Infinite Jest

How does addiction define a person's life? How can it be used as a weapon against an entire society? David Foster Wallace (1962-2008) examines these questions and more in his 1996 novel Infinite Jest. In a reality not so different from early 21st-century America, the characters suffer from all forms of addiction— drugs, alcohol, sex, consumerism, and even entertainment itself. Spanning over 1,000 pages and more than four genres, Infinite Jest examines themes of capitalism, addiction, mental health, and fame.

Infinite Jest Summary

Infinite Jest is comprised of several different narratives all woven together in a nonlinear structure. The novel flashes from the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment into various years in the past.

The novel opens with Hal Incandenza in an interview with college admissions at the University of Arizona. Hal is intelligent and incredibly talented, but he is suspected of cheating on his application. Hal suffers a breakdown and finds himself unable to speak. The novel flashes back to the past to explain how Hal got to this moment.

Hal was a student at Boston’s Enfield Tennis Academy (E.T.A.), a school founded by his parents, James and Avril Incandenza. James was the first headmaster of the school, but he became obsessed with filmmaking. After struggling with alcohol addiction for years, James kills himself. After James's death, Avril and her stepbrother run the school. Hal's older brother, Mario, continues to study film at E.T.A. to carry on their father's legacy. Meanwhile, their older brother, Orin, plays football with the NFL.

Fig. 1: One of the major plotlines centers around students who are training and learning at the Incandenza's Enfield Tennis Academy.

In a separate plot line, a group of people has gathered and are watching a film referred to as "The Entertainment." James Incandenza's final film, The Entertainment, is so entertaining and addictive that people can not stop watching it. They become so obsessed with watching the film they are unable to do anything else and eventually die.

The novel is set in a unified state called the Organization of North American Nations (O.N.A.N.), which encompasses the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The union has enabled the United States to dump its toxic waste in Canadian-controlled New England and Quebec, leading to the formation of the Great Concavity, a toxic wasteland where nothing can survive. In response to the pollution and devastation of their homeland, a group of radical Quebecois separatists has emerged. One such group is the Les Assassins des Fauteuils Rollents, or the Wheelchair Assassins (A.F.R.).

Remy Marathe, a member of the A.F.R., meets with American secret agent Hugh Steeply. Remy's character is ambiguous, and his true loyalties are never revealed. His wife is dying, and it is unclear if he is working against the A.F.R. to save her life or just pretending to betray them to throw Steeply off his trail. Steeply and Hugh discuss The Entertainment. The A.F.R. are searching for a copy of the film in an effort to weaponize the film and use it to gain their independence from Canada and the United States. Steeply, working for the American government, aims to steal the master copy before the A.F.R. can dismantle O.N.A.N.

Fig. 2: The A.F.R. plan to disperse the addictive film throughout the United States, turning it into a weapon.

Meanwhile, at a drug rehabilitation center (Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House) near E.T.A., former narcotics addict and burglar Don Gately tries to turn his life around by helping others recover from addiction. Joelle van Dyne, Orin's ex-girlfriend who starred in some of James's films, checks herself into Ennet House. She suffers from a severe crack cocaine addiction and had attempted to kill herself before coming to Ennet House. She finds the program actually helps to give her relief, and she becomes close with Don.

Back at E.T.A., the students are punished when one of their games turns violent. The older students, including Hal, are forced to take a urine test because of the rampant drug addiction in the school. Hal is nervous about the test because of his marijuana addiction, but student/drug dealer Michael Pemulis blackmails Avril to move the test back because he knows about her affair with a student. Pemulis is expelled. Hal stops smoking marijuana, but it completely changes him.

Fig. 3: Hal is addicted to smoking marijuana, and he questions everything about his life when he quits it.

All the while, Agent Steeply tries to get his hands on the master copy of the Entertainment before the radicals do. He interviews Orin and travels to E.T.A. to talk to Hal. Later, Steeply tracks down Joelle, who tells him there likely isn't a master copy. The A.F.R. likewise deploy their own methods to find the film, and neither are successful by the novel's end.

Back at Ennet House, Don is shot trying to break up a fight. Don spends weeks in the hospital, worried that he will once again become addicted to narcotics because he is unable to talk. In a dream, Don is visited by the ghost of James Incandenza, who tells him he made the Entertainment to communicate with Hal. The novel ends with Don reflecting on his past and remembering an incident in which he was tortured and given an extremely powerful drug. Don remembers waking up on the beach.

Infinite Jest Characters

The characters in Infinite Jest can be broken up into three main categories: the Incandenza family, government and nongovernment agents, and drug addicts (either in recovery or not).

The Incandenza Family

The Incandenza family is comprised of Jim and Avril and their children Hal, Orin, and Mario.

Hal Incandenza

Highly intelligent and talented, Hal Incandenza is the youngest son of the Incandenza family. He is a star at E.T.A. (ranked #2 for much of the novel), but he struggles with an addiction to marijuana. He quits smoking when he is told he will have to take a urine test, and the absence of drugs makes him question everything about his life. Hal also has difficulty expressing himself and is unable to communicate with college admissions at the beginning of the novel. His inability to communicate with his father perhaps prompted James to make the Entertainment.

Dr. James Incandenza / Jim

The father of Orin, Mario, and Hal, James founded E.T.A. as a place for students to learn and play tennis. After serving as E.T.A.'s headmaster, James's focus shifted to filmmaking later in life. He created the avant-garde film Infinite Jest, referred to primarily as "The Entertainment," in an effort to communicate with his emotionless son Hal. James suffers from depression and alcoholism and commits suicide by putting his head in the microwave.

