Characters
Hal Incandenza, Losing It.
Aubrey deLint, More Esteemed Than Usual.
Paramedics, Not Important.
Psychiatric MD, Probably Important.
Charles Tavis, Mario Incandenza's Father.
The Three Deans, Boil and Bubble, Baby.
Pilot of the ultra-mach fighter, Defending the End of the World?
Characters Mentioned
Orin Incandenza, Ex-boyfriend of PGOAT.
Woman with Big Right Titty, Waiting Room Waitee in Hal's First Emergency Room Visit Memory.
Cosgrove Watt, Professional Actor used by James Incandenza.
Hal's Grief-Therapist, Tiny Hands.
Avril Incandenza, the Moms.
James Incandenza, Himself.
John "No Relation" Wayne, Masked.
Don Gately, Alcoholic and Gravedigger-upper.
Venus Williams, Real Life Tennis Prodigy.
Dymphna, Blind Tennis Prodigy.
Petropolis Kahn, Student at Enfield Tennis Academy.
Ortho Stice, The Darkness.
Polep, Never Again Mentioned Possible Tennis Opponent.
Hypothetical Nurse's Aide, Hospital Security Guy, or Cuban Orderly, "What's Your Story?" Novel Jump Start Asker.
Scene: Exterior: the University of Arizona. Interior: Back of an Ambulance.
The opening scene as Hal reacts to the heat of Arizona sounds strikingly like he's experiencing what it's like to cook your head in a microwave. That might be important later!
While Hal's being hauled off for his psychotic break, he thinks about a bunch of things from his past. He also muses about how his hospital stay will go and seeing as how it reads like somebody who has experience with this sort of thing, I'm guessing that his "first time" (which he describes in this section) and this current time are not the only two times that Hal has been hospitalized for a psychotic break. During the memory of his first visit to an emergency room, he describes a woman whom I feel I should recognize. But the only woman in the book I can think of that might have a "starboard gait" is Pat Montesian, the head of Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House. But it just doesn't feel like it would be her in this situation, especially with the "parodic Québecois accent".
In Hal's scattering of memories, he describes a moment where John "No Relation" Wayne stands by in a mask as he and Don Gately dig up James Incandenza's head. Later in the book, Don Gately has a vision or a dream of doing this as well. But that moment never actually takes place in the pages of the novel. What's important about this moment is that the title, Infinite Jest, comes from Hamlet's description of Yorick, the jester whose skull he picks up in the graveyard. While James Incandenza's father correlates to Hamlet's father (ghost and all by the end), we also discover he's Yorick. Because the main purpose of James Incandenza's deadly Entertainment is to cheer up his son. He's just trying to make his kid happy and accidentally destroying the world.
There's a lot of foreshadowing in this bit but none of it really matters or means anything to a first time reader. Who the fuck is even going to remember that Don Gately was mentioned briefly here before they've even been introduced to Don Gately?
Chronologically, this is the end of the story. So congratulations! You've finished Infinite Jest!
Piecing Together the November, DAU, to November, Glad, Timeline
November, Year of the Depends Adult Undergarment: Hal makes his first visit to an Emergency Room due to a psychotic break. A woman in a trucker's cap and right-leg limp complains to him about "sudden gigantism" in her right breast. She has an "almost parodic Québecois accent". This woman is ?
November, Year of the Depends Adult Undergarment: Hal played beautifully at the WhataBurger Southwest Junior Invitational where Coach White first observed him for recruitment.
Year of Glad: John Wayne, Don Gately, and Hal Incandenza travel to The Concavity to dig up Hal's father's grave to both find the Master of The Entertainment and to hold up his Yorick skull to put a healthy skyscraper-sized pin on the whole Infinite Jest title of the novel.
February, Year of Glad: Coach White, via correspondence, recruited Hal for the University of Phoenix tennis program after Hal's graduation from Enfield in December, Year of Glad.
Year of Glad: John "No Relation" Wayne, the best player at Enfield Tennis Academy, disappears sometime between November, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, and November, Year of Glad.
Hal Incandenza, Losing It.
