Mail Call

As Oedipa and Metzger are sitting in a bar, having a modified-history class, a "fattish pale young man...started calling names and throwing envelopes into the crowd" (p.37). Whaaaaaaat? I had to read this paragraph three times to actually realize that they were talking about a real mail carrier, walking into a bar, and start throwing letters at people. It made me crack up; yet, what was the significance of this, other than just being plain funny, in a ridiculous sense?

Then when Oedipa writes down an address from the bathroom, and a symbol that was a "loop, triangle, and trapezoid" (p.38), I thought, okay, maybe Pynchon is targeting ridiculous scenarios? However, reading on, I found out that he was actually targeting rebels. Rebels who were against the government. So pretty much the people who go around doing...well, whatever they want I guess. The whole mail carrier ordeal was a way to rebel against the government "monopoly" on delivering mail. Great thing to rebel against, don't you think? It makes mail so much more, interesting and complicated.