Questions abound. Why do we need to know about the oregano, we ask? Why is Randolph Driblette’s performance of The Courier’s Tragedy relevant to Pierce Inverarity’s will? What is the significance of Maxwell’s Demon? How has Dr Hilarious survived this long as a psychoanalyst? In asking about the mould on the oregano we end up asking about everything. Why do we need to know about any of this, or rather: what, in amongst all this, is important? Whether or not Oedipa discovers conventional meaning at the end of the novel is besides the point. Her character is active, discerning, as much a part of the “game” as the dead man behind the curtain. It would be difficult to draw direct lines between Oedipa Maas and female protagonists who followed her, but Oedipa is a refreshing archetype: the female detective. To be certain, Oedipa struggles in the novel, and fails far more often than she succeeds, but the book is a sequence of her small resurrections. She refuses to give-in to “the man”—or any men, really. Harrison, George MBE et al. The Beatles Anthology (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000). ISBN 0-8118-2684-8.

The noun “arity” means the number of arguments a function or operation can take; in logic, it determines the number of inferences that may be deduced from a particular fact. Verarity” is not a word in its own right, but it is quite close to “veracity”, which has lead some commentators to infer that it suggests a concern with the truth. No sooner does Oedipa learn of the existence of Tristero, then she starts to find evidence that it still exists on the streets of California: its symbol is a muted post horn, adding a mute to the horn of its traditional private enterprise rival in nineteenth century Europe, Thurn and Taxis. Novels, such as Gravity's Rainbow (1973), of American writer Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, often depict individuals, struggling against shadowy technocratic forces.Metzger takes Oedipa to a bar, where she meets Mike Fallopian, a right-wing engineer who is part of an anti-government group called The Peter Pinguid Society. Fallopian claims he is developing an underground postal system to rival the government's monopolized postal service.

Oedipa is stirred by this development, but not quite shaken. The key to reading Pynchon is recognizing that a comedian never wishes to be found-out as a satirist; to be found-out is to admit earnestness and intention. Even Eugène Ionesco, Pynchon’s literary uncle, had a purpose to his parody in the bawdy The Bald Soprano—although it took him years to admit the game. Pynchon might throw Oedipa into a world she did not create, but he does so by arming her and disarming the men who surround her. Mucho pressed his cough button a moment, but only smiled. It seemed odd. How could they hear a smile? Oedipa got in, trying not to make noise. Mucho thrust the mike in front of her, mumbling, “You’re on, just be yourself.” Then in his earnest broadcasting voice, “How do you feel about this terrible thing?” It is very important, then, to realize that the problems faced by Oedipa in this novel are really the same as those faced by all readers of the novel itself. Just like any one of the millions of things in this novel that seem to hold a particular message for Oedipa that remains just beyond her reach, this book itself is a means of communication that will prove ultimately baffling to the reader. Every reader of this novel is subject to the same problems as Oedipa; thus, we can see her as a type of "everyman" character who, just like the reader, tries futilely to piece together fragments of a multi-faceted society.Her quest drags her from her tower and exposes her to another side of life, just as life in America (well, Berkeley, San Francisco) was starting to get interesting (1966).

John Nefastis – A scientist obsessed with perpetual motion. He has tried to invent a type of Maxwell's demon to create a perpetual motion machine. Oedipa visits him to see the machine after learning about him from Stanley Koteks; the visit is unproductive and she runs out the door after he propositions her. The most famous play-within-a-play ever written is The Murder of Gonzago in Shakespeare's Hamlet. As in Hamlet, Pynchon's play-within-a-play is intended to reflect the bigger issues in the book, and to speed the plot along. In this case, its labyrinthine complexity is also meant to parody the entire tradition of Jacobean Revenge Plays… as well as the complexity of Lot 49 itself. (No one ever accused Pynchon of not having a sense of humor.) An Executor is a person who inherits the assets and liabilities of a person (the Testator) on their death and has to distribute the net assets of their Estate (their "Legacy") to the Beneficiaries identified in the Testator’s Will (their “Last Will and Testament”). She is a stranger in a strange land, having grown up and been educated during the conservative, Cold War 50’s:

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Oedipa walked in more or less by surprise to catch her trusted family lawyer stuffing with guilty haste a wad of different-sized and colored papers into a desk drawer. She knew it was the rough draft of The Profession v. Perry Mason, A Not-so-hypothetical Indictment, and had been in progress for as long as the TV show had been on the air."You didn't use to look guilty, as I remember," Oedipa said. They often went to the same group therapy sessions, in a car pool with a photographer from Palo Alto who thought he was a volleyball. "That's a good sign, isn't it?""You might have been one of Perry Mason's spies," said Roseman. After thinking a moment he added, "Ha, ha.""Ha, ha," said Oedipa. They looked at each other. "I have to execute a will," she said. "Oh, go ahead then," said Roseman, "don't let me keep you.""No," said Oedipa, and told him all. "Why would he do a thing like that," Roseman puzzled, after reading the letter. "You mean die?""No," said Roseman, "name you to help execute it." Radiohead alludes to the novel in the name of their online merchandise shop and mailing list, W.A.S.T.E. [12] Mike Fallopian is involved in an anti-government organization. He claims to be part of a secret underground mail operation that rivals the postal service. Fallopian suggests that Pierce might have sent Oedipa on a wild goose chase as his final prank. Oedipa Maas, the young wife of a man named Mucho, lives in Kinneret, California. One day, she receives a letter from a law firm telling her that her ex-boyfriend, Pierce Inverarity, has died and named her the executor of his estate. Oedipa resolves to faithfully execute her duty, and she travels to San Narciso (Pierce's hometown) where she meets the lawyer, Metzger, assigned to help her, with whom she spontaneously begins an affair.