The Crying of Lot 49 Visions of America Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

San Narciso lay further south, near L.A. Like many named places in California it was less an identifiable city than a grouping of concepts—census tracts, special purpose bond-issue districts, shopping nuclei, all overlaid with access roads to its own freeway. (2.2)

What is the relationship between geography and legal entities that we call cities? Is this relationship more arbitrary in America than elsewhere?

Quote #2

"Who cares? We don't try to make scripture out of it. Naturally that's cost us a lot of support in the Bible Belt, where we might've been expected to go over real good. The old Confederacy." (3.22)

How is Pynchon poking fun at extremist American right-wing groups through the character of Mike Fallopian?

Quote #3

Turned out Fallopian was doing a history of private mail delivery in the U.S., attempting to link the Civil War to the postal reform movement that had begun around 1845 [...] He saw it as a parable of power, its feeding, growth, and systematic abuse, though he didn't go into it that far with her, that particular night. (3.54)

Why would the great postal reform movement coincide with the Civil War? Who would have been more opposed to a government monopoly on mail: the North or the South?