The short story “Lust” is told from the point of view of a high school girl as she describes her sexual encounters. The beginning of the story is told by a girl that is nonchalant about her sexual encounters and that is emotionally unattached throughout these encounters. Throughout the story, the girl changes and becomes more emotional about her encounters and how they leave her feeling. Susan Minot shows the changing psychological and negative effects that sex has on a high school girl and how she feels about these sexual encounters. In the critical essay “Lust,” Janet Ellerby summarizes and analyzes the short story “Lust.” Janet Ellerby describes the author’s theme for the short story. The narrator of the story is “unprepared to face the pressure of male desire” and does not know the emotional connection of intimacy. In the short story there is a difference between the desire of men and women, and the attachment of emotions. Susan Minot also describes “what it might mean to open the heart.” The narrator feels that she cannot open her heart to the boys she has encounters with. Ellerby describes that when the narrator lists her encounters she does it without any emotional connection; it is “more like a grocery list than an emotionally charged account of an erotic past.” This shows the narrator trying to give more of a male attitude towards the encounters. Psychologically, the narrator has no emotional attachment to her partners at the beginning of the story, and seems withdrawn from her experiences. The story starts to take a turn and the narrator is negatively affected psychologically. At the beginning of the story the girl is nonchalant about sex and is emotionally unattached to her actions and the boys she has encounters with.... ... middle of paper ... ...ughout the story. The narrator is not bothered at the beginning of the story, but by the end she feels almost “ruined.” The girl starts out feeling nonchalant about her sexual encounters and is emotionally unattached to them. Throughout, the narrator finds it hard to open her heart, and she does not think of any of her partners as boyfriends. She starts feeling like the boys look at her differently after sex, and that is all they looked to her for. She feels as though she has certain limits: things she can ask her partners, what she gives her partners. After sex, she feels like a part of her is ruined and she feels alone. Before, there is a tenderness that is given to her by her partner. After, she lies there almost dead, feeling as if something inside her is ruined. Her partner no longer looks at her as he did before. He no longer sees her; she has disappeared.
Deviating from the norm within her time, Aphra Behn’s, “The Disappointment,” tackles the concept of sex from the female perspective, something still relatively taboo in the modern world. Behn offers readers a glimpse into the confusion and anxiety that accompany a woman’s loss of virginity, in addition to the heightened expectations of masculinity enforced on the man. By creating sympathetic and pitiable characters out of both Cloris and Lysander, Behn imagines a narrative in which there are no winners or beneficiaries in this uncomfortable exchange, directly resulting from societal expectations. During the specific instance in which Cloris gives into her desires only to discover that Lysander is unable to perform, the narrator illustrates
Unsurprisingly, the novel is a classic coming of age story which centers on a young man who is confused about himself and his sexual identity in his early twenties. This confusion about himself and his sexual identity is the driving force of his interactions with his friends and lovers. Moreover, this confusion about himself and his sexual identity also facilitates the conflict and unforeseen consequences which occur during the novel.
Rubin, Gayle. “Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality.” in Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality. ed. Vance, Carole. Pandora: London, 1992.
“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins, my sin, my soul” (Nabokov 9). Quoted from Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita, Humbert Humbert briefly describes his sensibilities towards his love Lolita. I’ve italicized love for the reason that this book is perceived often as not a true American love story but as a pedophile’s lust. The reasoning for the italicization is because I wanted to emphasis on the point that this book offers more than that of a pedophile’s love. Nabokov’s novel does a very good job of creating an interesting yet unorthodoxed plot. What Nabokov might find acceptable in today’s society, some people might find very offensive and disrupting. He does this to grab the reader’s attention; therefore, building their interests by having them see the other side of things. Why many readers may find this book to be associated with pornography or just another literary piece surrounded around pedophilia, Nabokov hits you with textual evidence, which may sway reader’s minds. As a reader of this novel, I am compelled to show you how this book is a true American “Love Story.”
In the second chapter, The A, B, C, and Ds of Sex (and Asex), Brock University Associate Professor and Asexuality author, Bogaert, examines “some of the fundamental psychological processes of asexuality as they relate to both sexual and asexual people.” Throughout this section, Bogaert explains the “A (attraction and arousal), B (behavior), C (cognition), and Ds (desire)” by going through each letter and explaining what it stands for. He tries to get the younger readers to understand the definitions of asexuality by aiming focus on the constituents of sexuality first. The similarities between sexuality and asexuality are outlined throughout this reading. Surprisingly enough, Bogaert explains the differences and the relationship between romantic and sexual bonds and how they appear in asexual people as well.
Most love stories end with a man and woman happily in love with each other. This is not the case in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, “Last Kiss”. Throughout the story, Jim longs for his childhood sweetheart and Pamela seeks out someone who will make her a star actress in Hollywood. Jim holds fast to his position of power and does not give in to Pamela’s beauty and charm until later in the story. Strong will and determination of females pose as a threat to masculinity because females can entice, persuade and manipulate males. Fitzgerald’s story demonstrates the inability of femininity to surpass the power of masculinity. This is shown through reinforcement of femininity, masculinity and belief in social norms.
