Infinite Jest: The Ghost of Eric Clipperton

Here is a somewhat random plot element:

Note 352 refers to random dosing of toothbrushes with betel nut extract, the perpetrator of which was never caught. It was done in such a way that it would have had to have done by someone very skillful at breaking & entering, or perhaps by a ghost.

I was rereading the entire description of Eric Clipperton, and was wondering if since he died at ETA, his ghost was hanging around?

What are the chances of this, and what are the chances that it is important?

I'm really enjoying these threads you're starting, fish. Just sayin.

Anyway, I agree that this is very important, and I'm going to go on and say why, but it involves spoilers, though mostly not spoilers about things that you actually see happen in the book. It's the stuff that you're meant to be able to project must have happened "beyond the right frame," as Wallace said. So...

**SPOILERS FOLLOW**

This is one of those clues that are meant to point toward what happens to Hal (in my opinion. I'm pretty confident in my version of things, but I understand that there are other possibilities). Long story short: that note is supposed to prepare you for the possibility of Hal's toothbrush getting dosed with DMZ by Himself's wraith, which causes Hal's social deterioration. The wraith does this in an attempt to reverse the intellect-enhancing/empathy-restricting effects of the mold Hal ate as a child.

Well, two related issues:

1. There are, it seems, a number of ghosts in the book. Along with Incandenza, I have read that Lyle was a ghost (which makes sense), and we see, briefly, Lucien's ghost. I think Eric Clipperton might have also become a ghost.

I think this is especially the case since Incandenza was not active at the time of the tooth-brush spiking (Lucien's ghost "wakes up" Incandenza), I believe. Who else could be hovering around ETA, making trouble? Clipperton actually seems like a likely candidate.

2. Why does Incandenza come back? I think that if you check the timing, he returns shortly after Lucien flies north, sounding out a "call to arms in all the world's known tongues". Incandenza also, according to Gately's dreams, is worried about a a continental crisis. Along with his interest in his son, Incandenza also seems to want to help the world.

-I don't remember anything in the book indicating that Lyle was a ghost, though I could have missed it. Do you remember where you saw that?

-It's always seemed more likely to me that the wraith is released when Orin digs up Himself's grave to retrieve the master copy of the Entertainment, which happens either before the earliest look we get at YDAU or very soon after. There's a brief discussion of Canadian burial ritual in the area of Canada where Himself is buried, and how a small hole would be drilled down through the grave to the coffin so that the soul could escape, suggesting that a physical means would be necessary. In any event, the wraith is definitely active when Hal starts exhibiting symptoms, and I'm only suggesting that the wraith dosed Hal's toothbrush, not that he was responsible for the betel nut incidents. In that case, yeah, I think the conclusion you're supposed to draw is "oohh maybe it was Clipperton's ghost." I just think the ultimate point of that little story is to hint at the beginning of the chain of events that explains what's wrong with Hal by putting the idea of a ghost sabotaging a toothbrush in the reader's head.

Lyle also apparently licks Don Gately's forehead, or tries to, when Gately is in the hospital. Getting into an ICU in the middle of the night seems to require some supernatural powers.