#julesjones

This chapter is an article written by Jules Jones, we heard a bit  about Jules in the previous chapter right after he had gotten out of jail, but in this chapter we get his own personal narration of the events leading up to the “attempted rape” he was charged with, and we also get an inside look at the thought process of a journalist, as well as an analyzation of the influence that a celebrity has on the surrounding people.

     The scene opens with an introduction to Jules ‘victim’: Kitty Jackson whom he describes as simply “unexceptionally extraordinary” being that she has pretty neutral features but for some reason (probably the fact that she's a celebrity) this neutrality reads as something much more stunning. We then learn about Jules categorization of celebrities. They are either nice stars who try their best to make those around them feel less offput by their status by pretending that they are just like you. And then there are the difficult stars “who barricade themselves within their stardom and spit through the cracks”(167) Jules makes it clear that he prefers the difficult celebrities because he doesn't appreciate the facade of kindness that exudes off of the nice ones.

     Jules then analyzes the contrast he sees between himself and his subject he says that  people are going to treat a famous person (even if they're not famous for their talent) much more differently than they would treat “a balding, stipp-shouldered, slightly eczematous guy approaching middle age”(168) on the surface its the same but beneath the surface is the waiters hysterical recognition of the star. How does the knowledge of a celebrity's presence spread so quickly through an area even if half of those people aren't in view? Relying on his scientific analyzing tendencies Jules introduces the entangled particle theory located in the footnotes of the article (a tool used for Jules to elaborate on a subject without going off topic from the main point of the article) He has three theoretical explanations 1) The particles are communicating, (which he concludes as impossible because the action of communication would have to happen at a speed faster than the speed of light) 2) the particles are responding to some sort of leftover bonage from the original single particle (also redeemed as impossible) he concludes with theory 3)It's just one of those quantum mechanical mysteries.

   We are then introduced to yet another theory from Jules: The sandwich theory considering all of the different layers of feelings that come to be from the encounter of a celebrity, or the different layers of feelings people encounter day to day. Jules then sets out on a mission to pierce the shield of niceness Kitty puts up to get down to the juicy tales he is striving for in this article. One of these tactics includes a Big Fat Grin that he presents to throw Kitty off and it works. At this time in the footnotes we are introduced to the Dolce far niente “a moment when life affords you the time to ask the sorts of questions that go largely unexamined in the brisk course of ordinary life”  and being that the footnotes are written after the time when the article was jules is able to calculate his the exact point where he tipped over the edge of a normal encounter. that point being the train of thoughts that go through his mind when kitty sucks some salad dressing off of her finger and he gets angry at the fact that he doesn't even have a chance with her in the first place. His interview with Kitty is going nowhere fast and he comes to the conclusion that it's not really his fault, he has been doing all he can to poke and prod. The real issue is that Kitty is a snooze besides her celebrity status there's not really anything exciting about her. At this point Jule decides that the most effective article would be one about the affects that Kitty jackson has on the average person, and being that the most readily available person for the job is himself, the article will be on the various effects that Kitty Jackson has on Jules himself. He asks us to keep in mind the circumstances he is faced with, we “must bear in mind that Hanet Green [his] girlfriend of three years and fiancee for one month and thirteen days, dumped [him] two weeks ago for a male memoirist whose recent book details his adolecent penchant for masturbating into the family fish tank” based on his contrast with kitty we are able to better understand the events that occur. we are introduced to the three feelings that Jules has leading up to the attempted rape those of anger, fear, and lust. The perfect trifecta for an emotional breakdown. Jules asks Kitty if she'd like to go for a walk and they head out for central park. when they get there Jules is finally able to get to the real kitty by introducing the topic of her horse Nixon who is the love of her life. But as she is speaking a rage of emotions are going through Jules head and he tackles her to the ground. Before he is able to do any real damage, kitty sprays mace in his face and stabs him in the calf leaving Jules utterly incapable of anything.