What Makes Oedipa's True Self Identity?

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Recommended: Character analysis of Oedipus

In The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon, Oedipa Mass leaves her uniform world to execute the estate of her ex-boyfriend in San Narsicso. While executing the estate she finds herself thrust into a complex search for the estate, which becomes a search for meaning. During the search for meaning, the myth of Narcissus and Echo is used as a stylistic tool through out the novel to show the self-evaluative journey that Oedipa embarks on and exposes her true self-identity in modern American culture. This tool can be seen clearly in the love scene between Oedipa and Metzger, the motel Echo Courts, and the gender roles that are prevail throughout the novel. The myth of Narcissus and Echo in this novel points out a point that is stressed by Marshall

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