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Dr. Benway
The Sailor lives in Interzone and is a seedy character often characterized by his empty, soulless gaze. He works for “Fats” Terminal to deliver “eggs” of Black Meat (the addictive flesh of the giant aquatic black centipede), but the narrator suggests that the Sailor may also be a defecting agent of Islam Inc. The Sailor spends a lot of time in the Meet Café in Interzone’s city Plaza, where one day he meets a young man suffering from “coke bugs” (tactile hallucinations associated with cocaine use). The Sailor immediately preys on the young man, offering him a drug fix in exchange for his “Time,” an ambiguous term that is later revealed to refer to sex. The Sailor brings the young man back to his apartment, and after fondling him, the Sailor offers him his first shot of heroin. Afterward, the Sailor warns the young man that now that he’s had a taste of heroin, he will be addicted for life.
The Sailor Quotes in Naked Lunch
The Naked Lunch quotes below are all either spoken by The Sailor or refer to The Sailor. 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:
).
20. Coke Bugs Quotes
He had a paper napkin under his coffee cup—mark of those who do a lot of sitting over coffee in the plazas, restaurants, terminals and waiting rooms of the world. A junky, even at the Sailor’s level, runs on junk Time and when he makes his importunate irruption into the Time of others, like all petitioners, he must wait. (How many coffees in an hour?)
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Explanation and Analysis:
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The Sailor Character Timeline in Naked Lunch
The timeline below shows where the character The Sailor appears in Naked Lunch. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
6. The Black Meat
In an unnamed café, a shoeshine boy is trying to hustle the Sailor. With “dead, cold, undersea eyes,” The Sailor leans forward, grabs the boy’s arm, and examines...
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The Sailor continues to walk through the Plaza, where he crosses paths with many dark characters. These...
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The Sailor heads to the Meet Café, which is on the far end of the Plaza. There,...
(full context)
20. Coke Bugs
It is morning. The Sailor has been waiting in some kind of café or diner for a long time, which...
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The Sailor then offers the young man a piece of pie and pulls the young man into...
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21. The Exterminator Does a Good Job
Continuing from where the previous chapter leaves off, the Sailor brings the young man to an apartment where sex and drug paraphernalia are strewn about....
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The Sailor offers the young man pure heroin, once again requesting the boy’s “Time” in exchange. He...
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...is the only time his name is mentioned), Lee (who narrates a previous chapter), the Sailor, and Doctor Benway. The Exterminator knows that while he trying to sniff out these dissident...
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