Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Infinite Jest, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Talent, Precociousness, and Fame
Addiction, Mental Illness, and Suicide
Entertainment
Reality as Corporate Dystopia
Institutional Control vs. Rebellion
Summary
Analysis
7 November Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment. Joelle van Dyne always feels depressed when parties come to an end. Molly Notkin is currently holding a party to celebrate passing her Oral Exams for the PhD program in Film & Film-Cartridge Theory, where she and Joelle met. Joelle thinks about committing suicide by locking herself in Molly’s bathroom and overdosing on drugs. She dreams of an end to her crack addiction, which she can no longer pretend is under control. She hates crack now and wants to stop using, but also feels like she can’t live without it.
Although Joelle and Molly are characters who have just been introduced, Joelle’s crisis is something that many other characters have also experienced thus far. There is thus a distinct sense of familiarity to her narrative, even though the particular circumstances are different.
Themes
