How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Though she knew even less about radios than about Southern Californians, there were to both outward patterns a hieroglyphic sense of concealed meaning, of an intent to communicate. (2.2)
Is Oedipa able to distinguish between things that actually have meaning and those that only give a sense of it? How does this quote anticipate later events in the book?
Quote #2
Like all their inabilities to communicate, this too had a virtuous motive. (3.3)
Why doesn't Oedipa press Mucho on his infatuation with young girls? How does this allow their marriage to function? How can the decision not to communicate have a "virtuous motive"?
Quote #3
Off the coast of either what is now Carmel-by-the-Sea, or what is now Pismo Beach, around noon or possibly toward dusk, the two ships sighted each other. One of them may have fired, if it did then the other responded; but both were out of range so neither showed a scar afterward to prove anything. (3.21)
What do you think Pynchon is trying to say about history and the way it is told? Does it only apply to a nut-job like Mike Fallopian, or can it be applied to the study of history at large?