Naked Lunch: Analysis of Major Characters
"Naked Lunch" is a novel by William S. Burroughs that explores a surreal landscape filled with complex characters, each embodying various societal issues and human behaviors. The protagonist, William Lee, serves as a picaresque narrator and streetwise addict, drawing parallels to Burroughs' earlier work, "Junkie." Other significant characters include The Buyer, a narcotics agent whose disturbing method of absorbing junkies highlights themes of addiction and exploitation. Dr. Benway is a manipulative figure in the narrative, overseeing a center focused on mind control and interrogation, symbolizing the darker aspects of authority and healthcare.
The Mugwumps, grotesque creatures that inhabit the fictional Interzone, engage in violent and depraved acts, representing the consequences of unchecked desires. Ali Hassan, a wealthy and morally ambiguous character, runs the Rumpus Room where the Mugwumps operate, linking themes of corruption and depravity. The novel also introduces various factions, such as The Liquefactionists, who pursue a chilling agenda of merging individuals into a singular entity, and The Factualists, who resist manipulation and exploitation. These characters and groups together create a rich tapestry of themes related to addiction, control, and the human condition, making "Naked Lunch" a provocative exploration of modern society.
Naked Lunch: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: William S. Burroughs
First published: 1959
Genre: Novel
Locale: New York, Texas, New Orleans, and Interzone
Plot: Fantasy
Time: The second half of the twentieth century
William Lee, the picaro narrator, a streetwise addict who also narrated Junkie (1951), the author's first novel. Lee escapes arrest at the end by killing Hauser and O'Brien, twenty-year veterans of the Narcotics Squad.
The Buyer, a narcotics agent known for his ability to pass as a junkie. He has his own insidious habit, however: physical contact with junkies, who are absorbed and digested through some obscure metabolic process. He is caught absorbing the Narcotics Commissioner and destroyed with a flamethrower.
Dr. Benway, an adviser to the Freeland Republic. “A manipulator and coordinator of symbol systems,” Benway is an expert on interrogation and mind control, though he avoids the use of torture. He supervises the Reconditioning Center until its computer inadvertently releases all patients.
Mugwumps, creatures without livers. They eat only sweets, and they murder young boys, whom they sexually violate at the time of death. Inhabitants of Interzone, they secrete an addictive fluid (addicts to it are called “Reptiles”) that prolongs life by slowing metabolism.
Ali Hassan, a wealthy man with a fake Texas accent. He owns the Rumpus Room, where the Mugwumps hang boys. Hassan is known as a “notorious Liquefactionist.”
The Liquefactionists, a political party whose program involves the eventual merging of everyone into One Man. They reduce their victims by protein cleavage and liquefaction, to be absorbed into their own protoplasm.
The Senders, a group compelled to “send all the time” without any contact with other human beings, symptoms of “The Human Virus,” the need to control.
The Divisionists, who literally divide into replicas of themselves; Interzone is filled with replica cultures that wage war on one another.
A. J., a bizarre person known for winning paternity suits by not using his own sperm to impregnate women. His conversation often refers to future events, and it is unknown which side he is on (Liquefactionist or Factualist). His cover story is that of an international playboy and practical joker; in one episode, he destroys Chez Robert, a restaurant specializing in haute cuisine and snobbery, by releasing one hundred famished hogs.
The Factualists, a group that rejects all the other parties in Interzone. They oppose atomic war and anything that can be used to control or exploit individuals.
Carl Peterson, who is summoned for an examination by Dr. Benway in the Ministry of Mental Hygiene and Prophylaxis of Interzone.