escape from the tower

Oedipa saw herself as a Rapunzel trapped in a tower that only Pierce could penetrate. The way that she envisions herself is not far from the truth, but no one had trapped her up there. She had trapped herself. She would not allow anyone to let her feel the way she had with Pierce, and then when she no longer felt that way with Pierce she began to feel isolated from him.
The way Pynchon describes Oedipa’s feelings makes the reader empathize with her. She was alone in her world just as most people feel at one point or another in their lives. Oedipa was so touched by the painting that she started to cry, but soon became concerned with her tears and herself. She, like many others, saw herself in the art that was in front of her and began to feel as if she was in fact the one that was painted by the artist. Oedipa cannot understand that she is different from the 2 dimensional characters in the tower, because she cannot separate herself from them.
I feel that Pynchon uses many of the same devices in his writings even though one is fictional and the other is not. He uses flashbacks to help emphasize his points and to make a more dramatic experience for the reader. He also makes the writing feel very exaggerated. It allows the reader to feel the important aspects but also the little details that would not be considered significant otherwise.