Infinite Jest

At Ennet House, Don Gately and Pat Monesian are told to be more patient and tolerant—like a new resident named Geoffrey Day, who is polite and who speaks in a “system of cliches” (271). College professor Geoffrey is at Ennet House to deal with an addiction to wine and quaaludes, a sedative and hypnotic narcotic. Don speaks to Geoffrey about his cliched approach to recovery; Don has seen plenty of patients at Ennet House who speak in this way, but they always relapse or fail in some other way. In an endnote, Don becomes annoyed at Geoffrey’s academic questioning of the program. He fantasizes about throwing Geoffrey out into the street for not being fully invested in the recovery program. Don now works as a residential staffer at Ennet House while also recovering. He carefully watches the patients and provides biographies of everyone at the facility. Don describes their names, addictions, and unique problems. He watches as the residents bicker over minor issues and then breaks wind. The residents argue about the smell.

Orin does not share his brothers’ interest in tennis. While he was a decent player and “basically academically sound” (284) in his young teenage years, he decided to attend a university that was not famous for its tennis program. He studied at Boston University; Avril appreciated that her eldest son could always return home when he wanted. Following James’s suicide, a staff upheaval at the ETA left her with plenty to do, though Charles Tavis took over the position of headmaster as she was busy with many pursuits, including “the Militant Grammarians of Massachusetts, the academic PAC that watchdogged media-syntax” (288). Orin received a full tennis scholarship but decided to abandon tennis during his freshman year. He felt as though he was “an empty withered psychic husk, competitively, burned out” (288). Instead, Orin switched to football because he fell in love with a cheerleader named Joelle who was so beautiful that she became shunned by everyone, as men were too scared to approach her. Orin was not particularly skilled at football during his first practice sessions, to which he gained entry through his family connections. However, a terrible accident befell the punter and Orin showed that he could kick the football better than anyone expected. He became an excellent punter and rediscovered his love for sports; his tennis scholarship became a football scholarship, and he was soon dreaming about a career as a professional punter. In his first game for the college team, Orin’s brilliant kicking silenced an entire stadium. Around this time, Orin and Joelle fell in love, and by the end of freshman year they were living together. Joelle met his family and he met hers. He listened to her talk about her passion—films—and he watched her take drugs, though he remains sober. Her passion for films led to Joelle acting in films made by Orin’s father James. Joelle decided she wanted to become a filmmaker in her own right. Orin loves the short films she produces, which mostly involve her watching him play football. James Incandenza killed himself during Orin’s senior year

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment (November 14)

Poor Tony spends a week drinking codeine-laced cough syrup. While riding on the train, he has a seizure. He has been struggling to deal with withdrawal from heroin, so began drinking codeine-laced cough syrup to help cope with his physical symptoms. Ever since his friend died due to shooting heroin infused with Drano, Poor Tony has had a bounty on his head. He is also suspected in a robbery case, in which a woman was killed when her artificial heart was mistakenly stolen by thieves. Struggling with his guilt, fear, and withdrawal, Tony ran out of syrup and codeine. His suffering increased as he continued to withdraw. He is horrified to realize that people were avoiding a certain dumpster because he was resting inside; his smell and his appearance warded others away as he suffered from incontinence. Tony spent days hiding in a library bathroom, feeling the horrific, hallucinatory effects of the “Withdrawal” (302). Eventually, he became so pained and desperate that he decided to take the train to visit a group of Canadian separatists who he believed owed him a favor. On the train, his clothes soiled and his appearance disheveled, people moved away from him. This is when the seizure struck. The physical pain of the seizure is accompanied by strange and disturbing visions, though Tony feels “Nothing” (304). A passenger reaches into his mouth to stop him from swallowing his tongue. Tony bites down and through the person’s fingers. As he dies, Tony worries whether anyone “could see up his dress” (306).

