"Part of what kept him standing in the restive group of men awaiting authorization to enter the airport was a kind of paralysis that resulted from Sylvanshine's reflecting on the logistics of getting to the Peoria 047 REC - the issue of whether the REC sent a van for transfers or whether Sylvanshine would have to take a cab from the little airport had not been conclusively resolved - an then how to arrive and check in and where to store his three bags while he checked in and filled out his arrival and Postcode payroll and withholding forms and orientational materials then somehow get directions and proceed to the apartment that Systems had rented for him at government rates and get there in time to find some place to eat that was either in walking distance or would require getting another cab- except the telephone in the alleged apartment wasn't connected yet and he considered the prospects of being able to hail a cab from outside an apartment complex were at best iffy, and if he told the original cab he'd taken back to the apartment to wait for him, there would be difficulties because how exactly would he reassure the cabbie that he was really coming back out after dropping his bags and doing a quick spot check of the apartments condition and suitability..." (Blogger here...It keeps going...you get the point? Wallace loves long sentences! 8-) -David Foster Wallace, Pale King Page 21
I am a frequent business traveler and have only done so in the modern smart phone/cell phone era. It is hard for me to imagine what it was like to travel in the 1980s without the ability to google restaurants in the area of a specific address. If this event happened to Sylvanshine in 2011 much of this turmoil and stress could be avoided from the tarmac with your smartphone. Yet even with the modern conveniences, traveling for business is still a very lonely and somewhat stressful experience. There are still multiple tasks to accomplish at any given moment, annoying people to deal with at the airport, events that go wrong, and weird stuff that you didn't anticipate. It is easy to find yourself paralyzed like Sylvanshine.
"Above and below were a different story, but there was always something disappointing about clouds when you were inside them; they ceased to be clouds at all." -David Foster Wallace, Pale King page 14
The detail that the beginning of the Pale King has provided and the descriptions of air travel is something that I have often thought about but don’t have the skills of Wallace to put them on paper. There is something about what things appear to be from a distance or what you think they will be in your head. The reality is often not as glamorous. This theme is not new in literature. Many of my favorite books deal with this type of situation.
"The next suitable person you’re in light conversation with, you stop suddenly in the middle of the conversation and look at the person closely and say, “What’s wrong?” You say it in a concerned way. He’ll say, “What do you mean?” You say, “Something’s wrong. I can tell. What is it?” And he’ll look stunned and say, “How did you know?” He doesn’t realize something’s always wrong, with everybody. Often more than one thing. He doesn’t know everybody’s always going around all the time with something wrong and believing they’re exerting great willpower and control to keep other people, for whom they think nothing’s ever wrong, from seeing it." -David Foster Wallace (Pale King)
During this section I found myself thinking about Wallace and his ultimate suicide. Something was always bothering Wallace or perhaps he would not have made ultimate decision. Yet there is something deeper here. It is easy in the book or in any of his writings to look for clues towards Wallace's suicide. Yet I found myself was also thinking about my own day to day life and how I feel. There is always something troubling me. If someone were to ask me what was wrong, I could always find something to say. Like DFW mentioned in the section if some asked me this question it would make me feel like that person was being perceptive. Or feel like maybe I had inadvertently let my guard down and it was obvious that I was struggling with something. As an optimistic person, I tend to try to portray a positive demeanor. The world has a lot to offer. I have never thought about killing myself nor consider myself suffering from depression. Yet I can relate to this and it led me to wonder...
Is this feeling of trouble and need to persevere just a part of being human. Are we never completely 100% happy?
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