/lit/ - Literature

>wardine be cry


Let's actually fucking discuss this one for once.
I've read people call this part of the book inexcusable and insensitive, and I agree with that to a point. I'm not sure if it was the right call to use such a stereotypical voice and vernacular for this bit of the book, especially because this narrator doesn't show up again at all, and Roy Tony only comes up peripherally.

Also, when he does come up again it's so we can see he's going thru the program and trying to turn his life around. But is this character/plot really as simple as this? Like, did DFW just put this guy in as a peripheral example of someone turning their life around? That seems kind of weak sauce. Anyone disagree?

>>11473134
>>11473151
>>11473995
>>11474877
>actually buying the shitpost

>>11452748
i think you missed a slight piece there: he explicitly refuses narcotics in favor of strong antibiotics to maintain his recovery. the fever dreams and hallucinatory timelines/memories are all products of his intense pain and fever resulting from the infection, but as far as the reader is aware he does not accept the oral narcotics and relapse.
the assumption is that his last memory and the close of the novel is his 'rock bottom,' which after reliving he is stronger in his sobriety and acceptance of his fucked up past.