Infinite Jest

Infinite Jest

by

David Foster Wallace

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Infinite Jest makes teaching easy.
Along with Hal, Gately is perhaps the other main character of the story. He is a large but gentle and sensitive person. The son of an alcoholic, Gately starts drinking his mother’s alcohol in order to stop her getting too drunk. He plays high school football, but his drinking and drug use lead him to fail his classes; he is kicked off the football team and leaves school. Gately begins working for Facklemann, and witnesses Facklemann’s gruesome downfall at the hands of Sorkin and Eighties Bill. He became a professional burglar, and accidentally kills Guillaume DuPlessis during a botched robbery. In order to avoid going to prison he checks into Ennet House, where he eventually becomes a residential staffer. He ends up getting shot while defending Randy Lenz from a group of Quebecois men. In the hospital, he is visited by a “wraith” who is the spirit of James Incandenza. During this time, he has a potentially prophetic vision of helping Hal to dig up James’s head. Despite his tough exterior, Gately is highly protective of people, particularly the Ennet House residents. He develops feelings for Joelle in spite of the rule against relationships between Ennet House residents and staffers.

Don Gately Quotes in Infinite Jest

The Infinite Jest quotes below are all either spoken by Don Gately or refer to Don Gately. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Talent, Precociousness, and Fame Theme Icon
).
Chapter 69 Quotes

After so long not caring, and then now the caring crashes back in and turns so easily into obsessive worry, in sobriety. A few days before the debacle in which Don Gately got hurt, Joelle had begun to worry obsessively about her teeth. Smoking 'base cocaine eats teeth, corrodes teeth, attacks the enamel directly.

Related Characters: Don Gately, Joelle Van Dyne / Madame Psychosis / Lucille Duquette
Related Symbols: Substances
Page Number: 723
Explanation and Analysis:
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Infinite Jest PDF

Don Gately Quotes in Infinite Jest

The Infinite Jest quotes below are all either spoken by Don Gately or refer to Don Gately. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Talent, Precociousness, and Fame Theme Icon
).
Chapter 69 Quotes

After so long not caring, and then now the caring crashes back in and turns so easily into obsessive worry, in sobriety. A few days before the debacle in which Don Gately got hurt, Joelle had begun to worry obsessively about her teeth. Smoking 'base cocaine eats teeth, corrodes teeth, attacks the enamel directly.

Related Characters: Don Gately, Joelle Van Dyne / Madame Psychosis / Lucille Duquette
Related Symbols: Substances
Page Number: 723
Explanation and Analysis: