Infinite Jest

Infinite Jest

by

David Foster Wallace

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Office of Unspecified Services, a branch of the American government headed by Rodney Tine, Sr. that includes the C.I.A., Secret Service, A.T.F. (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives), D.E.A. (Drug Enforcement Administration), and O.N.R. (Office of Naval Research). The O.U.S. is on a mission to secure the master copy of the Entertainment before it falls into the hands of the A.F.R. or another dissident organization. O.U.S. operatives featured in the novel include Hugh Steeply and Rodney Tine, Jr.
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O.U.S. Term Timeline in Infinite Jest

The timeline below shows where the term O.U.S. appears in Infinite Jest. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 53
Entertainment Theme Icon
Institutional Control vs. Rebellion Theme Icon
...body. Although very little is usually “accomplished” during these meetings between the men, both the O.U.S. and A.F.R. get excited about them. The two men then discuss the myth of the... (full context)
Chapter 55
Addiction, Mental Illness, and Suicide Theme Icon
Entertainment Theme Icon
Institutional Control vs. Rebellion Theme Icon
Early November Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment. Rodney Tine, Chief of the O.U.S., owns a “special metric ruler” with which he measures his penis every morning. The Entertainment... (full context)
Talent, Precociousness, and Fame Theme Icon
Entertainment Theme Icon
Institutional Control vs. Rebellion Theme Icon
...it as “the samizdat.” Technically, the threat it poses falls under the jurisdiction of the O.U.S.’s Anti-Anti-O.N.A.N. Activities’ Agency (which an endnote explains is O.U.S.’s “most elite and least specific division”). (full context)
Chapter 58
Entertainment Theme Icon
Reality as Corporate Dystopia Theme Icon
Institutional Control vs. Rebellion Theme Icon
...Duck Pond undergoing its annual draining. Tine’s son Rodney Tine Jr., who—like Hugh Steeply—is a O.U.S. operative, is sitting with Steeply in the same conference room as his father. (full context)
Chapter 69
Addiction, Mental Illness, and Suicide Theme Icon
Entertainment Theme Icon
Institutional Control vs. Rebellion Theme Icon
...in this very house. Or, perhaps, he should do neither and summon Steeply and the O.U.S. forces to Ennet House instead. He tries to envision which would create the best outcome... (full context)
Chapter 71
Talent, Precociousness, and Fame Theme Icon
Addiction, Mental Illness, and Suicide Theme Icon
Entertainment Theme Icon
Institutional Control vs. Rebellion Theme Icon
...everything will be okay.) Back in the main narrative, Molly Notkin is being interrogated by O.U.S. operatives about the Entertainment. Molly says that the Entertainment—whose title, “Infinite Jest (V) or (VI)”,... (full context)
Addiction, Mental Illness, and Suicide Theme Icon
Entertainment Theme Icon
Institutional Control vs. Rebellion Theme Icon
...the Entertainment and struggles to believe that it is “lethally entertaining.” Molly asks why the O.U.S. never went to Avril directly to ask about the master copy, and there is no... (full context)