Little Expressionless Animals is a short story written by David Foster Wallace. Released in 1988, it is the first story in Wallace's collection Girl with Curious Hair and tells of a Jeopardy! champion.
Characters[]
- Julie Smith - a frequent Jeopardy champion
- Faye Goddad - Julie's lover, who works on Jeopardy! as a researcher
- Dee Goddard - Faye's mother, an alcoholic
- Muffy deMott - the P.R. coordinator for Jeopardy!
- Alex Trebek
- Pat Sagak
Plot[]
In 1970, a woman goes to the movietheater with her young daughter and, as her daughter sits beside her, a man fondles her hair. Six years later, this woman abandons her daughter and severely autistic brother in a field. Nearly a decade later in 1988, the daughter (one Julie Smith) enters into Jeopardy!. Though she is a three-star contestant at best, she is allowed to enter into the show as a hook for the new and revamped edition of the show (now hosted by a former model named Alex Trebek). Once on the show, Julie shows herself to be extremely good at the show - crushing everyone around her.
Julie soon begins winning round after round of Jeopardy! and becomes a major selling point for the show. Due to this, Julie is allowed to stay for longer than the five rounds repeat winners on Jeopardy! are allowed to stay for. Around the same time, Julie enters into a lesbian relationship with a researcher named Faye Goddard while Alex Trebeck talks to a therapist about Julie's wins and the producers of the show learned about Julie's severely autistic brother. As such, the producers decided to bring the brother onto the show to defeat Julie in a media spectacle. Though this is not shown in any detail, it presumably happened - as headlines throughout the story describe Julie's defeat.
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late Night | David Foster Wallace | 1988 | A short story by the same author with similar themes |
Sources[]
| Works of David Foster Wallace | ||
|
Novels | ||