Knowledge and understanding of the universe is often attempted and seldom achieved. In The Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon argues that an attempt to understand the unknown is impossible. The author uses several themes in his novel in order to conclude his point. On Oedipa's quest for understanding, Pynchon incorporates the themes of a promise of hidden truth, the inability to understand, and the void in order to present his argument. Pynchon uses the thoughts and anecdotes of the characters to demonstrate the theme of a promise of hidden truth. The personal experience of the characters displays the hope one has for something new with hidden truth. Pynchon uses imagery and symbolism to depict the inability to understand. The images and emotions Pynchon includes entail the painful feeling of sorrow and disappointment from not knowing. Pynchon concludes his argument with the void. He uses metaphor and simile to communicate that the void is the eventual loss of all feeling and human contact. The use of themes and tactics within the novel concludes that the search for truth leads to emptiness.
Pynchon uses a range of emotions in order to create an atmosphere in the novel and provide reasoning his argument. The promise of something else intrigues Oedipa and leads her to search for the truth. Pynchon uses word choice and personal dialogue to display Oedipa's optimism as she travels to talk more with John Nesfastis:.
She had caught site of the historical marker only because she"d gone back, deliberately, to Lake Inverarity one day, owing to this, what you might have to call, growing obsession, with "bringing something of herself" - even if that something was just her presence - to the scatter of business interest that had survived Inverarity. (72).
Pynchon exhibits Oedipa's actions as being concerned with solving the mystery of Tristero. All of Oedipa's actions and her thoughts are the result of her optimism.