Infinite Jest: Chapter 57 Summary & Analysis

Wednesday 11 November Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment. Randy Lenz and Bruce Green are walking together. Lenz has realized that he likes Green, which gives him intense social anxiety. In desperation, Lenz had retrieved around a gram of his emergency stash to cope with the situation, convincing himself that it’s in the interests of his overall sobriety. However, he underestimated the cocaine’s effect and now finds himself manically talking to Green, sharing story after story from his personal life, including one about how he once met a deformed infant who was a refugee from the Great Concavity. At E.T.A., Hal and John Wayne have a brief, silent encounter.

Lenz chews gum in order to hide the fact that he is grinding his teeth together. He keeps talking to Green, telling him stories from his time as a coke dealer. Green comments that he can understand why addicts say that cocaine is the “Express Elevator to AA.” Lenz mentions how he has been scouted as a male model, but didn’t want to enter the industry because of all the closeted gay men. He is testing his theory that Green is a closeted gay man himself. Green repeats Gately’s saying that there’s no problem if AA brainwashes you, because his brain is in need of washing.