Tentative Theory of CoL49

[jody2.718]

Psssst...Oedipa doesn't know she's fictional! Shhhhhh... she thinks she's real- like you and me! Not just an alluring character dreamt up by a stoned hippie/beatnik shacked up on the western edge of America,
trying figure out the destiny of the vast continent at his back, as he stares out to sea.

And what a long strange trail it might seem to him now- how far we've come since then- from Woodstock to Bumpstock...

and still trying to be free.

Self-identity is hard to pin down, but like a butterfly, once pinned, it ceases to be.

Becoming, it seems, is the key.

"Click"

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"...At the end, when Passerine begins the auction, she has gravitated to a situation that makes sense to her, and when the door clicks shut, it's closing the rest of the world out - not jailing her Ugolino-like - centering her in a room where she will be somewhat empowered but, one hopes, not a threat to other bidders, and will learn more."

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jody