In Thomas Pynchon’s “Entropy”, Callisto, and even some of those in Meatball Mulligan’s apartment, discuss some deep, intellectual topics.  These are all, as the work’s name implies, based in entropy.  Entropy has several definitions that are closely related.  It is basically a measure of unusable energy in a system that is lost to chaos (disorder), or the tendency of such a system to chaos.  Pynchon touches on a number of the properties and theories of entropy, among them Thermodynamics, heat death, and Information Theory.

In one part of the story, Callisto starts talking to no one in particular about Thermodynamics.  From “heat change” in Greek, it is the physics of energy in heat, motion, electricity, etc.  Callisto recalls “a mnemonic device for remembering the Laws of Thermodynamics:  you can’t win, things are going to get worse before they get better, who says they’re going to get better.”  This device is actually just a deviation of Ginsberg's theorem that is not particularly practical for remembering the laws anyway.  The first law is probably the simplist to relate to.  It states that energy can be converted to a different form, but can not be destroyed or created.  You cannot win; there is no free energy, so you’ll have to work for it. 

The second law is more complex.  It states that, in a system, non-heat forms of energy can be converted to heat, but that same conversion is not completely reversable as heat is a lower quality of energy.  However, heat can be used in a heat engine to produce mechanical energy as it always moves from a hot body to a cold one.  This law is portrayed in part by the efforts of Callisto to transfer his heat to the dying bird’s colder body.  The third law explains how it’s impossible to reach a constant known entropy, because it can only be done at absolute zero (−273.15 °C, −459.67 °F, or 0K) and processes stop as temperature approaches absolute zero.

Callisto continues.  He is now relating isolated thermodynamic systems to heat death.  “He had known all along, of course, that nothing but a theoretical engine or system ever runs at 100% efficiency; and about the theorem of Clausius, which states that the entropy of an isolated system always continually increases.”  As the aforementioned Laws of Thermodynamics imply, a system cannot run at 100% efficiency.  This is because of entropy; some of the energy is lost to disorder in the system.  Callisto’s apartment, which they refer to as the hothouse, portrays an isolated system, an imaginarily bordered entity that does not exchange energy with outer environments.  The hothouse is not quite an isolated system, though.  Pynchon tells us that food is delivered to Callisto and his mate, and there would be, of course, other kinetic and electrical energies exchanged with the hothouse.  Similarly, the Earth is not an isolated system, as the sun gives it energy.  Entropy increases in an isolated system because there is a tendency towards the more probable.  Disorder is more probable.  Consider that 10 coins have a vastly greater probability to be half heads and half tails (disorder) than all heads or tails (order).

This continual increase of entropy in an isolated system ultimately leads to the theory of heat death that is a major theme in “Entropy.”  In heat death, everything will eventually obtain a sort of equilibrium of disorder that will bring the temperature of the entire system to absolute zero.  It has been suggested that the universe could be an isolated system capable of heat death.  As “Entropy” comes to an end, the hothouse is seemingly (to Callisto) approaching a heat death.  When the window is broken, heat death is prevented as the apartment reaches equilibrium with the outside environment.

Callisto takes the idea of heat death and applies it to society.  He envisions that as information is passed around so readily that everyone has everything and therefore has created the equilibrium of heat death and “intellectual motion would, accordingly, cease.”

The Information theory is a bit more difficult to relate to entropy, but builds off some of the principles of thermodynamics.  As Saul and Meatball’s conversation implicates, entropy here is a measure of how much information could be lost in a message.  Pynchon also picks up on the similarities of this concept to that of the signal-to-noise ratio, as sound and music are an ongoing theme.  The signal is the meaningful information in the message, thus making noise the irrelevant disorganization in the system—entropy.

In “Entropy”, Pynchon is trying to illustrate the workings of entropy through the characters.  He is, however, very critical of this particular work, showcasing it as an example of how not to write because it “[committed] on paper a variety of abuses, such as overwriting.” (“Thomas Pynchon's Entropy”)  Pynchon acknowledges the difficulty of wrapping one’s head around the concepts of entropy.  He remarks, "Since I wrote this story I have kept trying to understand entropy, but my grasp becomes less sure the more I read."  (“Thomas Pynchon's Entropy”)  However, “Entropy” is often seen as a sort of starting point for Pynchon’s work, as many of the themes are also present in his other stories.

 

 

 

Works Cited

Entropy.  San Narciso Community College.  14 Apr. 2005 <http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/entropy/index.html>.

Entropy.  Wikipedia.  15 Apr. 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy>.

Thermodynamics.  Wikipedia.  15 Apr. 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermodynamics>.

Thomas Pynchon's Entropy.  San Narciso Community College.  15 Apr. 2005 <http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/slowlearner/entropy.html>.