America was once known as a land of opportunity. The wars were over and the dawn of the modern technology had not yet occurred. Post-modernist authors believe that modernity and wealth have made America a disappointment. Snow White (Barthelme) and The Crying of Lot 49 (Pynchon) both express similar opinions about the American society. Both books use postmodern language to discuss America’s problems. These two authors examine American society through the eyes of their female protagonists. They also use fairytales in a similar way.
Barthelme takes the theme of fairytales and gives it a postmodern twist. The title makes a clear statement about Barthelme’s narrative. The story of Snow White is told in a post-modern way. Its narrative style is a satire of American culture. In the Snow White classic, the heroine flees her jealous stepmother by taking refuge with her seven dwarfs. Her Prince Charming then rescues her. Snow White rides off with her seven dwarfs and they live “happily-ever-after” together. She’s frustrated and bored with her life. She doesn’t enjoy doing the housework or having sex. Barthelme uses fairytales as a way to describe the protagonist’s circumstances. This is a uniquely postmodern use of intertextuality. It uses a previous text to create a new interpretation of it and to make a comment. Snow White shows her understanding of fairytale texts when she lets out her hair in Rapunzel style to win her prince’s heart. She knows the consequences of letting her hair down. She recognizes that her character is not the only one to let down their hair in literature. Barthelme makes reference to post-modern ideas that everything has a textual foundation. It is impossible to have an authentic experience because we know what was done before. Snow White lets loose her hair to get her prince’s attention. Yet, she understands that her part in the text is to be a mere player. Barthelme contributes to post-modern evaluation of the human experience with his Snow White allusion.
Barthelme makes use of fairytales for a post-modern literary discussion and to comment on current women’s issues. Barthelme uses Snow White as a symbol of post-war American women’s emotions by referring to her fairytale character and putting her in a contemporary context. Barthelme merges Snow White with Rapunzel’s fairytales to describe life for a woman in the Sixties. Barthelme transforms the archaic princess of the fairytale into a modern-day “damsel”. She lets loose her hair to lure her prince and save her. Barthelme writes on the page “Vacillations of Snow White: Confusions” that Snow White asks “But who shall I love?” She hesitates because, although she had already loved her family, it was not enough. Even so, she was embarrassed.”(18). Barthelme gives a complex and layered character to Snow White. She is confused about her feelings and angry with herself. She has a “sort of” love for the dwarfs yet she yearns to have more. She longs for more because she feels that “it wasn’t good enough” with the dwarfs. She is vocal in her dissatisfaction.
Snow White goes through what Barthelme believes to be the common plight for housewives of the day. Barthelme describes the modern American Housewife as a “horsewife,” with all her problems. She is trapped in a life of stagnant housework. Edward’s diatribe titled “The horsewife!” shows how absurdly he treats the human condition. The American plethora’s very foundation! Horsewife! Barthelme uses the term “housewife” to both mock the stereotype and sympathize with her. He criticizes the notion that women are the “basebone” of civilized life and that they uphold it. This standard is impossible to achieve by any individual or institution. This was the idealized view of the housewife in the past. Barthelme exposes the absurdity in those who held women to such high expectations.
It is because of this idealization that she separates her sexuality from her role as a housewife. She is unable reconcile both roles. Edward describes the feeling of a horsewife after a bath.
It’s a wonderful spectacle! It’s a wonder to behold… Is this a creature that loves itself? No. No, we don’t…We are dealing with a horsewife who is dangerously close to self-hatred. (106)
This is an assessment of Snow White and the plight of women in the modern age. She doesn’t feel “the right amount” of love, but instead feels “self-hatred.” That is because her sexuality has been distorted and idealized. She doesn’t appreciate her “naked beauty” because she does not find sex exciting. Her life is lacking romance. To rekindle her romantic life and sexuality, she decides letting her hair down will help. She declares that she will let her hair down when she does.
Snow White chooses action and waits for her prince to “recapitulate,” the Rapunzel-like image. She does this to “astonish” the vulgar. She is a woman who wants “refreshment in venereal life,” much like post-war suburban women.
Barthelme does not just empathize, he also criticizes Snow White. Barthelme wrote in a passage titled “The Psychology of Snow White”.
What is her hope? Snow White’s hope is that her prince will one day come. This means that she lives as though she’s ‘not-with,’ even though seven men are in some ways ‘with her.’ (76)
Snow White represents every girl who defines herself by what she doesn’t have. Barthelme identifies Snow White as the issue women were facing at that time. They are not “complete” without a prince. This archaic idea of romance and chivalry leads women to be frustrated and desperate.
