What is the main message of Infinite Jest

[Jen]

Infinite Jest is packed with a variety of themes but what do you think is the main message that DFW is trying to get across to his readers?

[Tracy]

Entertainment comes in a wide variety of forms, but you need to choose carefully. Some are used to escape harsh realities, some are dangerous, some are deadly. Life itself should be an entertaining enterprise.
This was the main message to me, however, there are so many themes, I imagine each reader will come away with something totally different.

[Patrick]

The pursuit of happiness, as framed in the United States Declaration of Independence, has drifted on a severely epicurean tangent compared to its initial meaning, which probably embodied prosperity, thriving and well-being.

[[deleted user]]

I would also add that there is a strong message against relying on something else to get you through the day whether that be drink, drugs, sex or cartridges.

[Kristel]

The damage of obsessions/addictions. The ways parent's mess up their children whether it is like Gately where his parents are drunk and abusive or like Hal where they are using their children to excel at sports. The ways in which we people (is it just the US) are into being entertained and therefore are being controlled and manipulated by ad agencies. Politics/environmental issues. The main theme for me was the addictions.

[John]

I am trying to puzzle through what DFW meant by The Entertainment, the short film in which Joleen, unveiled, bends down to look at you and says, repeatedly and in a variety of ways, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." The Entertainment was so central to the book, it seems to me that it has to be a key part of what he was saying, but it's pretty dense to me.

[Kristel]

It's hard to really say what he meant but it was almost as if he was seeing into the future and how much our technology would become so absorbing.

Joelle was also confusing. Her relationship with her special dad seemed incestuous. What did she have to feel sorry for. Did she take on shame and guilt of her abusers?

[John]

Kristel wrote: "It's hard to really say what he meant but it was almost as if he was seeing into the future and how much our technology would become so absorbing.

Joelle was also confusing. Her relationship with..."

I don't think she was sorry - she was the actress in the entertainment. Those were just lines she read.

I thought incest was possible as well, but when she brought Orin home, her father was angry because he had restrained from molesting her and now she was giving herself to this lout. A very NY view of southern families.