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15. Islam Incorporated and the Parties of Interzone
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Naked Lunch, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Drug Addiction
The Art of Writing
Politics, Power, and Control
American Society
The Medical-Industrial Complex
Summary
Analysis
The County Clerk’s office is housed in the Old Court House of Interzone. The civil cases tried there are usually abandoned before they are resolved, due to the office’s vast and inefficient filing system: only the County Clerk and his assistants can locate any files, a process that often takes years. Some lawyers attempt to get their clients’ cases transferred to the Old Court House, which all but guarantees they will never go to trial. The address of the Old Court House is in Pidgeon Hole, a town replete with such stupid and barbaric inhabitants that the city has quarantined them by a radioactive brick wall.
In this passage, the County Clerk returns—the reader met him previously in the chapter “Ordinary Men and Women.” As this passage reveals, he is called the County Clerk because that is his job at the Old Court House, one arm of government bureaucracy. Burroughs is expressing cynicism about the role and value of bureaucracy for citizens, and this passage echoes Doctor Benway’s earlier comments about bureaucracy in “Ordinary Men and Women” in which he states that bureaucracies invent needs to fill them and therefore keep themselves relevant. Interzone’s Old Court House provides a perfect example of how bureaucratic systems work by creating a system so arbitrary and counter-intuitive that only the bureaucratic workers themselves know how to use.
Active
Themes
Lee (the narrator) is being evicted for failing to pay rent and needs to file an affidavit saying he has the “bubonic plague.” He packs up his documents and heads to the Old Court Hours. The Inspectors spend three hours looking through his papers and ask him to strip naked so they can search his body. Once he gets into the Old Court House, the path to the clerk’s office is winding and treacherous. It includes a dangerous staircase, a hydraulic Ferris wheel ride, and a trip down a long hallway.
This passage continues to play up the arbitrariness and inefficiencies of bureaucratic offices, including a lengthy and invasive inspection process upon entry and weirdly thrilling process of locating an office in a government building. To the reader in the modern world, what Lee experiences may be both humorous and (sadly) relatable.
Active
Themes
The County Clerk is talking to his six assistants when Lee (the narrator) walks into the office. He is telling the story of when he visited a pharmacist called Doc Parker and asked for paregoric for his wife’s menstrual cramps. Doc Parker then tells The County Clerk a story about a city guy who had asked for morphine with a prescription written on toilet paper. Doc Parker accused the man of being an addict but agreed to sell him the morphine anyway. Then he accidentally gave the man a jar of Saniflush.
Active
Themes
Doc Parker then asked the County Clerk (Arch) about his wife, and he shared that he doesn’t have sex with his wife anymore. In fact, The County Clerk was having an affair with a 15-year-old Black girl. The County Clerk returned home from that trip to Doc Parker’s pharmacy and administered the meds to his wife. Then he went to the pharmacy to buy a condom. During that second trip the pharmacy, he ran into Roy Bane, whom he describes as “a good ol’ boy.” Roy pointed out that there was a Black man lurking in an empty parking lot. Moments later, a Texarkana woman walked up to Roy and accused the man of giving her an unsavory look. Roy then set the Black man on fire and burned his house down.
Active
Themes
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Shortly after hearing this part of the County Clerk’s story, Lee clears his throat to get his attention. The County Clerk keeps talking, however. Then he goes into the bathroom, where he stays for a long time (a habit of his). When the County Clerk finally reemerges from the bathroom, Lee gets his attention by showing him his Razor Back card. The County Clerk then asks Lee a question about Jewish people so that Lee can prove he is truly a Razor Back. Lee makes a bigoted comment, and the County Clerk calls Lee “a good ol’ boy” and agrees to help him out.
Active
Themes
