Chapter 8 Summary

Lee and Miguel meet at 10 a.m. Miguel is not using, but Lee gets him hooked again. Lee is on a constant stream of heroin. He had gone through a series of moldy flesh and severe infections. Lee goes to visit a friend and fellow addict, NG Joe. Joe became an addict after an attack of Bang - utot, a sexually linked disorder in which death occurs during a nighttime erection. In order to avoid having erections, NG uses spinal injections of heroin to kill all of his sex drive. The narrator waits for the drugstore to open. He imagines a conversation between an Inspector and a Reporter who examine the Inspector's genitals for infections.

Chapter 8 Analysis

The fictitious disease of Bang - utot has very interesting connections between the drug culture and the social problems of acceptable sexuality. In this example, drugs...