61 pages • 2 hours read
Don DeLilloUnderworld
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1997A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 3-Interlude 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3: “The Cloud of Unknowing: Spring 1978”
Part 3, Chapter 1 Summary
In 1978, Nick eats lunch with Big Sims. They are attending a training conference for people in the waste-management industry. Nick has recently started work at Waste Containment, otherwise known as Whiz Co. Nick and Big Sims talk about a strange news item concerning a cargo ship that has sailed around various ports. No port will accept the ship because it supposedly contains toxic items, though rumors have suggested that it could contain drugs, possibly “disguised as toxic waste” (279). Nick tells Big Sims about the Italian concept of dietrologia, “the science of what is behind something” (280), to explain these conspiracy theories. In the restaurant, Nick and Big Sims decide that a group of fellow diners must belong to a swingers’ club, as a swingers’ conference is taking place nearby. After they finish eating, Nick and Big Sims jog together. Since he started work in waste management, Big Sims says, “everything [he sees] is garbage” (283). He talks about the inventive schemes used by restaurants to hide their food waste “because it’s property” (284). Later that night, Nick and Big Sims visit a new landfill site with Detwiler, their boss. The new site is an “engineered crater” a mile across and 500 feet deep. Inside, machines operate constantly. To Big Sims, it seems as though it could be a tourist attraction. They listen to a man named Jesse Detwiler talk about his vision for the future of garbage.
In the conference venue, Nick meets a woman named Donna, who admits that her husband may be having sex with someone else. She is part of the swingers’ conference, and they agree to meet for coffee. Nick and Donna flirt, and she teases him about her involvement in the swingers’ conference. She says that Nick’s distaste for swingers is “because [they] make it public” (292). They go back to Nick’s room, where he discovers that she is not as attractive in the direct light of the room. They talk for a long time, with Nick eventually accepting that he believes that the “unknowability” of sex means that it should be a private matter. Donna does not agree, as she views sex as an important social leveler. Their existential conversation continues. Nick confesses that when he was 17 he shot a man. Nick is surprised that he is able to tell this to Donna. He has never told Marian. Later, he goes jogging with Big Sims and talks about the unwanted boat again.
Part 3, Chapter 2 Summary
Marvin is in San Francisco with Eleanor, his wife. They wait together to meet a man named Chuckie Wainwright, who claims to have information about Bobby Thomson’s home-run baseball. This is the first time that Eleanor has accompanied Marvin on one of his trips to find the baseball. Marvin and Eleanor discuss the foul stench on the waterfront as they wait for Chuck to arrive via ferry. The stench reminds Marvin of their honeymoon in Europe: The further they went into the communist nations, Marvin remembers, the worse his bowel movements began to smell. He took care to hide this from Eleanor. The real reason why he chose such a convoluted trip for their honeymoon was because he wanted to find his long-lost half brother, Avram Lubarsky. He believed that Avram lived in Russia. Marvin tracked Avram down, only to spend three days arguing with him about politics. Marvin took offense when his half brother criticized the United States with the zeal of a “dedicated communist.” On the train back through Europe, Marvin heard the Shot Heard ’Round the World on a portable radio. The ferry pulls into port, but Chuckie isn’t on board. As Marvin feels let down, Eleanor tries to revive his spirits. She tells him not to stop in his quest and asks him to show her around San Francisco. When they eat dinner that night, they wonder whether the country of Greenland has “a secret function and a secret meaning” (316). They visit a baseball memorabilia stall belonging to Tommy Chan, where Marvin purchases a box to house the baseball he plans to buy (323).
Part 3, Chapter 3 Summary
Nick listens to jazz with Big Sims. They are at a club because Big Sims has had a fight with his wife, Greta. Big Sims is not in a pleasant mood and has tried to leave a number of times. Despite his efforts, he and Nick constantly find themselves in yet another club with yet another drink. Their conversation meanders, from cargo ships to Charlie Parker. Big Sims has a favorite photo of Charlie Parker. He tries to explain the symbolism of Parker dressed in a white suit, but Nick does not engage. As they talk, they begin to focus more on the subject of race. Big Sims is Black. He explains the harsh treatment he receives from police officers because of the color of his skin. He asks Nick whether they can believe the census’s forecast for the number of Black citizens. The mood becomes tense. When they are outside waiting for a taxi, the tension spills over. Big Sims surprises Nick with a headbutt. Nick returns the headbutt; then Big Sims hits him again. Nick arrives home and gives a vague, incomplete answer to Marian’s question of what happened. His thoughts are full of the man he killed when he was 17, George Manza. Nick confesses to Marian about having sex with Donna. Marian does not seem to react. She only expresses herself when, during a family trip, she begins to cry while driving the car. She claims to be weeping for the anniversary of her mother’s death, and Nick feels relieved.
