6/3/09

p 3-17

p 3-17

--
The sections of the book that are demarcated by one of the circular shapes will be discussed individually and the subsections [I'll call these 'parts'--whenever there occurs a break in the text without a circle] will be noted, with a [re]iteration, wherever possible, of the setting. The spoiler-free synopses will precede the notes, which will be somewhat subjective, and may contain suggestions toward unravelling the plot that could be seen to contain spoilers.
--


this section in 5 parts

p 3-10
Year of Glad [2010] November
place Tucson AZ
narrated in first person: Hal Incandenza

Hal Incandenza is being interviewed by three nameless deans at the University of Arizona [UA], and is accompanied by his uncle Charles Tavis [CT] and Aubrey F. deLint. The scene is related by Hal in first person, but he does not speak. It is related that he is 18 and about to graduate from Enfield Tennis Academy [ETA] in Enfield, MA, where he has been in residence since age 7. The university began courting him in February, and he has brought deLint along because he was also an ETA alum who had gone to UA. Hal is in Arizona to play in a tournament, in which he has performed impressively thus far. Hal's incommunicativeness begins to trouble the deans, CT tries to allay their fear, saying that Hal's all but ready to sign a letter of intent. In his head Hal corrects the word usage errors of the deans, revealing his firm[possibly nerdy] grasp of language. The deans raise questions about the disparity between Hal's abominable test scores, and his 'incredible' grades, which have fallen off to merely outstanding in the last year. They also question whether he wrote the essays on obscure topics included with his application. CT objects to the insinuations, and the deans ask deLint and CT to leave, so they can speak with Hal. Hal alternates his own thoughts with what the deans are saying,confirming that the essays are his, albeit old. Finally he speaks, telling the deans that the grades are his, and that the transcript may have 'dickied' a bit to get him past a 'rough spot' and then says he can't make himself understood--'call it something I ate.'


p 10-11

ca. 1997
Weston MA
narrated in first person: Hal

Hal relates a childhood story from March or April when Hal was around 5. His older brother Orin and his mother [the Moms] were gardening when Hal announced 'I ate this' referring to a nauseous mold. [The scene is mostly described from his brother Orin's questionable perspective.] The Moms is running around screaming hysterically for help.

p 11-13

Year of Glad [2010] November
place Tucson AZ
narrated in first person: Hal

Back at the interview Hal is apparently hysterical himself, telling the deans that his application is not bought, that he's complex and insanely well-read, at which point he apparently has some kind of a seizure and makes some very strange noises causing the deans great alarm, and eventually an ambulance is apparently called.


p 13-15

Year of Glad [2010] November
place Tucson AZ
narrated in first person: Hal

Hal is being dragged into or through a men's room by the deans with whom CT argues that Hal is fine. The deans argue effusively that Hal has serious problems, while on the tennis court he's a 'genius' and they reveal that he has southwest roots, and that his brother is in the NFL. Hal apparently goes in and out of consciousness as they put him in an ambulance.

p 15-17

Year of Glad [2010] November
place Tucson AZ
narrated in first person: Hal


In the ambulance he reveals that his brother Orin lives/lived in Arizona. He says he once dismissed deLint as a '2-D martinet.' Hal is taken to the emergency room in a 'special' ambulance with a psychiatric paramedic on board. He recalls the only other emergency room he has ever been in, almost exactly a year ago, when his stretcher was parked next to a Quebecois with a gigantism in her breast, which she called her 'titty' and went on about for 20 minutes until Hal was rolled away. As he lies in the stretcher he half hallucinates, and his mind flashes briefly on various things-
- having seen the word knife written in the steam of a mirror in a non-public bathroom
-the late Cosgrove Watt
-the hypophalangial grief therapist
-The Moms alphabetizing soup cans
-Himself's [his father] umbrella hanging in the foyer of the Headmaster's house
-the fact that the bad ankle hasn't ached once this whole year
-John NR Wayne [who would have won this year's WhataBurger tournament] in a mask, watching while Donald Gately and Hal dig up the head of Hal's father
-that Venus Williams owns a house in Green Valley and may attend the tennis finals.

He notes that he will be sedated and thus be rested and thus have an advantage in his semifinal match the next day against Dymphna, apparently a blind player who requires special sonic balls. He imagines what will happen as he is diagnosed. he notes that there are 19 words for unresponsive in the OED-6 [way more than there are in the current OED-2]. He speculates that he'll play either Stice or Polep in the finals. He speculates that someone blue-collar will look down at him in the stretcher and ask 'what's your story?'


notes
It's probably crucial to note that the opening scene takes place after everything else in the book--the Year of Glad is the last year of subsidized time, and that Hal has clearly undergone something traumatic in the past year, probably having something to do with digging up the head of his father with Donald Gately.

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