Emptying Intent
Apologies if this post is a little more of a ramble than is typical for me. My notes (and thoughts) about this bit are not well organized.
Starting off, I think that the first thing that struck me was how so many things in IJ are not quite as they appear. I guess the thing that set me thinking about this was Mario's savant empathy for Clipperton. More so, though, his extremely decisive (and persuasive) action. It's hard to peg anyone down as anything in IJ because they always have something more to reveal about themsleves.
Oh, and I really await the day when there is a "typical" person in IJ. :)
Since we've been hearing a lot from Hal and Gately, I thought a little bit about comparing the two of them. One clear contrast is that one is working through an addiction whereas the other is getting more and more addicted as time goes on (Hal lying to the Moms was pretty bad). Another seems to be that Hal is highly intellectual/academic whereas Gately is not dumb but certainly not inclined to be academic about anything. This seems to pretty clearly relate back to AA's whole anti-intellectual deal (that thinking people basically think themselves into justifying addiction).
Speaking of Hal, it seems pretty clear what sort of road he's headed down now (although I guess it was told to us in the beginning). We see now that he is physically subject to the effects of marijuana addiction which is presumably what causes his speech problems later on (either that or the uber-drug that got sold to Pemulis). Now, it also seems likely that drugs will account for Hal's dismal SAT scores. The real question is whether Hal is brain-damaged (he does still seem to understand his esoteric essays etc.) or not. In either case, though, it seems that Hal ends up giving away his academic "temple" (if you will) for his addictions. One of these addictions is marijuana, but I think it could be argued that another is really something of an addiction to overachievement. After all, part of the reason Hal got so good at tennis was drugs, no?
This also, of course, relates back to the Entertainment which is now clearly something written by JOI. Entertainment sort of being the mother of all addictions. Perhaps the question regarding Entertainment will be whether or not it should be freely available? While I'm on this, note 223 (explaining why Marathe and Steeply laugh) references one of JOI's films. I guess it was supposed to be the narrator alluding to the film although it seemed like it could be taken to mean that Entertainment was another version of that film (I which seems wrong as Entertainment should be Infinite Jest V or whatever #).
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Odds and Ends:
Why is there, for the first time an enquivocal (and somewhat horrible) death scene? It's not something that can be funny and we hardly knew the character (just a few vague references). It doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the book that has pretty much avoided "objective" (narrated) death scenes more than any other book that has so much potential for death. (So, maybe Poor Tony died but it's not clear) JOI's death is NOT narrated even though JOI is probably more important than Lucien. Part of it is probably just that JOI is revealed slowly, but I'd find it odd if DFW narrated JOI's death.
I like how DFW's writing is self-similar. The way he slowly reveals everything through little tiny hints (e.g. Ennet House is mentioned on pg. 87 or so but unless you're super-cognizant it doesn't mean much) which mirrors the telling of individual stories (i.e. most start out fairly innocuously). Also, it could be argued that much of the deeper meaning moves through the vehicle of more innocuous but sensical plot-lines.
Should we believe that Marathe and the AFR have never been tempted?
JOI had some messed up parents, but so do a lot of people who come out far better than he does. Is there any other reason he's messed up?
Erdeddy and the hugs are hilarious!! Especially since it illustrates the whole drilling of cliches.
Are we ever going to meet this drug dealer with the snakes? He kind of dropped out of the story.
Starting off, I think that the first thing that struck me was how so many things in IJ are not quite as they appear. I guess the thing that set me thinking about this was Mario's savant empathy for Clipperton. More so, though, his extremely decisive (and persuasive) action. It's hard to peg anyone down as anything in IJ because they always have something more to reveal about themsleves.
Oh, and I really await the day when there is a "typical" person in IJ. :)
Since we've been hearing a lot from Hal and Gately, I thought a little bit about comparing the two of them. One clear contrast is that one is working through an addiction whereas the other is getting more and more addicted as time goes on (Hal lying to the Moms was pretty bad). Another seems to be that Hal is highly intellectual/academic whereas Gately is not dumb but certainly not inclined to be academic about anything. This seems to pretty clearly relate back to AA's whole anti-intellectual deal (that thinking people basically think themselves into justifying addiction).
Speaking of Hal, it seems pretty clear what sort of road he's headed down now (although I guess it was told to us in the beginning). We see now that he is physically subject to the effects of marijuana addiction which is presumably what causes his speech problems later on (either that or the uber-drug that got sold to Pemulis). Now, it also seems likely that drugs will account for Hal's dismal SAT scores. The real question is whether Hal is brain-damaged (he does still seem to understand his esoteric essays etc.) or not. In either case, though, it seems that Hal ends up giving away his academic "temple" (if you will) for his addictions. One of these addictions is marijuana, but I think it could be argued that another is really something of an addiction to overachievement. After all, part of the reason Hal got so good at tennis was drugs, no?
This also, of course, relates back to the Entertainment which is now clearly something written by JOI. Entertainment sort of being the mother of all addictions. Perhaps the question regarding Entertainment will be whether or not it should be freely available? While I'm on this, note 223 (explaining why Marathe and Steeply laugh) references one of JOI's films. I guess it was supposed to be the narrator alluding to the film although it seemed like it could be taken to mean that Entertainment was another version of that film (I which seems wrong as Entertainment should be Infinite Jest V or whatever #).
-----
Odds and Ends:
Why is there, for the first time an enquivocal (and somewhat horrible) death scene? It's not something that can be funny and we hardly knew the character (just a few vague references). It doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the book that has pretty much avoided "objective" (narrated) death scenes more than any other book that has so much potential for death. (So, maybe Poor Tony died but it's not clear) JOI's death is NOT narrated even though JOI is probably more important than Lucien. Part of it is probably just that JOI is revealed slowly, but I'd find it odd if DFW narrated JOI's death.
I like how DFW's writing is self-similar. The way he slowly reveals everything through little tiny hints (e.g. Ennet House is mentioned on pg. 87 or so but unless you're super-cognizant it doesn't mean much) which mirrors the telling of individual stories (i.e. most start out fairly innocuously). Also, it could be argued that much of the deeper meaning moves through the vehicle of more innocuous but sensical plot-lines.
Should we believe that Marathe and the AFR have never been tempted?
JOI had some messed up parents, but so do a lot of people who come out far better than he does. Is there any other reason he's messed up?
Erdeddy and the hugs are hilarious!! Especially since it illustrates the whole drilling of cliches.
Are we ever going to meet this drug dealer with the snakes? He kind of dropped out of the story.
posted by Cory at 9:37 PM
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