The Innocence of a Character
The innocence of a character in a book is bound to catch the reader's interest right away. This is due to the fact that an innocent character provokes strong emotions in the readers, hence capturing their attention. The reader's interest is maintained by how well the writer builds the features of the innocent character to make it believable. Yet, readers' curiosity is not satisfied or full by simply reading how a character was honest; the reader's curiosity is gratified by revealing the character's loss of innocence near the end of a narrative, or at the end of a story. In other words, the innocence of a character is the hook of a story, but what sustains a reader's curiosity is the prospect of the character losing that innocence midway, or at the end of the literary journey. This ability of an impeccable character to grab a reader's attention is the reason American writers are fond of using the innocent character and the subsequent loss of the innocence of character, in their literature. Thomas Pynchon's novel, The Crying of Lot 49, is one of the many American books that employed this technique to hook their readers to the texts. The protagonist in The Crying of Lot 49, Oedipa Maas, took the character of an innocent woman who experiences a lot of new things throughout the novel.
The Innocent Characterization of Oedipa Mass
The innocent characterization of Oedipa Mass in Thomas Pynchon's novel, The Crying of Lot 49, was a deliberate technique to get the reader's attention. Additionally, it was a technique that the writer, Thomas Pynchon used to present a surreal world through the eyes of a woman. In every society, there are cultural practices that limit the roles of women in that particular society. This applies to the American society too. Therefore, the writer was deliberately using a woman to deliver surreal messages to people who believe that men are grander and should be the bearers of such messages.
The Influence of Gender and Ethnicity
It is not lost on the reader that Oedipa Mass's innocence is enhanced by the fact that she is a female gender. Most of the time, the female gender are innocent victims (Poirier, n.p). Wars and strife happen in the world almost on a daily basis, but mostly the active participants in these atrocities are men. Strangely enough, women often bear the brunt of these wars and formate the biggest percentages of the victims. Therefore, the author of this book was playing into people's psychology. Deep in the minds of people, women are far more innocent than their male counterparts. The sight of a woman evokes sympathy and mercy because of the perceived innocence in her.
Besides being a woman, Oedipa Mass is also depicted as Latin-American by the author of the book. Now, nearly every American knows the kind of treatment that Latin-Americans are given by some of the racist people who consider themselves to be the Native Americans. First of all, Latin-Americans are considered as immigrants who have escaped the poverty in their countries to seek economic prosperity in the United States. The seeking of economic prosperity is thought of, by those who discriminate against the Latin-American, as stealing American resources. Indeed, there are even more people who do not openly show open discrimination to Latin-Americans but hold them in contempt. Therefore, in the eyes of many Americans, Latinos are not very innocent people. The use of Oedipa Mass as an innocent person in the book was therefore meant to evoke raw emotions in the readers.
The Role of Oedipus Complex and the Pursuit of Knowledge
Oedipa Mass was also used by the author of this book to bring out the Oedipus complex, a problem that is typically associated with young boys. The Oedipus complex is a strong sexual feeling that young boys have towards their mothers. Two things emerge from this problem: one, the writer of the book inverted this problem and gave this role to a woman; two, the problem often affects innocent children who have no idea about the origin of such emotional feeling. This makes it appropriate in the case of depicting an innocent woman as the protagonist in this book.
Oedipa Mass was also shown as somebody who was aggressively pursuing knowledge. The pursuit of knowledge is associated with innocence. When a person desires to know more, it means that the person is still innocent. It is also this pursuit of knowledge that led Oedipa Mass to stumble upon revelation after revelation. The final revelation that Oedipa Mass experienced was an epiphany that was similar to Mary Magdalene's passage towards very similar goals (Miller, n.p). In the Bible, the story of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is gripping. However, it is his death and subsequent resurrection that puts the story above any ordinary story. After his revivification, it was Mary Magdalene who became the first person to see Jesus. Therefore, she was the first witness of the resurrection of the Son of God. This is the kind of revelation that ultimately appears to Oedipa Mass and takes away her innocence. This is the loss of innocence that readers are normally keen to witness in an innocent character. This loss of innocence, somehow, proves to the readers that they are not villains- those of them who no longer have their innocence intact. That is the attraction in the innocent-and-loss-of-innocence American stories.
Conclusion
It is the longing of every human being to remain innocent throughout their lives. Indeed, this is the reason why people are quick to identify with an honest character. On the other hand, the environment we live in largely determines how long we can remain blameless since remaining honest throughout our lives is an impossible undertaking for most people. Most of the time, it is the environment that robs people of their innocence. Thus, a story that depicts a character that starts as an innocent person then moves through the phases of losing this innocence is one that most people can identify with. It is such a character that is found in Thomas Pynchon's novel, The Crying of Lot 49. The central character in The Crying of Lot 49, Oedipa Maas, starts as an innocent person, but several revelations through her life's journey make her lose this innocence almost naturally.
Bibliography
Miller, Emma V. The Naming of Oedipa Maas. Orbit. https://www.pynchon.net/articles/10.7766/orbit.v1.1.12/. Accessed 1 June 2007.
Poirier, Richard. Embattled Underground. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/18/reviews/pynchon-lot49.html. Accessed 1 June 2007.
