Oedipa Mass (Lot 49) Vs Dorothy (Wizard Of Oz)

Oedipa vs. Dorothy

Oedipa Maas, the main character in The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon finds herself stumbling down the yellow brick road as she is named the executor of a will for her recently deceased ex- boyfriend. Oedipa decides to fulfill the duties handed to her and to do so she heads to San Narciso to meet a lawyer who her ex-boyfriend Pierce Inverarity planned for her to meet. The lawyer, Metzger and Oedipa end up having an affair with one another in the hotel at which Oedipa is staying. Some time later the two of them go around searching for different things and different people. Oedipa ends up meeting societies like the Peter Pinguid Society and even goes to a play called The Courier’s Tragedy. While watching this play Oedipa hears a quick mention of the word Tristero, which sparks her curiosity further as to what Inverarity really had been doing while he was alive and has Oedipa craving to know what everything means. (Spark Notes Summary)

Dorothy, the main character from The Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum actually finds herself walking down a real yellow brick road right after being transported to the Land of Oz by a tornado. When she first starts on her journey she follows the yellow brick road and on the way she meets the Scarecrow whom she saves. Together with Scarecrow, Dorothy continues her travels and later

meets the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion all of whom join the traveling squad because they all need something from Dorothy and Oz. Oedipa and Dorothy’s stories match in the general plotline, both stories have bad guys or objects, and both woman discover who they really are. The differences in these two novels however, begin with the worlds that the stories take place in and the characteristics of the characters, and lastly the decision that these woman make to conclude their journeys.

Oedipa Mass is a woman who is afraid to find out who she really is. She is a woman much like every other woman, societies everyday typical housewife from the urban influence. Oedipa only married because it is what she believes society wanted her to do, not because she actually loved her husband, Mucho Mass.

Oedipa’s journey takes place in the real world but to her it is a world that she never dared to explore. Her freedom from her original world only begins when Pierce Inverarity, her wealthy ex-boyfriend, sets up a whole scheme for her to go on a journey that Oedipa believes will answer the question of why Inverarity made her the executive of his estate.

Dorothy, from the book, The Wizard of OZ, is also a young woman who is taken from her original world and plunged into another. Unlike Oedipa’s case

however, she is not still in the same world but rather a magical world filled with tasks that Dorothy must complete before being allowed to go home. Dorothy

goes on this adventure through the Land of Oz because it is the only way for her to get back home, whereas Oedipa goes on her journey willingly to discover Inverarity’s secret of the Tristero. (Baum 10)

One fact that both of these two women share is that in both novels there are characters that need and depend on Oedipa and Dorothy to help them. For Oedipa these characters are people like her husband, Mucho Maas. Mucho depends on Oedipa not because she is his wife and he loves her, which he does not, but rather the fact that he has someone who will listen to all of his problems and make his life easier.

In Baum’s novel, Dorothy finds herself needed by many people, all of whom just attach to her for the duration of the journey. Creatures like the Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man all have wishes that they hope to have granted and only become aware that there is someone who can help them when Dorothy tells them. The Scarecrow hopes to travel with Dorothy in order to get a brain for the Wizard, and the Cowardly Lion hopes for courage, and the Tin Man hopes to get a heart. All three of Baum’s characters intend to help themselves by helping Dorothy to reach Oz, because once she reaches Oz, so do they.

The “Man Behind the Curtain” term applies to two men. The first man this statement applies to is Pierce Inverarity from Pynchon’s novel. Pierce Inverarity is Oedipa’s ex вЂ"boyfriend as well as the man who named Oedipa the executer of his will. Although not clearly stated by Pynchon in the novel, Inverarity is the “man behind the curtain” because he sets up an entire scheme in order to get Oedipa free from her current way of living. First Inverarity names Oedipa the executor of his will, he also makes it so that she will meet his lawyer Metzger who is supposed to help her. Throughout Pynchon’s novel, Inverarity is working behind the scenes to free Oedipa from her own set of mind, without Oedipa realizing that someone is setting her free.

The second “Man Behind the Curtain” is the Great and Powerful Oz from Baum’s novel. The reason Oz is the “Man Behind the Curtain” is because physically he hides behind a great big curtain so people cannot see his face. However Oz also helps Dorothy on her journey just as Inverarity helped Oedipa. Oz, once Dorothy found him, sent Dorothy on a mission to first help himself before he would help Dorothy. Oz sent Dorothy to kill the wicked witch of the west and bring back proof that she had killed the witch, all of which proved useless because the “Great and Powerful Oz” who hid behind a curtain, hid behind the curtain because he was just like every other human.

The lawyer that Inverarity sends to help Oedipa to sort through the estate that he left behind to Oedipa, is Metzger. Although Metzger and Oedipa have a

brief affair while they go about trying to solve the mystery of the Tristero, Metzger is nothing like the Scarecrow that Dorothy knows. Scarecrow, who like Metzger is the first companion for both women on their journey’s, is also not human and

without a brain. As they go on their journey, Dorothy and Scarecrow are both searching for a man named “The Great and Powerful Oz”, who was said to have great powers to help Dorothy to return home and to give the Scarecrow a brain. Thankfully, Scarecrow is more dependable than Metzger is because Scarecrow stays with Dorothy throughout the entire journey, whereas Metzger disappears halfway through Oedipa’s journey.

Oedipa’s journey, however long and far away it takes her, can never allow her to return home at the same time. Even