Infinite Jest

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment (November 5)

Orin speaks to Hal on the telephone while Hal uses a pair of toenail clippers. When Hal mentions how each clipping goes into the bin, he and Orin liken his accuracy with the clippers to “that magical feeling” (242) of a sporting triumph. Both Hal and Orin have their own paranoid or strange fantasies, especially involving sports-related superstitions like not washing certain equipment. In a similar vein, Orin is convinced that people with physical disabilities are watching him, but he tries to dismiss the idea as a delusion. He describes how a group of young, burly people in wheelchairs seemed to follow him around the city while he was with a Subject. As Hal rambles, Orin interrupts to tell him that a journalist has been writing about him for a magazine. The journalist asked so much about his family that Orin realized the story is really about their father James. Though he is reluctant to talk to the journalist, Orin is encouraged to do so by his employer. Orin admits that he is strangely attracted to the journalist but explains that he does not want to talk about the family.

Hal and Orin talk about their father’s suicide; Mario is the only brother who really discusses the topic.