That the bones of American soldiers are not only part of American consumerism but also part of a play being performed in San Narciso is of no surprise. Of course the play mentioned, aptly by the Paranoids, refers back to the mystery of alternate mail systems. There is no need to analyze the entire play but we can look at how the plot of the play parallels the plot of the novel. As in the novel, an allusion to Narcissus is made in the play, as the good Duke is poisoned when he kisses the feet of Saint Narcissus. Self-love is paralyzing.
Incest is, by definition, a product of a closed system of connection, or intercourse.
The bones do arise in act IV as we learn that they are the remains of the lost soldiers and have been used to make a evil, magical ink. Moreover, a direct parallel to the novel lies in Pynchon's words, or Oedipa's thoughts, as she describes a turn in the play. Heretofore the naming of names has gone on either literally or as a metaphor. The ambiguity of the plot and thematic structure of the novel is highlighted, along with the power and chill behind the employment of language. The mode presented is intertextual and explicitly defines the ultra implicit manner of the text of the novel.