Pynchon’s female heroine also feels alienated and bored by her life as a domestic. Oedipa Máas, Pynchon’s postmodern Odysseus is Oedipa. In the same way as the Greek hero, she embarks upon a quest of knowledge and exploration. Oedipa’s situation is similar to that of Barthelme’s Snow White. Pynchon makes the association clear at the beginning of his book, when he describes Oedipa returning home from a Tupperware Party whose hostess may have put too much kirsch into the fondue.(9) This is a staple of suburban housewives’ world. Pynchon uses Oedipa to demonstrate that she represents all women in that world, but is also capable of much more.
Pynchon associates Oedipa with Rapunzel, just as Barthleme did. Pynchon describes how Oedipa felt when she reflected on her relationship with Pierce.
Conned herself in to the role of Rapunzel’s curious and penitent girl. She had happily removed the curlers and pins when it turned out that Pierce was behind her. (20)
Oedipa, like Snow White, is “pensive” in their lives and both relate to the Rapunzel motif. Pynchon’s Rapunzel allusion is more profound than Barthelme’s because Pynchon continues with Oedipa recognizing that:
The tower was everywhere, and the knight’s magic could not be tested. (21-22)
Oedipa comes to realize that Pierce is not her “prince”, and that he hasn’t saved her anything. Snow White recognizes that she has “no way out” as the true demons are not external but rather internalized perceptions. Pynchon’s universe is a world where the tower appears everywhere, and that the prince cannot defeat its magic. Oedipa is forced to realize this and Snow White too. There is no way to escape the “tower”, which is America.
Pynchon’s Oedipa doesn’t wait for her Prince like Snow White, but takes an active part in discovering her destiny. She goes to California “Without realizing that she is moving in a new direction.”(23) Oedipa does not know her character has a literary background. Oedipa’s perspective is different from Snow White’s self aware skepticism.
Oedipa goes to California to fulfill the wishes of an ex-lover, but soon it turns into a quest for Truth. She is seeking the truth not only about Trystero, the mysterious underground system of mail, but also truths universal. As she continues on her quest to find answers, Oedipa begins to doubt whether or not there will be any. Oedipa expresses this doubt when she wonders if, at the conclusion of her journey, she will only have a collection of memories, clues, announcements and intimations but not the central truth, which is too bright to be remembered. She thinks that uncovering the truth behind the Trystero will help her to better understand America and the world, where she is trapped in a Rapunzel’s tower. But she fears that if she doesn’t find out the truth, all she’ll have are “clues or intimations”, never a definitive answer. Oedipa is a post-modern seeker of knowledge but realizes the “central fact itself” will never be “bright enough for her memory to contain.” Pynchon says the “central reality” is “too bright to comprehend”.
Pynchon ends her book with Oedipa expressing her somewhat inconclusive and bleak assessment of what she learned during her travels. She has travelled all around California and spoken to a wide variety of people from different backgrounds, but still she is unable to decide what her journey means. She believes, “There is either a Tristero beyond what appears to be the legacy America. Or there is just America. If it’s just America, the only way for her to go on was as an unfurrowed alien who assumed full-circle into paranoia.” (182) Oedipa feels more confused, unsure, and confused after her quest. After encountering America, or Pynchon’s “legacy of America”, Oedipa has come to the conclusion that the only way she can understand it is by becoming an “alien”. Pynchon’s America is a paranoid web of outsiders.
Barthelme conclusion also serves as a sad commentary on the state of America. Snow White comments:
Nobody has come up to climb. It’s all there. I am in the wrong place at this time. The time is wrong for me. There is something that’s wrong…with the ones who haven’t tried to climb. To fulfill the role. The world as a whole, for being unable to provide a prince. It is because they are not civilized or sophisticated enough to know the right ending. (137-138)
Barthelme accuses Snow White’s world and the women for their persistence in believing that a prince exists. Barthelme believes that it’s “the wrong time for princes and chivalry”. Snow White can’t find a Prince in the Modern America. The world isn’t “civilized-enough” to give happy endings. The problem is her unrealistic expectations and the post-war reality in America.
The post-modern literary form is one that is highly conscious. The authors know their history. Characters are aware their literary position. This awareness is a source of many fears. This awareness causes many fears. One fear is that Truth will never be achieved. It is also a fear of not being able to escape or find a savior. It is a redemptive understanding, no matter how disturbing this worldview may appear. Their redemption lies in their knowledge and awareness. Pynchon considers that knowledge to be the ultimate goal in human life. Barthelme’s answer to fears and concerns about post-modernism is not clear. He wants to make his reader aware of the problems and gain knowledge.