Aubrey deLint, More Esteemed Than Usual.
Paramedics, Not Important.
Psychiatric MD, Probably Important.
Charles Tavis, Mario Incandenza's Father.
The Three Deans, Boil and Bubble, Baby.
Pilot of the ultra-mach fighter, Defending the End of the World?
Characters Mentioned
Orin Incandenza, Ex-boyfriend of PGOAT.
Woman with Big Right Titty, Waiting Room Waitee in Hal's First Emergency Room Visit Memory.
Cosgrove Watt, Professional Actor used by James Incandenza.
Hal's Grief-Therapist, Tiny Hands.
Avril Incandenza, the Moms.
James Incandenza, Himself.
John "No Relation" Wayne, Masked.
Don Gately, Alcoholic and Gravedigger-upper.
Venus Williams, Real Life Tennis Prodigy.
Dymphna, Blind Tennis Prodigy.
Petropolis Kahn, Student at Enfield Tennis Academy.
Ortho Stice, The Darkness.
Polep, Never Again Mentioned Possible Tennis Opponent.
Hypothetical Nurse's Aide, Hospital Security Guy, or Cuban Orderly, "What's Your Story?" Novel Jump Start Asker.
Scene: Exterior: the University of Arizona. Interior: Back of an Ambulance.
The opening scene as Hal reacts to the heat of Arizona sounds strikingly like he's experiencing what it's like to cook your head in a microwave. That might be important later!
While Hal's being hauled off for his psychotic break, he thinks about a bunch of things from his past. He also muses about how his hospital stay will go and seeing as how it reads like somebody who has experience with this sort of thing, I'm guessing that his "first time" (which he describes in this section) and this current time are not the only two times that Hal has been hospitalized for a psychotic break. During the memory of his first visit to an emergency room, he describes a woman whom I feel I should recognize. But the only woman in the book I can think of that might have a "starboard gait" is Pat Montesian, the head of Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House. But it just doesn't feel like it would be her in this situation, especially with the "parodic Québecois accent".
In Hal's scattering of memories, he describes a moment where John "No Relation" Wayne stands by in a mask as he and Don Gately dig up James Incandenza's head. Later in the book, Don Gately has a vision or a dream of doing this as well. But that moment never actually takes place in the pages of the novel. What's important about this moment is that the title, Infinite Jest, comes from Hamlet's description of Yorick, the jester whose skull he picks up in the graveyard. While James Incandenza's father correlates to Hamlet's father (ghost and all by the end), we also discover he's Yorick. Because the main purpose of James Incandenza's deadly Entertainment is to cheer up his son. He's just trying to make his kid happy and accidentally destroying the world.
There's a lot of foreshadowing in this bit but none of it really matters or means anything to a first time reader. Who the fuck is even going to remember that Don Gately was mentioned briefly here before they've even been introduced to Don Gately?
Chronologically, this is the end of the story. So congratulations! You've finished Infinite Jest!
Piecing Together the November, DAU, to November, Glad, Timeline
November, Year of the Depends Adult Undergarment: Hal makes his first visit to an Emergency Room due to a psychotic break. A woman in a trucker's cap and right-leg limp complains to him about "sudden gigantism" in her right breast. She has an "almost parodic Québecois accent". This woman is ?
November, Year of the Depends Adult Undergarment: Hal played beautifully at the WhataBurger Southwest Junior Invitational where Coach White first observed him for recruitment.
Year of Glad: John Wayne, Don Gately, and Hal Incandenza travel to The Concavity to dig up Hal's father's grave to both find the Master of The Entertainment and to hold up his Yorick skull to put a healthy skyscraper-sized pin on the whole Infinite Jest title of the novel.
February, Year of Glad: Coach White, via correspondence, recruited Hal for the University of Phoenix tennis program after Hal's graduation from Enfield in December, Year of Glad.
Year of Glad: John "No Relation" Wayne, the best player at Enfield Tennis Academy, disappears sometime between November, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, and November, Year of Glad.
this does not sound anywhere near as gratifying as cosmic odyssey
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