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment (November 7)

In an extended endnote, Hal searches through old letters that Mario collects in his role as the “Incandenza family archivist ex officio” (1005). While Hal looks through the collection, he listens to a telephone message from Orin discussing poetry by Emily Dickinson. Avril wrote her honors thesis on “the use of hyphens, dashes, and colons” (1005) in Dickinson’s poetry. The endnote continues to describe a letter sent by Avril to Orin some years earlier in which she assures her son that she loves and misses him. Orin’s reply is a stock letter written by a mailroom technician who works for the professional football team on which Orin plays. The letter says that the players get too much mail so they cannot reply to each individually.

Hal tells his brother that he is searching through old letters, and he shares news from the academy. Orin shares a new idea he has invented for dating married women; he hopes to visit Hal and watch him play in the WhataBurger tournament. Orin is confused by a recent association he has seen drawn between their father and the word samizdat, which he does not understand. Hal explains that samizdat is a Soviet term for rebellious propaganda that is self-published by political groups. He suggests that the Quebecois separatists and their leaflets would be the best equivalent in the O.N.A.N. When Hal begins to wonder about Orin’s sudden interest in Quebecois separatism, Orin admits that he is trying to impress the journalist named Helen who is writing a profile about their father. Hal is reluctant to be drawn into his brother’s romantic life, but he outlines the history and contradictions of the Quebecois nationalists. Orin is reluctant to talk too much about Helen and Hal becomes angry, feeling that his brother is hiding something from him. Orin admits that he has grown fond of Helen, unlike the Subjects he normally dates.

They discuss the Great Concavity, the region of New England that is toxic and polluted and was given to Canada when the O.N.A.N. was formed. The Canadians refer to the Great Concavity as the Great Convexity, and they are much more affected by the pollution. This, Hal suggests, could be the motivation for the Quebecois separatists’ anger, but he cannot see the separatists as anything other than “hopeless and pathetic” (1018). From the doorway, Michael gestures at Hal, who explains to Orin that Michael is telling him that dinner time has begun. Before dinner, Hal and other students (including Michael) routinely smoke marijuana. Orin continues to talk about the Canadian separatists as Michael becomes increasingly impatient for Hal to end the call. Eventually, he threatens to break Hal’s telephone. Hal finishes the call by suggesting that the Quebecois separatists may have an ulterior motive. As he searches for his clothes, Michael ends his call to Orin. The endnote finishes.

Hal sits in his class and learns about the violence perpetuated by the Quebecois separatists, who use mirrors to manufacture traffic accidents among American motorists.

Mario’s premature birth caused physical disabilities. This makes him seem strange to others, and he requires “a NNYC-apartment-door-style police lock” (315) to help him stand upright. The premature birth also impacted his cognition so that he seems “just a little off” (314) and struggles to integrate at E.T.A., where he does not play tennis like the other students. Instead, he follows in his father’s footsteps and makes films. As well as the coaching films that he produces for the other students and the instructors, Mario makes more abstract films for his own enjoyment. The other students struggle to understand Mario. His behavior occasionally annoys people, but some—like the guru Lyle and his brother Hal—have great affection for Mario. According to Hal, Avril sees Mario as the family’s true genius. Mario is responsible for introducing Hal to the Oxford English Dictionary and awakening Hal’s prodigious talent for perfect recall.

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment (April 30-May 1)

In Tucson, Marathe tells Steeply that he should not consider Canadians the real threat to America. After all, he says, the Entertainment was made by an American, and the American government knows all too well that the Entertainment has the power to destroy American society. Marathe’s group cannot force anyone to watch the Entertainment, but they can make it available for other people to watch of their own accord. People in America, he believes, no longer know that they can choose how to live their lives. They will consume the “so-called perfect Entertainment” (318) because they are in the thrall of media and consumerism. Marathe believes that he and his group are not killing Americans because American culture is already dead. President Gentle—leader of O.N.A.N.—has tried to create an external enemy to focus the culture, but he is too late. Steeply has his own criticisms of the idea of nation states; he accuses Marathe of believing in a violent, fascist ideology. Steeply is a believer in freedom above all else, though Marathe mocks him for misinterpreting the nature of freedom. In the dark, neither man has thought about how to descend the steep mountainside.

