There's a theme that has been revealing itself to me throughout the book that I'm having trouble putting words to, but it seems important and surprising in how often it occurs. It spins off of a comment Alex made in another thread earlier this summer.
The broader theme, like Alex said, is about seeing, being seen, and being hidden. But also about being heard, or understood. I've started cataloging all of the ways that this theme reveals itself throughout the book:
- The passage early in the book about video phones, and then people buying masks to hide their true appearance when on video phone calls.
- Another early passage where James is in costume and presenting himself as a professional conversationalist/therapist trying to connect with Hal.
- Hal hiding underground whenever he smokes pot.
- Steeply presenting as a woman, unconvincingly to Marathe, but apparently pulling it off with most people.
- Several conversations between members of the Incandenza family where each participant seems to be holding their own conversation, unaware that the person they're talking to is either not hearing or not receiving their communication. This one is more subtle but it is almost always a conversation Hal is participating in. It bears more investigation, partly because it's easy to miss until you notice it, and then you see it constantly.
- Snippets of interviews performed by Steeply where the questions are substituted for just the letter "Q," and the reader has to deduce by the answer given what the question was. Sort of like Jeopardy.
- Joelle's veil, and the entire U.H.I.D.
- Marathe being a triple/quadruple/pentuple/whatever agent
- A more recent realization that James Incandenza, an extremely central character, has few, if any, words of actual spoken dialogue recorded in the book.
- Everyone at the Incandenza Thanksgiving table smiling, seemingly involuntarily, for the entire meal.
- An entire passage where Joelle remembers back on how Orin agonized over how detached and unfeeling James was, especially to him.
- The entire passage about Johnny Gentle foisting American territory onto Quebec, except all his lines are spoken from inside an oxygen chamber and then translated to the room by his assistant.
- Randy Lenz's secret fascination with killing animals.
- James wouldn't show Joelle most of the finished films he made that she was in.
I could go on and on.
The theme also spins off into some interesting things that can be read into, too, like the fact that two of the least-likely-to-be-hiding-something characters in the entire book, Mario and Don Gately, also have massive heads and are, physically, impossible to miss. Or the fact that James created a career of making films, ostensibly as a form of expression in order to be better understood.
I hesitate to say that this is the main theme of Infinite Jest, but once you see all the possible ways it plays out, it's impossible to miss.
The broader theme, like Alex said, is about seeing, being seen, and being hidden. But also about being heard, or understood. I've started cataloging all of the ways that this theme reveals itself throughout the book:
- The passage early in the book about video phones, and then people buying masks to hide their true appearance when on video phone calls.
- Another early passage where James is in costume and presenting himself as a professional conversationalist/therapist trying to connect with Hal.
- Hal hiding underground whenever he smokes pot.
- Steeply presenting as a woman, unconvincingly to Marathe, but apparently pulling it off with most people.
- Several conversations between members of the Incandenza family where each participant seems to be holding their own conversation, unaware that the person they're talking to is either not hearing or not receiving their communication. This one is more subtle but it is almost always a conversation Hal is participating in. It bears more investigation, partly because it's easy to miss until you notice it, and then you see it constantly.
- Snippets of interviews performed by Steeply where the questions are substituted for just the letter "Q," and the reader has to deduce by the answer given what the question was. Sort of like Jeopardy.
- Joelle's veil, and the entire U.H.I.D.
- Marathe being a triple/quadruple/pentuple/whatever agent
- A more recent realization that James Incandenza, an extremely central character, has few, if any, words of actual spoken dialogue recorded in the book.
- Everyone at the Incandenza Thanksgiving table smiling, seemingly involuntarily, for the entire meal.
- An entire passage where Joelle remembers back on how Orin agonized over how detached and unfeeling James was, especially to him.
- The entire passage about Johnny Gentle foisting American territory onto Quebec, except all his lines are spoken from inside an oxygen chamber and then translated to the room by his assistant.
- Randy Lenz's secret fascination with killing animals.
- James wouldn't show Joelle most of the finished films he made that she was in.
I could go on and on.
The theme also spins off into some interesting things that can be read into, too, like the fact that two of the least-likely-to-be-hiding-something characters in the entire book, Mario and Don Gately, also have massive heads and are, physically, impossible to miss. Or the fact that James created a career of making films, ostensibly as a form of expression in order to be better understood.
I hesitate to say that this is the main theme of Infinite Jest, but once you see all the possible ways it plays out, it's impossible to miss.