Thomas Pynchon's is a very deep, complex, and demanding novel, requiring the wide breadth of knowledge. One of the most fascinating aspects of the novel is Pynchon's choice -- or rather, invention -- of the names he gives the characters and organizations described in the novel. These names function as metaphors for the people and things they represent, thus enabling us to understand the hidden meaning of the novel. The protagonist of is a woman named Oedipa Maas. Oedipa's first name, obviously, derives from Oedipus, the hero of Sophocles' f ....