange symbol she found on the bathroom wall at the scope may mean.
Oedipa starts her research out by rereading Pierce's will and realizes that the Yoyodyne company is mentioned in it so she decides to go to one of the stockholders meeting which was to be held the next day. This meeting seemed very strange to me as the company president led the people in a sing along after the regularly scheduled business was taken care of. After all this takes place Oedipa is taken on a company tour and seemingly like she always does she gets lost and separated from the rest of the group. It just so happens that the person she finally stops and talks to is doodling the mysterious symbol at his desk. Oedipa describes this symbol as " a loop, triangle, and trapezoid all connected together". After visiting and talking with this guy she gets a copy of the play thy saw a few days earlier and decides to got to the place the copy of the play was published.
While on her way Oedipa decides to stop by an old folks home that Pierce had built. Once again she picks a completely random person to talk to. He tells her about the dream he was having, it was about his grandfather who rode for the pony express. The pony express was the fastest mail service of its time using horse and buggy to carry mail from east to west. The pony express only ran for about a year but it was the quickest way to get word from east to west before the telegraph was invented. The man said his grandfather was an Indian killer and he showed her a ring that his grandfather has cut off one of the Indians. And once again here it was that strange symbol she was trying to chase down the meaning off, the symbol was on the ring that the old man showed her. So after this Oedipa goes back to the scope to talk to Fallopian to try and piece together some of the clues but, they fail to do so. So once again Oedipa ventures off and heads to see Pierce's personal stamp collector. On many of the stamps they looked at they found the mysterious symbol and some symbols that were slightly different.
So pretty much chapter 4 is about Oedipa running around following clues trying to figure out anything she can about this symbol. All of the people that Oedipa talked to in this chapter seemed to cut her off and try to change the subject when Oedipa seemed to dig to far. There is very little mention of Metzger in this chapter as he seems to be working on the will of Pierce. There is also no mention of Oedipa's husband, i think their relationship may fall apart within the next few chapter. As of right now i really don't know what to expect next, Oedipa keeps digging for clues but then she keeps getting the door slammed in her face when she digs to far.
Oedipa starts her research out by rereading Pierce's will and realizes that the Yoyodyne company is mentioned in it so she decides to go to one of the stockholders meeting which was to be held the next day. This meeting seemed very strange to me as the company president led the people in a sing along after the regularly scheduled business was taken care of. After all this takes place Oedipa is taken on a company tour and seemingly like she always does she gets lost and separated from the rest of the group. It just so happens that the person she finally stops and talks to is doodling the mysterious symbol at his desk. Oedipa describes this symbol as " a loop, triangle, and trapezoid all connected together". After visiting and talking with this guy she gets a copy of the play thy saw a few days earlier and decides to got to the place the copy of the play was published.
While on her way Oedipa decides to stop by an old folks home that Pierce had built. Once again she picks a completely random person to talk to. He tells her about the dream he was having, it was about his grandfather who rode for the pony express. The pony express was the fastest mail service of its time using horse and buggy to carry mail from east to west. The pony express only ran for about a year but it was the quickest way to get word from east to west before the telegraph was invented. The man said his grandfather was an Indian killer and he showed her a ring that his grandfather has cut off one of the Indians. And once again here it was that strange symbol she was trying to chase down the meaning off, the symbol was on the ring that the old man showed her. So after this Oedipa goes back to the scope to talk to Fallopian to try and piece together some of the clues but, they fail to do so. So once again Oedipa ventures off and heads to see Pierce's personal stamp collector. On many of the stamps they looked at they found the mysterious symbol and some symbols that were slightly different.
So pretty much chapter 4 is about Oedipa running around following clues trying to figure out anything she can about this symbol. All of the people that Oedipa talked to in this chapter seemed to cut her off and try to change the subject when Oedipa seemed to dig to far. There is very little mention of Metzger in this chapter as he seems to be working on the will of Pierce. There is also no mention of Oedipa's husband, i think their relationship may fall apart within the next few chapter. As of right now i really don't know what to expect next, Oedipa keeps digging for clues but then she keeps getting the door slammed in her face when she digs to far.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
"The Crying of Lot 49" chapter 2
Chapter 2 starts out with Oedipa leaving her home in Kinneret, California and headed to San Narciso where Pierce had lived and also were his law firm was based. Once Oedipa arrives into town she checks into a hotel. Here shee meets a young guy named Miles. Oedipa describes him in the following way, "The manager, a drop out named Miles, maybe 16 with a beatle haircut and a lapelless, cuffless, one button monhair suit". A monhair suit is made out of silk like fabric or yarn from the hair of an Angora goat. Oedipa notices Miles' singing and he tells her that he is in a band called the Paranoids. I think Mile's is sort of paranoid as he thinks Oedipa wants to sleep with him in exchange for Oedipa taking a demo of Miles' band to her husband so he can play it on the radio. Paranoid is a thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear.
