Communication Breakdown

David Foster Wallace has, with Infinite Jest, written an "experience novel" rather than a novel concerned with an actual developing plot. The use of named years, as opposed to numerical ones, the lack of any formal seperation between the various segments other than the naming of the time period, and the optional, but informative, interjections of the endnotes all function to fragment the novel into a collage of experiences.

Because Inifinite Jest is not a linear novel, it is very important to pay close attention not only to the individual experience each segment communicates, and how it fits together with the rest of the novel, but also to the actual ordering of those experiences in the book.. So far (through page 87) it appears that the unifying theme of the novel is the breakdown of communication, as evidenced by the juxtaposition of the verbose yet precise diction and the character’s inability to connect through to others.

The first segment is one of three places written in first person(whereas the rest of the text so far has been written mostly in third person).It introduces Hal, also the Narrator for this segment, in what is essentially a horror story. The tension is mainly developed through the juxtaposition between the detailed and perhaps verbose descriptions of the event by Hal and his complete silence. The interjection of Hal's childhood mold-eating story(as a description of his brother Orin's recollection(s)) suggests that Hal may indeed be mute, or at least unable to speak, as his throat, and hence vocal cords, are inferred from their mother's panic to be damaged from the mold. Immediately afterwards, Wallace reveals that while Hal is able to speak, he is unable to be understood as his attempts are perceived as violent, derranged, threatening and animalistic. At the same time, however, it appears Hal does not care for his inability to be understood. He is, in essence, as alienated from other people as they are from him, which is a corollary of the human communication breakdown theme. It is also worthy of note that Hal's physical experience seems particularly surreal and, coupled with the mold-eating, creates the notion that Hal’s own perceptions may be tainted and that the world presented may not be actual reality.

An interesting character is the Father, James Orin Incandenza, whose filmography contains a work by the title of the novel. This is significant, as his filmography also contains a film that is the third segment in the novel. Given the facts that J.O. is referred to as Himself by his family, is the creator of the Tennis academy, his extensive filmography and the fact that Infinite Jest is his life’s work, it seems as if James Orin represents the Creator in the novel’s world. However, he is dead, which may in part imply the lack of guidance for the characters in the novel.

Infinite Jest is, so far, not exactly a comedy because of the stark alienation portrayed that brings its characters closer to tragic. Nevertheless, there are humorous moments throughout the book, albeit most of them off-color. The title, however, suggest if not a comedy, then at least one joke of an incredibly large scale. In part, this creates the expectations that the extremity of the characters’ alienation and other substance-related problems will have a surprising, not necessarily funny, but nonetheless ironic resolution. This is alluded to most clearly in the second segment