This is a bit of a silly post, but it's things like this that are making Infinite Jest infinitely easier to read for me than the other novels. The book is alienating sometimes (Joelle section starting 227) when I don't understand it, but Wallace includes some odd stray thoughts that I've pondered before, thoughts that I never imagined I would see in print. I'd be grateful if someone could tell me what's going on in that 227-235 section though, is she just watching one of James Incandenza's movies?
But back to the odd tidbits, on 221, in the middle of a lengthy description of a city street drenched in rain, Wallace describes the swish of cars driving by: "sheening by with the special lonely sound of cars in rain, wipers making black rainbows on taxis' shining windshields" (221). It was strange to read this because I've always considered cars driving on a rainy day lonely. All the windows stopped up, and sheets of water, glass and metal effectively plug people up in their cars, and the cars from each other. The wiper noises are the cars whining.
The other strange part to read was when Gately was robbing the Canadian, and the Canadian suffocated partially because of stuffy nose. Kind of morbid, but I've always wondered if a stuffed up nasal passage would clear up magically in a life-threatening situation. Guess not.
The section that starts on 227 takes place at a party hosted by Molly Notkin. Joelle walks through the brownstone and basically tries to OD on cocaine in the bathroom. It's kind of creepy how "resourceful" she is (236).
Does anyone know what's up with the veil? Or, rather, why does she wear one?
She wears one because (I think it's open to debate, of course) she is the prettiest girl of all time (PGOAT). I suspect it has something to do with how others react to her beauty...she's so pretty she might as well be deformed, since she gets the same reaction, the same isolation. I think the veil enables her to mix more freely (and isn't that a loaded concept in itself). In CORE class we have dealt with Algerian veils and WEB Dubois idea of the veil...and this is yet another use of the veil...it's different from typical uses of the veil in some ways, yet traditional at the same time (using it to hide beauty, or to protect oneself). The veil is really interesting to me.
For the record, even though most people probably noticed this, we found out in this reading (p363) that Joelle also belonged to the "11-Step Union of the Hideously and Improbably Deformed"
Yeah, until we read about her being the PGOAT, I thought she was deformed, because that seemed to be the implication. However, I began to think otherwise when I found out she dated Orin. I don't mean to insult him, but, judging from his phone conversations with Hal, he has very superficial relationships, and so this made me think that perhaps Joelle really was not disfgured. So this was only a suicide attempt? I am having a hard time following the chronological order and thought maybe she actually died.
Yeah, from what I understand, the incident in the bathroom at the party was the suicide attempt that ended up landing her in Ennet House.
I was under the impression that Joelle really was the PGOAT when she dated Orin, but then later some sort of accident left her disfigured (the possibility of acid being flung at her was raised in class). I assumed that Jim's death, Joelle's disfiguration, and she and Orin's breakup happened around the same time, but I could be way off as we still don't really know any of the facts.
It seems more plausible to me that Joelle is actually disfigured rather than just beautiful not only because of the acid reference on page 223, but also because the author keeps reiterating the connected between the veil and the Hideously and Improbably Deformed-- a member tries to sell Mario a veil, members in the AA meetings are also wearing veils, etc. I know that being "fatally beautiful" can also be in some sense a deformity, and Joelle says this herself in her radio program, but for some reason I think it might be more literal. I might be completely wrong, though. I guess we'll see.
I also assumed she was deformed before he unpacks what's actually going on. It's interesting how beauty and deformity converge in some ways: both are liminal, simultaneously worshipped and feared. Two of the most archetypally recognizable and compelling types of characters in contemporary film tropes are the beautiful person (usually female) and the deranged and usually misunderstood misanthrop (usually male). Tabling gender analysis, both present ways, I think, to safely explore possibilites outside the normative lifestyle and aesthetic standards that we all conform to. We like Hannibal Lector becuase cultural constructs are always confining; he presents a way out without actually having to commit crimes (or eat people).