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/lit/ - Literature

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18579164 No.18579164 [Reply] [Original]

is the measuring your penis every day bit in infinite jest a metaphor for something?

it blew my mind when someone here said the kid trying to kiss every part of his body in pale king is a metaphor for david foster wallaces writing career

what are some interesting metaphors you found in infinite jest?

>> No.18579169

What was that whole mother/lover/death thing about anyways?

>> No.18579293

>>18579164
>it blew my mind when someone here said the kid trying to kiss every part of his body in pale king is a metaphor for david foster wallaces writing career
It's not, he was being derogatory. Did you even read The Pale King?

Penis measuring is just a way to highlight the pointlessness of the meaningless activities everyone in IJ indulges in and some apply great meaning too. Watching M*A*S*H looking for secret messages, doing drugs, trying to be better than the rest, one night stands, they are all just measuring their dicks in the end, they don't get anything of worth from the activity because all they are doing is chasing the carrot on the stick and looking to the next reward, externalizing what should be internal. They never bothered to actually figure out what they wanted, what would make them happy, they let society decide for them. More on this in the response to the next anon.

>>18579169
Previous response is a prerequisite. Himself blamed Avril for Hal's not speaking, she was always holding up hoops for him to jump through, generally related to language. Hal liked her rewards and sought her approval, he never considered himself, just her and fears disappointing her to the point that he has dedicated his life to her approval, he has no identity of his own, no personality of his own, it is all dependent upon her, he does not speak, he just performs. Himself sees Avril's actions as guilt and decides the source of that guilt is that she killed Hal's previous life, the mother kills to create. His conclusion is likely heavily filtered by both his artistic and alcoholic visions. Mainly it boils down to one of the causes of the behavior mentioned in the previous answer, Avril trained Hal to chase the carrot from an early age and it is all he has ever really known and most parents do this to at least some degree, give the child a reward for doing it instead of teaching them why they should do it.

Kind of falling asleep here, so might be a tad muddled.

>> No.18579304

>>18579293
it's a metaphor if you interpret it like one, I don't like how condescending you are of someone elses interpretation, like you have the final word about a dead authors book

>> No.18579330

>>18579304
I have no problems with other interpretations, but that was not an interpretation of that chapter, it was just an insult. That view would also require you to accept that chapter as pointless in the context of the novel. Fuck off troll.

>> No.18579423

>>18579330
>chapter serves purpose x, so it can't also be a metaphor for y
ok

>> No.18580235

I always took this kind of scene I Wallace's work, a hyperbolic rendering if the mundane, to be indicative of his interests in the anxieties that paralyze us. Much like the Ken Erdedy scene at the beginning of the book, or Kate Gompert's deal, they're paralyzed by the multitude of choices they face and the consequences and realities of their actions give them an overblown anxiety about things like their inadequacies or personal struggles