This poem dramatizes the conflict between love and lust, particularly as this conflict relates to what the speaker seems to say about last night. In the poem “Last Night” by Sharon Olds, the narrator uses symbolism and sexual innuendo to reflect on her lust for her partner from the night before. The narrator refers to her night by stating, “Love? It was more like dragonflies in the sun, 100 degrees at noon.” (2, 3) She describes it as being not as great as she imagined it to be and not being love, but lust. Olds uses lust, sex and symbolism as the themes in the story about “Last night”.
Vladimir Nabokov’s novel, Lolita, portrays this distinction between love and lust through a morally complicated and controversial story. The story consists of many layered themes, which a reader must first sort through in order to make sense of the question of love. The subject most explicitly present in Lolita is pedophilia. Because we live in world of pre-conceived and ingrained societal norms regarding what is “morally acceptable” and “kosher,” and because pedophilia is generally considered one of the most heinous and immoral of crimes, many readers cringe at the very mention of such a topic and, therefore, fail to recognize the underlying and essential question of love verses lust present in the novel. In order to achieve a true understanding of Lolita, a reader must set aside such societal norms and pre-conceived notions. Gaining a true understanding of Nabokov’s novel requires an open and unbiased mind.
Initially, Rios illustrates a young boy perplexed by a new-found maturity. As the maturation from childhood to adolescence begins, he is facing unfamiliar feelings about the opposite sex. An example of this is apparent as Rios explains that the boy cannot talk to girls anymore; at least “not the same way we used to” (Rios 453). Since his emotions have new depth and maturity, the young boy realizes the nature of his friendships has changed. Innocence is further lost as the girls who are former friends, “weren’t the same girls we used to know” (453). The boy has matured from his casual, youthful interactions, and is now seeing the girls in a new light. Another example of his maturity manifests sexually as he reflects about the girls, “and all the things we wanted to do with them” (454). Although he is unsure how to act upon his thoughts, the innocence is none the less tainted by his desires for mature relations with the young girls. The maturity and sexual maturity bring forth a storm of emotions that prove to be both exhilarating and confusing for the young boy.
In the short story “The Cheater’s Guide to Love” by Junot Diaz, the author pinpoints on the Yunior’s life as a writer and college professor who is also struggling with his romantic relationships. The short story is filled with his experiences of using women for his beneficial needs and how it negatively affects him. It focuses on Yunior’s downfall through life after the destruction of his relationship with his fiance. The diction includes the narrator’s hateful consideration of women and a paradox of his own endeavors which prevent him from pursuing a meaningful relationship, but he grows to realize that he treats women awfully and his ex did the right thing by leaving him due to his untruthfulness.
From the beginning of fiction, authors have constantly exploited the one topic that is sure to secure an audience: love. From the tragic romance of Tristan and Isolde to the satirical misadventures in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, literature seems obsessed with deciphering the mysteries of affection. The concept most debated is the question of where the line falls between lust and love and what occurs when the two are combined, and few portray it more clearly than Edmund Rostand in his French drama Cyrano de Bergerac. The influence of fickle physical attraction and deep romantic love on each other are explored by the interactions of the four main characters: De Guiche, Christian, Roxane, and Cyrano.
What is it about sex that makes everyone so uncomfortable? Upon reading Randa Jarrar’s A Map of Home, one of the major themes that the novel goes in depth about is Nidali’s sexual awakening. Many students would argue that this novel is littered with too much sexual activity, i.e. masturbation. However, A Map of Home is a novel about finding your place in this world; the search for your identity and purpose. Sexual identity plays a significant part of that continuum. You may question, “Well, could you have figure out a way to describe her story without all the sex stuff?” This statement would demolish the novel’s relatable and sheer honest tone, as well as disintegrate the genuineness behind the narrative if Jarrar would omit Nidali’s sexual experiences. The complete fact that young teenagers do think about sex so often makes one grasp the true relatability this novel showcases through the main character’s sexual experiences. In this essay, I plan to explore the importance of sexual awakening, Nidali’s own reasons for experimenting with her sexuality, and what we can ultimately learn from being open with what we want in that context.
"They turn casually to look at you, distracted, and get a mild distracted surprise, you're gone. Their blank look tells you that the girl they were fucking is not there anymore. You seem to have disappeared. (pg.263)" In Minot's story Lust you are play by play given the sequential events of a fifteen year old girl's sex life.
Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. "Un-Utterable Longing: The Discourse of Feminine Sexuality in The Awakening." Studies in American Fiction 24.1 (Spring 1996): 3-23. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 127. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 May 2014.
Due to the girl’s current lifestyle and behavior, the mother is focused on sharing the value to save her daughter from a life of promiscuity. The mother fears her daughter will become a “slut” and insists that is exactly what the daughter desires. Moreover, the mother is very blunt with her view when she uses repetition with the statement, “… the slut you are so bent on becoming.” (Kincaid92). It is very clear that the mother holds a reputation to such a standard that it could determine the overall quality of a woman and her life. Therefore, a woman’s sexuality should be protected and hidden to present the woman with respect and to avoid the dangers of female sexuality. The mother is very direct in calling out certain, specific behaviors of the daughter. Such as, the way the daughter walks, plays with marbles, and approaches other people. The mother is very persistent that the daughter must act a certain way that can gain their community’s respect. She fears the social consequence of a woman’s sexuality becoming