Chapters 11-12 Summary

Chapter 11 opens with Forrest summarizing the makeshift staging of the King Lear/Tom O'Bedlam scene in Shakespeare's King Lear and commenting on the dialog. All stops when Forrest's torch sets fire to the set. Quackenbush screams that he will get revenge. Cape aflame, Forrest runs home to Jenny. The Cracked Eggs become popular and buy a tour bus. The drummer, Mose, introduces Forrest to marijuana and Forrest's playing—and sex—become phenomenal; soon he is smoking daily, until Jenny suggests he slow down. Forrest resists, because dope gets rid of all his worries. During a gig in Provincetown, Jenny walks in on two girls seducing Forrest, throws him out and flees.

Seeing Jenny on television, protesting the war, Forrest heads to Washington, finds her, newly released from jail, promises no more dope or playing with bands and is taken...