Pages 127-128 Summary

Bill does not use drugs habitually but is surrounded by junkies and addicts. His wife and children are gone and he has no desire to pursue another heroin addiction. He equates giving up junk to giving up a way of life. He reads about yage, a South American plant, which supposedly contains a drug that stimulates latent telepathy. Deeply intrigued, he decides to travel to Columbia in search of the drug.

Pages 127-128 Analysis

The final brief segment of the novel sets up the future—the bizarre Künstlerroman draws to a conclusion with the matured and capable Bill Lee mastering junk and alcohol, looking forward to new frontiers in ever more-distant lands. Bill has been stripped of all support systems, his nationality, his culture, his health, his family, even his language, and even his addiction. He remains a forty-something...