Editing Infinite Jest (section)

==Themes==

The novel touches on many topics, including addiction (to drugs, but also to sex and fame), withdrawal, recovery, [[Twelve-step program]]s, death, family relationships, absent or dead parents, mental health, suicide, sadness, entertainment, [[film theory]], [[media theory]], [[linguistics]], science, [[Quebec separatism]], [[national identity]], and [[tennis]] as a [[metaphysical]] activity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moore |first=Steven |year=1996 |title=David Foster Wallace. Infinite Jest. Little, Brown, 1996. 1,079 pp. $29.95. |journal=Review of Contemporary Fiction |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=141–142}}</ref>

The book's various plot threads, including Hal's struggle to succeed in a competitive academic and athletic environment, Gately's recovery from addiction, and the film ''Infinite Jest'' as an all-consuming form of entertainment, are tied together by an overarching theme of addiction and devotion. Conversations between Marathe, a [[double agent]] betraying the Quebecois separatist movement for the sake of his wife, and Steeply, an American agent and Marathe's contact, serve as a chorus for the story, with interludes where the two discuss the nature of entertainment and worship in American culture. A form of addiction or devotion is central to nearly every character's life; literary critic Paul Curtis argues that addiction, "however abnormal, is the ''norm'' of the novel."<ref>CURTIS, PAUL M. "'Yo Man so What's Your Story': The Double Bind and Addiction in David Foster Wallace's ''Infinite Jest''." Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, vol. 49, no. 4, 2016, pp. 37–52. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44030596. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.</ref>

Worship and addiction remained a central theme of Wallace's work. In his 2005 [[commencement speech]] at [[Kenyon College]], he said: "Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://fs.blog/david-foster-wallace-this-is-water/ | title=This is Water by David Foster Wallace (Full Transcript and Audio) | date=April 28, 2012 }}</ref>