Interlude 2 Summary: “Manx Martin”
Manx Martin pockets the baseball and leaves the apartment. Downstairs, the janitor quizzes him about two shovels that are missing from the basement. He accuses Manx of stealing, but Manx waves him away. He cannot believe that the janitor would dare to confront him. Manx makes his way to his usual bar, overhearing a preacher in the street shout about nuclear weapons. No bomb shelters are being built in Harlem, the preacher claims. They are only being built in the rich, white neighborhoods. Manx meets his friend Antoine in the bar. He criticizes Antoine for not storing the stolen shovels as they had agreed. Antoine doesn’t care. He believes that they should aim for something more profitable than minor theft. Manx reveals the baseball to Antoine. Though he is impressed, Antoine suggests that no one will believe Manx that this is the actual “game winner.” When the bartender mentions the long lines that are forming to buy tickets for the World Series, Manx decides that he should sell the ball directly to a fan. Antoine agrees to drive Manx uptown, though his car is full of garbage. Antoine makes extra money by disposing of restaurants’ garbage, and the excess garbage makes his car stink of rotting food. Manx eventually reaches the stadium, where he is struck by the feeling of joy and energy among the excited fans.
Part 3-Interlude 2 Analysis
Working in waste management introduces a new problem into Big Sims’s life. Everywhere he looks, he sees garbage. The wasteful byproducts of American culture were always present in his life, but now that he works in the industry that processes them, he is no longer able to ignore them the way the rest of society can. Instead, garbage shapes his perception of the world. From food waste on plates to cigarette butts to the litter on the street, everything is now garbage or garbage waiting to happen. He sees people buying products and then throwing them away, to the point where he is well paid to manage the aftermath of their consumption. This wasteful consumption is intertwined with the entire capitalist apparatus. For example, even when restaurants want to rid themselves of waste, they cannot stop thinking about their profits. They lock up their garbage to stop anyone from eating it and “stealing” from them. In a society motivated by money, the prospect of any sort of profit is more important than the well-being of anyone else. This greed, Big Sims comes to suspect, is the real garbage of American society.
Race shapes the characters’ perception of the world. The more Nick talks to Big Sims, the more he comes to realize this. As a Black man who grew up during the civil rights era, Big Sims has a deep mistrust for American institutions. He does not believe the census, which has marginalized his people for so long, nor its estimate of the number of Black people in the United States. Nick, a wealthy white man, refuses to share his colleague’s distrust of civic institutions. He can see no reason not to believe the government’s claims. The two men become firmly entrenched in their positions, to the point where a fight breaks out between them. This brief flurry of violence hints at a deeper threat that lurks beneath all social interactions in American society. The threat of violence is always present, as individuals lack the empathy or desire to understand the world in any other way.
Part 3 also introduces the theme of Dietrologia, “the science of what is behind something” (280). Discussing the mysterious cargo ship with Big Sims, Nick invokes this Italian word to explain the senseless rumors and speculation about the ship’s cargo. Throughout Underworld, characters are faced with things they can’t understand or explain. Rather than accept that some things are unknowable, they cling to conspiracy theories. While Nick proclaims himself to be above believing in “dark forces” shaping reality behind the scenes, he is not immune to searching for explanations for unexplainable, unknowable events in his personal life, such as his father’s disappearance when he was a boy.
In “Manx Martin 2,” Manx commits to his betrayal. He has stolen his son’s prized baseball and immediately integrated it into one of his criminal plots. When correctly accused of stealing a set of shovels, he denies any wrongdoing. The ease with which he lies illustrates the casual, recurring way in which Manx breaks social taboos. He convinces himself that he is right and that he is the smartest person around, which often leads him to make mistakes. Manx has good intentions: He wants to sell the baseball to get money for his family, and in the same way, he hopes to sell the shovels for a profit so that he can put food on his family’s table. However, his good intentions are undermined by his own actions. His friend’s Antoine’s car symbolizes this disconnect. Antoine has a scheme in which he buys waste from restaurants and dumps it illegally on their behalf. He convinces himself that he is performing a social service when he is simply committing a crime, one that makes his car a deeply unpleasant place to be. Manx is caught in a similar bind, committing crimes and convincing himself that he is acting for the benefit of others. His crimes leave his home beset by the lingering stench of betrayal and delusion, just like Antoine’s car.
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