Infinite Jest: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment. A doctor in the psych ward of a hospital finds Kate Gompert curled up on the bed in her room. Kate is on suicide watch and has a staff member observing her 24 hours a day. The doctor tells the current staffer on duty that he needs some time alone with Kate. He looks through Kate’s notes and sees that she suffers from depression and has been hospitalized four times in the last three years. Her latest suicide attempt, which has landed her here, was “serious, a real attempt,” and the doctor is worried about her.

Kate describes what she remembers of her suicide attempt to the doctor. When the doctor asks why she tried to hurt herself, she clarifies that she was not trying to hurt herself but kill herself. Kate says she knows some people attempt suicide out of self-hatred, but this is not why she did it. She simply did not want to keep living, because the feeling she has now, which she cannot shake, is worse than feeling nothing at all. She has always thought “depression” does not capture the feeling well, and that it feels more like horror to her than sadness.

The doctor points out that Kate’s depressive episodes have passed before, but she replies that in the midst of them, she is absolutely convinced she will feel that way forever. She then explains that marijuana is a factor in her depression, even though this seems ridiculous because it is not considered a particularly serious drug. Yet she explains that her addiction to weed has ruined her life. Periodically she quits, but each time she does the terrible feeling she has been describing returns. Kate tells the doctor that she has received electroshock therapy before and that she would be willing to have it again.

In a brief passage, the medical attaché’s wife arrives home to find the medical attaché watching the entertainment cartridge in a “soiled” state. Although she cries out and touches him, he won’t respond to her. Eventually she turns to look at the screen too.

The Head Coach and Athletic Director of E.T.A., Gerhardt Schtitt, has a reputation for using corporal punishment, although it is also generally believed that these stories are exaggerated. Now he is almost 70 and less strict. He is fond of having long conversations with Mario in which he mostly talks while Mario listens. One day, while Schtitt and Mario are talking, three teenage boys walk past and make fun of Mario’s appearance. Mario and Schtitt then get ice cream, as is their habit. Schtitt laughs at his own thoughts, and Mario joins in, spilling ice cream on himself.