Infinite Jest Lesson Plan

Discuss Wallace's use of geography in Infinite Jest, and how he takes advantage of real and fictional locales to tell the reader more about his characters. Focus specifically on Gately's drive to pick up eggs and vegetables in Pat Montesian's car.

Geography and place play an important role in Infinite Jest both metaphorically and literally, in the sense that Wallace uses real places and neighborhoods in Boston to include a true-to-life socioeconomic dimension in his characters. When Don Gately takes Pat Montesian's Ford Aventura (a fictional vehicle) from the Ennet House all the way across town to a specialty market to pick up eggs and vegetables for Joelle van Dyne,...