The Princess Secret

When I was reading Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, I thought it was very interesting how he used Cinderella in his book, to represent Billy. However, in The Crying of Lot 49, I was impressed to see that Thomas Pychon uses Rapunzel.

Oedipa thinks of herself as “Rapunzel-like role of a pensive girl somehow, magically, prisoner among to say hey, let down your hair.” (The Crying of Lot 49.pg10) In the case of Pychon, I think he just uses Rapunzel to laugh about the shallow Californians, and the characters in Hollywood. Later on, in chapter 3, Oedipa thinks she is going to “Bring to an end her encapsulation in her tower, then that night’s infidelity with Metzger would logically be the starting point for it; logically.” (31) It is very interesting to see how the author is able to join the chapters with Rapunzel, but my guess is that Oedipa will grow and change, and so will Rapunzel. However, I keep on thinking that Rapunzel is Oedipa’s paranoid feeling towards the mystery of Pierce. In that case, I don’t expect Rapunzel to change, and probably the princess will be the one to gather the book together.

I had some curiosity and went on and read the Brother Grimm’s story about Rapunzel (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/rapunzel.html). I thought it was very similar to the Bible, where Abraham and his wife are struggling to have a baby, and when they do, they must scarify him. I can’t think of a reason why Thomas Pychon would use this part of the story as food for a satire, but I’m guessing that he is using the fairy tale as a joke.