Avril Incandenza

Orin, Mario, and Hal's mother, Avril Incandenza married James to overcome problems with her American visa. She has several affairs, including with 30+ medical men, an underage student at her school, and her stepbrother.

Orin Incandenza

The eldest Incandenza child, Orin was also one of the first students to graduate from E.T.A. He originally studied tennis like his father but now plays football after trying to impress Joelle. Orin is a sex addict, and he is eventually kidnapped by one of the women he has sex with. She forces him to tell her where the master copy of The Entertainment is.

Mario Incandenza

The middle Incandenza boy, Mario was born with several intellectual and physical disabilities. Mario does not play any sports, but he carries on his father's filmmaking legacy.

Drug Addicts (Former and Current)

Most of the drug addicts in the novel are undergoing rehabilitation at Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House.

Don Gately

A recovering drug addict, Don Gately checks into Ennet House to avoid going to jail after accidentally murdering someone during a robbery. Don eventually works for the Ennet House and helps other characters fight their addictions. He is shot while intervening in a fight and has a series of strange dreams in the hospital.

Joelle Van Dyne

A strikingly beautiful woman, Joelle Van Dyne meets Orin at college. When they are dating, Orin's father casts Joelle in several of his films. The two eventually break up, and she struggles with a crack cocaine addiction. She enrolls in Ennet House after a failed suicide attempt.

Government and Nongovernment Agents

The agents in the novel either work for the Office of Unspecified Services in the United States government or the Assassins Fateuils Rolents (Wheelchair Assassins) terrorist organization.

Hugh Steeply

A government agent, Hugh Steeply is undercover as Helen Steeply for much of the novel. He is actively working to find the master copy of The Entertainment before the A.F.R. does so the radical organization doesn't use it against America.

Fig. 4: Steeply works undercover as a woman named Helen for much of the novel.

Rémy Marathe

A member of the A.F.R., Rémy Marathe cares more about getting life-saving care for his wife than anything else. It is unclear whether he is actually betraying the A.F.R. or only pretending to.

Infinite Jest Genres

Infinite Jest does not belong to one singular genre of literature. As a postmodernist novel, Infinite Jest toys with traditional conventions and dips into many different genres. Some of the most obvious are satire, science fiction, hysterical realism, and tragicomedy.

The term hysterical realism was first coined by critic James Wood when he was reviewing Zadie Smith's novel White Teeth (2000). Wood stated that hysterical realism takes life experiences grounded in realism and attempts to make them grand and elaborate and pursues "vitality at all costs."¹ Infinite Jest, which encompasses 1,079 pages, is grounded in an American reality that differs from ours largely in the character's relationships to drugs, power, and one another. Likewise, Infinite Jest can also be considered a satire in that it critiques society's relationship to entertainment, mental health, and addiction.

Infinite Jest Analysis

Infinite Jest was written in the 1990s, but it is set just a few years into the future. Many brands that dominate American culture (such as Glad, Perdue, Dove Icecream, and Maytag) still exist and profoundly impact how capitalism functions in the novel. In order to increase tax revenue for the government, each year is sponsored by a corporation. This reveals how the government is directly influenced by big corporations that line politicians' pockets. This also works as an advertising tactic for big companies, whose ever-present name in the media is a subliminal reminder to support their business.

Fig. 5: Glad sponsors one of the years in Infinite Jest.

This dramatization of American society is apparent in many different areas of the novel. Consider drug use and addiction, which affects nearly every character in Infinite Jest. The students in Hal's school regularly sneak off to get high, and drugs are a normal part of socialization. Meanwhile, Orin is so addicted to sex that he gets in dangerous situations with women he does not know, all in the name of satisfying his urges. The most shocking case of addiction is with The Entertainment, which causes its viewers to become so obsessed with it that they die.

Addiction takes its toll on the mental health of many of the main characters. For example, James's addiction to alcohol contributed to his depression, but he could not stand the boredom of sobriety. He commits suicide because his addiction has deteriorated his mental state.

The novel also speaks to the burden of talent, fame, and status. Although Hal is both intellectually gifted and athletically talented, he feels isolated from his peers and his family. He constantly has to live up to the expectations others set for him until the pressure becomes too much to take. The narrator references other famous tennis players who could no longer handle the pressure of their own success. At the college admissions interview, Hal crumbles beneath the weight of his past expectations. While his peers resent Hal because they wish to be him, Hal feels trapped because he barely knows himself.

Infinite Jest Criticism

Infinite Jest was met with a diverse range of criticism. Wallace had gone on a 10-city book tour promoting the novel prior to its publication. A strong marketing strategy and early positive reviews lead to the novel's success. Some critics lauded it as the last great work in encyclopedic literature, while others found it unsatisfactory, needlessly long, and overzealous in its approach. Other reviewers argued that it was theoretically impressive, but it failed to hit its mark in actuality. It has also been criticized for its depiction of drug usage and mental health issues.

One of the novel's most avid supporters was literary critic Steven Moore. He praised the nuanced language of the novel,

One of Infinite Jest's harshest critics, Dale Peck, said:

Still, Infinite Jest is unarguably David Foster Wallace's most famous novel. It has sold more than a million copies worldwide since its original 1996 publication and made Wallace a public figure.