Mail Time

One of the permeating things I noticed during Chapter 3 was the several mentions of mail and things related to it. The chapter starts off with a discussion of Pierce’s stamp collection, which seems to suggest that he is connected with all of the other times the mail is mentioned. We first see that Oedipa has received a letter from her husband, in response to the ones she sends to him twice a week. This seems like it would be pretty common practice, but you need a stamp to send a letter, and since Pierce has the stamps, it sort of seems like he controls the letters that Oedipa sends and receives. I’m not entirely sure of the significance of this, but since the two passages are right after one another, it seems likely that there is some connection there. We don’t really have much information about Pierce’s relationship with Oedipa as of yet but this could suggest Oedipa’s communications are being screened and controlled by Pierce, as because he has the stamps he chooses what gets sent. Even after Pierce’s death Oedipa is still doing his bidding, as she is following his will, so there is a little bit more evidence for this theory.

Other times we see mail is at the bar, when a mail carrier randomly shows up at an extremely weird time, distributing letters to the patrons who are part of some kind of secret society. Is Pierce connected to this? I’m not sure yet, but it seems like it could be plausible. Pierce seems to be an eccentric guy and to me, a secret club worshipping some guy called Peter Pinguid seems right up his alley. Another mention of mail is during the play, where a family called Thurn and Taxis has a monopoly on the postal system of the Holy Roman Empire. Again, I’m not totally sure how or if this connects to Pierce, but it is still another mention of the mail, so I would say it is possible there is something there.