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment Interdependence Day Gaudeamus Igitur (November 8)

Eschaton is a complicated game that is very popular among the younger students at E.T.A. The game has a long history at the academy, but Michael Pemulis is credited with making the game more complex, as he is “the greatest Eschaton player” (322) in the history of the game. Usually used for tennis training, Michael changed the game so that each part represented a military tactic or weapon. The players are geopolitical combatants and tennis balls are nuclear bombs. Their respective strength and the damage they do is calculated through complex mathematical formulae. Despite the aggressive, militaristic dimension of the game, the students are allowed to play because the instructors recognize how the game can actually improve their sporting abilities.

In the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, a student named Otis P. Lord is appointed as the record keeper for the game. On Interdependence Day, Hal, Michael, and a student named Troeltsch watch students playing Eschaton on the practice courts. While the other students smoke “a hand-rolled psychochemical cigarette of some sort” (329), Hal declines to partake. He does not like being high in front of other people. While they watch the game, Troeltsch narrates events like a sports announcer. Despite Hal’s reticence, he smokes the drug-laced cigarette when it is absent-mindedly passed to him. He feels the narcotics in his system as he watches the game of Eschaton with Michael—the reigning champion—keeping score. Snow begins to fall. Otis struggles to keep up with the complex scoring system, even though he is the referee. Michael refuses to help him, so Otis begins to cry. Eventually, an argument begins over whether the falling snow should affect the game’s scoring system. Michael insists that the snow is irrelevant. Hal—now high—is much more fascinated by the argument than by Eschaton itself. When the game takes an unexpected turn, the students argue even more intensely and begin hitting tennis balls—which represent nuclear warheads—at one another. Unsure what this means in a wargame that favors realism, Otis is forced to wear a special hat, which designates an “Utter Global Crisis” (336) and has only been worn once before. Michael is “bug-eyed with fury” (337) as the players begin hitting tennis balls at one another as Otis tries to instill order on the court. When one boy is injured, Michael raises his hands innocently in the air. The court descends into chaos as the players abandon the tennis balls and use the rackets to hit one another. Hal feels his own face, unsure how his drugged expression is reacting to the pandemonium. Players stumble around the court, injured and bleeding from their open wounds. The snow continues to fall on the abandoned world map.

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment Interdependence Day Gaudeamus Igitur (November 8)

A common feature of addiction recovery programs in Boston is the tendency for patients to visit different groups, sharing their experiences in a system called “Commitments” (343). Don Gately visits another addiction recovery group named the White Flag AA Group. He remembers when his cynicism first gave way and he realized that these recovery programs “somehow work” (349). His story about how he came to realize that the programs worked is one of his biggest assets as an in-house staffer at Ennet House. Most members of this group are veteran members of recovery programs who have lots of time on their hands and a long experience of sobriety. Don is impressed with the dedication and the commitment of the old men, who are often referred to as “crocodiles” (354). He wants them to teach him to be like them, and—after spending enough time with them—he looks forward to being welcomed into the group.

On 8 November in the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Don brings other patients from Ennet House to the White Flag group. Joelle, now a patient at Ennet House along with Ken Erdedy, complains about the grammar used in the phrases espoused by the recovery groups. Don has no idea how to deal with her complaint, especially given her recent violent overdose. Joelle was placed in Ennet House through connections to important people. One at a time, people stand up in front of the group and discuss their traumatic experiences with addiction. The penultimate speaker is a woman who describes her abusive upbringing and how it drove her to alcohol and drugs. She ran away from her sexually abusive father and became a sex worker, becoming addicted to alcohol and narcotics in the process. As she talks, other members of the group seem uncomfortable. Groups such as this have an inherent distrust of those who blame their addictions on external factors such as an abusive family home.