The Crying of Lot 49: Chapter 4

In the fourth chapter Oedipa does alot of travelling and investigating, in each place she meets someone with some kind of relation to the Tristero symbol which she had discovered in a bathroom stall. "The Crying of Lot 49" would be an uneventful book if it weren't for Oedipa's inquisitive mind. Some of the places she went to were Pierce's property but some were part of an extended inverstigation, Oedipa will go to all lengths and measures to find out what the Tristero means. Coincedentally when Oedipa goes to talk to the man who is looking at Pierce's stamp collection finds the Tristero symbol as a water mark on the stamp. Hopefully all these strange clues and conincedences will come together in the following chapters so we can understand its significance. Oedipa thinks that it may mean that there is a group or secret society that uses the symbol and if so it must be ancient since there is evidence of the symbol since the 9th or so century. Neither Oedipa or the reader knows if it is a legal society so Oedipa decides to keep it under wraps for now.

There are only about six chapters in the book "The Crying of Lot 49" and all that I have understood is that a woman who is at a confusing, meaningless point of her life ends up being the executer of a rich dead man's property. I have followed her through many encounters with strange people and places but still I don't know how the author will be able to explain all the loose ends in his novel. I don't understand what the Tristero has to do with Inverarity directly but I guess it is because she finds all the clues on his property. For some reason Metzeger barely appeared in the fourth chapter, it seems like he is letting Oedipa take the lead to see what she can discover. This book is very strange and the interesting message of curiosity and secrets reminds the readers of how much people hide secrets from everyone. I hope that Oedipa will figure out the purpose and meaning of the Tristero because I'm very curious too.