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Chapter 62
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Infinite Jest, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Talent, Precociousness, and Fame
Addiction, Mental Illness, and Suicide
Entertainment
Reality as Corporate Dystopia
Institutional Control vs. Rebellion
Summary
Analysis
14 November Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment. Michael Pemulis’s brother, a 23-year-old sex worker named Matty Pemulis, is eating soup in a restaurant in Cambridge, MA, between Inman and Central Squares. He spots Poor Tony Krause, who looks terrible, “less alive than undead.” Matty’s father raped him from the age of 10 years old. His father eventually died of cirrhosis and acute pancreatitis, choking on his own blood in front of his son. When Matty drinks he raises his first shot to his father’s “final memory.”
Although Matty only appears for a brief moment in the novel, his tragic story gives more context to his brother Michael, a more prominent character. While at E.T.A. Michael is popular and carefree, he—like seemingly every other student there—harbors dark, traumatic secrets about his past.
Themes
