Hannah Smart analyzes a 900-word sentence from David Foster Wallace's “Mister Squishy,” exploring themes of human inertia and meaningless language. Wallace's complex prose, filled with superfluous modifiers, reflects his philosophy against such clutter. The story, centering on Terry Schmidt's unfulfilled life during a focus group, evokes a sense of anticipation despite limited action. Smart's diagramming uncover the sentence's core meaning: Schmidt's bleak fantasies of change amidst stagnation. Ultimately, the narrative illustrates modern language's power to perpetuate dissatisfaction, paralleling societal rhetoric and reinforcing feelings of inertia in life.
Nothing Ever Happens: “Mister Squishy” and the Year of the Sentence Diagram
