The tears of lot 49: its race in the desertOne of the central themes addressed in Pierre-Yves Pétillon's essay, “A recognition of her “Errand Into the Wilderness” is the general feeling of awakening one gets when reading The Cries of Lot 49 by Thos Pynchon. Pétillon begins his essay by expressing the opinion that "it is rather strange that The Cries of Lot 49, a slim short story, should have become a classic overnight (O'Donnell, p.127)." What seemed at first to be a typical article expounding the virtues of LSD turned out to have much more beneath the surface than a first reading might reveal. "Here's another 'groovy' sample of the emerging psychedelic scene: om, sweet om, O(edipa) M(ass) and his Lonely Hearts Club Band (O'Donnell, p. 128)." Petillon beautifully evokes the power of the book, realizing that “its ‘ambience’ grows with each reading” (O'Donnell, p. 129). 'when everything had, it seemed, slowed to a sudden stop (O'Donnell, p. 135)." Petillon then recounts Lot 49 to Jack Kerouacs On The Road, recounting their "simultaneous feeling of " flowering”, as if waking from a long sleep (O'Donnell, p. 130 He also points out that the main characters of Kerouac and Pynchon (Kerouac being himself and Pynchon being Oedipa Maas) sink deeper and deeper into an "invisible and hidden America (O'Donnell, p. 130)." What Petillon has not adequately mentioned, however, is the fact that the reader never has a idea of ​​one's surroundings Upon awakening from a long sleep, one generally finds oneself with a general awareness and clarity as to what is happening around one. However, with The Crying of Lot 49, you arrive at the end of the. story, or at the end of waking if you prefer, only to discover that you have slipped further into a dream..