Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Oedipa Maas

Oedipa Maas is a cluster of contradictions: beautiful and foolish, curious and clever, practical-minded but possessing a ripe imagination, isolated from the world and yet overwhelmed by it. Oedipa, a typical California housewife, is the hero of Lot 49.

Since she's surrounded by incompetent men, she must struggle to unravel the mysteries of Pierce Inverarity's estate, and with it the mysteries of the Tristero. Some critics say that she's a lightweight, but we think she carries considerable weight, as her name (Maas is a lot like "mass") would suggest.