In Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West and The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon, the protagonists search for order and meaning. The books are similar in that they both suggest the possibility of meaninglessness in America's modern state of chaos. Although both books depict a sad and temporary existence on earth, Miss Lonelyhearts is more hopeful. The West hints at a knowable world, for all its misery. Miss Lonelyhearts encounters countless fragments of pain and despair, but underlying her search is the suggestion that there is an answer. The Crying of Lot 49, however, contains unlimited possibilities and condemns the search. This is an unknowable disorder. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayWest and Pynchon illustrate the meaninglessness of American culture in many different ways. Both authors use fragmented images and language, overwhelming the reader with tiny fragments of real life. Fragmentation illustrates a superficial sensibility by developing innumerable details, even humorous ones, without central force or purpose. There's a striking symbol for this cultural chaos in a used car lot, in The Crying of Lot 49. The language itself communicates a feeling of searching, with enough commas to make each image its own frantic jolt. This description contains "... clipped coupons promising savings of 5 or 10 [cents], exchange stamps, pink flyers advertising market specials, cigarette butts, shy combs, help wanted ads, yellow pages torn from the telephone directory, rags of old underwear or clothes that were already period costumes, with which to wipe your breath from the inside of the windshield so you can see whatever it was, a film, a woman or a car you want, a policeman that could stop you just to drill, all the pieces coated evenly, like a salad of desperation, in a gray dressing of ash, condensed exhaust, dust, bodily waste..." (Pynchon, 4) This shattering of information is an effective way to imitate the modern state. It creates a sense of meaninglessness through the constant proliferation of material objects. Miss Lonelyhearts experiences a similar sensation in the deluge of horribly depressing letters that fill the novel. These are just pieces of paper covered in writing. But they encompass a shocking range of human suffering and survival. Separately, these objects could represent important aspects of American life. But together, their relative darkness and meanness becomes apparent. There is more than simple fragmentation in the creation of a meaningless world. In characterization, both authors are able to make the same point. The people surrounding the protagonists are superficial and simple. They are centerless shells, simply compelling, recognizable images of complete human beings. Shrike's voice is surprisingly monotone. He rarely goes beyond his cynical "deadpan," when "under the shining white orb of his forehead, his features [huddle] together in a dead, gray triangle." (West, 6) There is no depth to his understanding. His entire being can be summed up in the single, violent syllable of his name. His commentary, like his personality, is simply a horrible manifestation of his surroundings. Most of Miss Lonelyhearts' male associates, "like Shrike, the man they imitated, ... were prank-making machines." (West, 15) Betty is similar in her portrayal to a shade. She's the all-American girl, in the grip of a belief systemencoded in his fragmented world. This simplicity is seen when she “dresses for things” (West, 55) feeds and heals the sick Lonelyhearts because of her firm belief that “if her body would heal, all would be well.” (West, 36) Its transparency is particularly clear in its predictability. Just as she avoids Shrike because she can anticipate the next joke, Miss Lonelyhearts can woo Betty with "...all the things that went with strawberry sodas and farms in Connecticut." He knows what she "[wants] him to be: simple and sweet, whimsical and poetic, a little collegial but very masculine," (West, 56) because his romantic notions are fragile icons of popular culture Both Betty and Shrike are knowable because of the familiarity and predictability of their superficial ideals. Miss Lonelyhearts and Oedipa Maas make the mistake of assuming that the world is only as understandable as the generic personalities around them. The search for order is itself an illustration of the chaos they face. Both characters are driven to examine their surroundings by an internal drive. Miss Lonelyhearts observes "crowds of people moving through the street with dreamlike violence," and is "...overwhelmed with the desire to help them." (West, 39) It is this desire that keeps him dependent on the letters of anguish he receives every day. And Oedipa cannot help "the growing obsession with 'bringing something of herself'. ...the dispersion of commercial interests that survived Inverarity. She gave them order, she created constellations." (Pynchon, 72) It is this instinct that gives freedom of action to the protagonists. They are faced with so little order that they actually create it themselves. They confuse this ability with the simple When Miss Lonelyhearts waits on a bench, she doesn't just look but "scans the sky... like a stupid detective looking for a clue to her exhaustion and finds nothing in this expanse." , "turns towards the skyscrapers..." and "discovers what [he thinks] is a clue." (West, 27) There is no suggestion as to what this clue is. This moment reveals Miss Lonelyhearts' tendency to create something worth seeking out in the world around him. Like Oedipa, he sees himself as a detective in these cases, viewing his action as observation rather than projection. Although both characters find themselves in the midst of meaningless fragmentation, the two authors draw very different conclusions about the resulting searches for order. West subtly betrays the belief that there is hope in all this chaos and purpose in the search. This idea is conveyed through the details of language. In comparing herself to Betty, Miss Lonelyhearts makes an important distinction. He thinks that "its confusion [is] significant, while its order [is not]." (West, 11) And later, when "his imagination [begins] to work," and he finds himself in a pawn shop "full of furs, diamond rings, watches, rifles, fishing tackle, mandolins... the paraphernalia of suffering,” the hope in West’s worldview is even more stark. Faced with this scene, just like Mucho’s used car lot, Miss Lonelyhearts knows that “All order is doomed, but it holds. It's worth fighting for." (West, 31) Even though he thinks this phrase to himself in a somewhat sarcastic tone, his actions continue to solidify his belief in this idea. He creates something with these scattered and long-lost objects. He gives them a place when "first he forms a phallus of old watches and rubber boots, then a heart of umbrellas and trout flies, then a diamond of musical instruments and derby hats, after these a circle, a triangle, square, swastika. " Giving form to these things means giving them an order. But there is no finality in this action, since "nothing is definitive and he [begins] to make a.