Editing Infinite Jest (section)

===The Incandenza family===
* '''Hal Incandenza''' is the youngest of the Incandenza children and arguably the novel's [[protagonist]], as its events revolve around his time at E.T.A. Hal is prodigiously intelligent and talented, but insecure about his abilities (and eventually his mental state). His friend Michael Pemulis calls him Inc, and his favorite thing to do is secretly smoke marijuana in the seclusion of the E.T.A. tunnels. He has difficult relationships with both his parents. He has an [[eidetic memory]] and has memorized the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', and like his mother often corrects his friends' and family's grammar. Hal's mental degradation and [[Social alienation|alienation]] from those around him culminate in his chronologically last appearance in the novel, in which his attempts at speech and facial expressions are incomprehensible to others. The origin of Hal's final condition is unclear; possible causes include marijuana withdrawal, a drug obtained by Michael Pemulis, a patch of mold Hal ate as a child, and a mental breakdown from years of training to be a top junior tennis player.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Happens at the End of Infinite Jest? |url=http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/ijend |access-date=2014-02-06 |publisher=[[Aaron Swartz]]}}</ref>
* '''Avril Incandenza''', née '''Mondragon''', is the domineering mother of the Incandenza children and wife of James. A tall (197&nbsp;cm, or 6&nbsp;ft. 5.5 in.), beautiful [[Québécois people|francophone Quebecer]], she becomes a major figure at Enfield Tennis Academy after her husband's suicide and begins, or perhaps continues, a relationship with Charles Tavis, the school's new head, also a Canadian and Avril's either adoptive or half-brother. Her sexual relationships with men are a matter of some speculation/discussion; one with John "No Relation" Wayne is depicted. Avril has phobias about uncleanliness and disease, closed doors, and overhead lighting, and is also described as [[agoraphobic]]. She has an obsessive-compulsive need to watch over E.T.A. and her two youngest sons, Hal and Mario, who live at the school; Avril and Orin are no longer in contact. James Incandenza believes that he can connect with his children only through her. Orin believes she runs the family with ingrained manipulation and the illusion of choice. Her family nickname is "the Moms".
* '''James Orin Incandenza Jr.''', Avril's husband and Orin's, Mario's and Hal's father, is an optics expert and filmmaker as well as the founder of Enfield Tennis Academy (though he increasingly leaves E.T.A. business to Charles Tavis). The son of small-time actor James O. Incandenza Sr. (who played "The Man from [[Glad (company)|Glad]]" in the 1960s), James Jr. created ''Infinite Jest'' (also known as "the Entertainment" or "the [[samizdat]]"), an enigmatic and fatally seductive film that was his last work. He used Joelle van Dyne, his son Orin's strikingly beautiful girlfriend, in many of his films, including the fatal "Entertainment". He appears in the book mainly either in [[flashback (literary technique)|flashback]]s or as a "wraith", having killed himself at the age of 54 by placing his head in a [[microwave oven]]. He is an alcoholic who drinks [[Wild Turkey (bourbon)|Wild Turkey]] whiskey. His family nickname is "Himself". Orin also calls him "the Mad Stork" or (once) "the Sad Stork".
* '''Mario Incandenza''' is the Incandenzas' second son, although his biological father may be Charles Tavis. Severely deformed since birth—he is [[Macrocephaly|macrocephalic]], [[homodont]]ic, [[bradykinesia|bradykinetic]], and stands or walks at a 45-degree angle—as well as mentally "slow", he is nonetheless perennially cheerful and kind. He is also a budding [[auteur]], having served as James's camera and directorial assistant and later inheriting the prodigious studio equipment and film lab his father built on the academy grounds. Somewhat surprisingly, he is an avid fan of Madame Psychosis's dark radio show, partly because he finds her voice familiar. Hal, though younger, acts like a supportive older brother to Mario, whom Hal calls "Booboo".
* '''Orin Incandenza''' is the Incandenzas' eldest son. He is a [[Punter (American football)|punter]] for the [[Arizona Cardinals|Phoenix Cardinals]] and a serial womanizer, and is estranged from everyone in his family except Hal. It is suggested that Orin lost his attraction to Joelle after she became disfigured when her mother unintentionally threw acid in her face during a Thanksgiving dinner, but Orin cites Joelle's questionable relationship with his father as the reason for the breakup even though he later admits he knows there was no romance. Orin focuses his subsequent womanizing on young mothers; Hal suggests that this is because he blames his father's death on his mother. Molly Notkin, a friend of Joelle's, says that Orin has numerous "malcathected issues with his mother". Orin's relationship with his father was tense. His father tells Joelle "he simply didn't know how to speak with either of his undamaged sons without their mother's presence and mediation. Orin could not be made to shut up."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Foster Wallace |first=David |title=Infinite Jest |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-316-92004-9 |location=New York, NY |page=743}}</ref>