Why is everybody so interested in texts?
—Randolph Driblette
 

“Communication is the key!”---John Nefastis

     The poststructuralist notion that everything is a text and that “reality itself is textual” is integral to any deconstructionist reading (Barry 64). Deconstructionists attempt to demonstrate the arbitrary nature of language by emphasizing that “words are not the things they name, and, indeed, they are only arbitrarily associated with those things” (Murfin 538). Instead of creating precise meanings, language provides only a “verbal sign” that is “constantly floating free of the concept it is supposed to designate” (Barry 64).  Individual words play a large role in deconstructionist criticism because the multiple and often contradictory meanings of words are the sources of these “signs.” Deconstructionist readers attempt to become aware of all such “signs” and to involve themselves in the work by moving from one sign to the next. They are always, of course, trapped within the limitations of what language can express.

     A similar movement between multiple meanings occurs on a larger scale between different texts. Bennett and Royle define intertextuality as “the displacement of origins to other texts, which are in turn displacements of other texts and so on” (Bennett and Royle 6). Entire texts, then, also lead the reader from one meaning to another, drawing connections between the connotations of words in one text and the works of literature or media that utilize them. Like language, which creates only elusive “verbal signs,” texts defy a single interpretation. Neither words nor texts can be assigned a definite interpretation because they are caught in a repeating circuit that constantly references other words and texts. This circuit of language and texts is central to any form of written communication. In The Crying of Lot 49, Oedipa becomes involved with a conspiracy in the mail system. Letters are a very obvious form of written communication, and her involvement in the conspiracy therefore reflects one of the major concerns of deconstructionists. Throughout the novel, complications of the written message exist on the level of both individual words and entire texts, ultimately creating multiple meanings for Oedipa and the reader alike.

     Abbreviations are a major source of multiplicity and confusion within the text of The Crying of Lot 49. When Oedipa first encounters a reference to the postal conspiracy, she reads the name of the underground group as WASTE, a single word (38). Koteks, however, later scolds her for not acknowledging the acronym W.A.S.T.E., which is later determined to stand for We Await Silent Tristero’s Empire (70, 139). Since Oedipa had only seen the organization referenced in writing, she managed to interpret it much differently than its members intended. More ambiguity is created when she has to mail a letter by the system and must “look closely to see the periods between the letters” on the mailbox, which could easily be mistaken for a garbage can (105). Oedipa encounters another abbreviation concerning WASTE, this one spelling out DEATH. Fortunately, she notices that someone has penciled in the true interpretation this time:  Don’t Ever Antagonize The Horn (98).