Post-modernist examination of textual versus metaphorical literary significance In tune with the allusions to Narcissus, the world is contained within itself and has become a egotistical system moving toward a chaotic sense of orderlessness. As Grant comments, "Sorting,' therefore, becomes an absolutely central metaphor, and the fact that Oedipa singles this concept out for objection is an indication of her intuitive grasp of her own predicament." The closed system will move toward entropy in the same manner that the entire universal system will, both existentially and rationally. By dividing the two types of molecules into different compartments so that heat is created and maintained, the molecules do not have a chance to share properties until an equilibrium is reached. The sorting inherent in the machine would actually preserve a world able to remain heterogeneous. In Maxwell's Demon, Nefastis created a machine which works directly with Pynchon's theme of entropy. In thematic terms, entropy represents Pynchon's concern with our culture's movement toward intellectual inertia. The process of entropy leads to the inevitable progression of a closed system to patterned, chaotic sameness.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |