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“Fats” Terminal
The Rube first appears in the novel as one of the characters the narrator talks about during his conversation with a strait-laced stranger on a New York subway. Like the narrator, the Rube is also addicted to drugs. The narrator also describes him as a “liability” because his behavior is often erratic and unpredictable. Once, he attempts to con an undercover police officer and gets himself and a few others (including the narrator) thrown into jail for three days. Because associating with the Rube poses such a risk, the narrator decides to abandon him in Philadelphia while on the run early in the novel.
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The Rube Character Timeline in Naked Lunch
The timeline below shows where the character The Rube appears in Naked Lunch. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
1. And Start West
...and starts on a disjointed rant about characters the narrator calls the Vigilante and the Rube. He seems to be performing the “character” of heroin addict for the man on the...
(full context)
3. The Rube
The Rube’s erratic behavior makes it so he and anyone he associates with are liable to be...
(full context)