Later on that night a lawyer named Metzger shows up to help Oedipa execute the will. It is quickly learned that Pierce's estate was very complicated as he had his hands dipped into everything while he was alive. As the night goes on Metzger and Oedipa begin drinking heavily and Metzger starts to tell Oedipa of his past. Metzger was a child actor and it just so happened that while they were talking and drinking one of the movies he was in as a child came on the tv they were watching. As the night goes on the two get drunker and drunker and start to play a gamed called strip botticelli. I think this is a game Metzger just made up in order to get what he wanted to in this game Oedipa would have to remove one article of clothing for every question Metzger answers. She agrees to play the game but before they start she goes to the bathroom and puts on all the clothes that she brought with her, she could hardly walk she had so many clothes on. When she goes to walk out of the bathroom she falls down and knocks over a can of hair spray breaking it causing the can to fly all over the place. The can ended up breaking the mirror in the bathroom and an few other things. While the can was flying around Metzger ended up laying on top of Oedipa to protect her. At this point in the story Miles and his band busted into the room ready to party. Oedipa sent them back out so they set up and started playing music in the hallway. As the night goes on the two continue to drink and watch the movie on tv and eventaully end up having sex.
At this point in the story i'm not to sure what to think about Oedipa. In the very beginning of the story we learned that Oedipa felt trapped and she described it as her being like Rapunzel trapped up high in a tower somewhere, just waiting for someone to ask her to let her hair down. Peirce had tried to climb up her hair but ended up falling down as her hair turned out to be only a wig. At this point in time I feel like Oedipa is a wild woman who is somewhat messed up in the head. She ends up cheating on her husband with Metzger who was the lawyer sent to help her settle the estate of her diseased ex boyfriend, she also goes to a head doctor name Dr. Hillarious. At this point in time I think that its possible that Pierce's death may have messed with her head in some way but i'm not real sure, gonna have to keep reading and find out whats going to happen.
Later on that night a lawyer named Metzger shows up to help Oedipa execute the will. It is quickly learned that Pierce's estate was very complicated as he had his hands dipped into everything while he was alive. As the night goes on Metzger and Oedipa begin drinking heavily and Metzger starts to tell Oedipa of his past. Metzger was a child actor and it just so happened that while they were talking and drinking one of the movies he was in as a child came on the tv they were watching. As the night goes on the two get drunker and drunker and start to play a gamed called strip botticelli. I think this is a game Metzger just made up in order to get what he wanted to in this game Oedipa would have to remove one article of clothing for every question Metzger answers. She agrees to play the game but before they start she goes to the bathroom and puts on all the clothes that she brought with her, she could hardly walk she had so many clothes on. When she goes to walk out of the bathroom she falls down and knocks over a can of hair spray breaking it causing the can to fly all over the place. The can ended up breaking the mirror in the bathroom and an few other things. While the can was flying around Metzger ended up laying on top of Oedipa to protect her. At this point in the story Miles and his band busted into the room ready to party. Oedipa sent them back out so they set up and started playing music in the hallway. As the night goes on the two continue to drink and watch the movie on tv and eventaully end up having sex.
At this point in the story i'm not to sure what to think about Oedipa. In the very beginning of the story we learned that Oedipa felt trapped and she described it as her being like Rapunzel trapped up high in a tower somewhere, just waiting for someone to ask her to let her hair down. Peirce had tried to climb up her hair but ended up falling down as her hair turned out to be only a wig. At this point in time I feel like Oedipa is a wild woman who is somewhat messed up in the head. She ends up cheating on her husband with Metzger who was the lawyer sent to help her settle the estate of her diseased ex boyfriend, she also goes to a head doctor name Dr. Hillarious. At this point in time I think that its possible that Pierce's death may have messed with her head in some way but i'm not real sure, gonna have to keep reading and find out whats going to happen.
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