Outside of the Incandenza family, Marathe is the most interesting character in Infinite Jest. He's a member of the militant group of Quebecois wheelchair assassins Les Assassins des Fauteuils Rollents (the AFR) and Wallace nails Marathe's Quebecois with the eye-dialect that he uses.
But, there's another reason for my enjoyment of Marathe. He is the foil to everything that ONAN and the book's depiction of the USA stands for. As Steeply so rightly says, he's an anomaly (along with the other wheelchair assassins) because he isn't motivated by anything bigger than himself. This makes Marathe interesting almost by default since there isn't any political or cultural motivation behind his actions and the string of questions with which he binds Steeply's wits.
It's this combative quality of Marathe's that makes him so intriguing as a character. Not to mention, he's the only real window we have into the mentality of the AFR - something purely of Wallace's invention and reflective of his creative depth.
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