Satire on religion?

One of the topics that we touched on briefly in class discussion is the idea of Pynchon making fun of different ways that people search for meaning where there essentially is nothing. This could take the form of literary criticism, or in a much more controversial place: religion.

Religion is a sensitive topic, and it is not my intention to offend anyone or downplay personal beliefs. However I think that there are some solid parallels that can be drawn, and that it is extremely likely that Pynchon was pointing to religion as a search for meaning. In the novel, Oedipa represents the average human being. She is “lost” and does not know where to turn or what to do with her life, equating herself to Rapunzel being locked away in a tower because of this feeling of helplessness. She comes to the conclusion that she should attempt to find something for herself.

The biggest comparison to me comes from Oedipa’s obsession with the play The Courier’s Tragedy. She takes notice of the smallest details and stores them away in her mind, hanging onto them and absolutely determined to make something out of them, or find a hidden meaning that was left behind for her. She goes as far as she can to follow the trail of this play, getting her hands on the book that the script was taken from and then going even farther back to its original roots before realizing that none of them are the same. They have all been adapted, changed in some way to suit someone else’s taste and because of this things have been added into the script that do not carry any meaning at all.

Perhaps this is a way that Pynchon expressed his own views about religion. The only thing that keeps Oedipa going on her search for meaning in all of these things is her own faith and strong belief, even when others tell her that there is nothing there to be found. Pynchon could be mocking the idea of religion and suggesting that those who believe in it are foolish because of their continuous search for meaning in nothing and things that have been changed and adapted over the years, or he could be saying something else entirely about the idea of faith. In a way, it’s up to the reader to decide.