Susan Minot’s story Lust
is almost a list of all her sexual experiences as a teenager. She goes over
the men she’s been with, when, where, how it was, and how she feels about it. The
story sacrifices quality for quantity, which could be said to be the narrator’s
life story when it came to sex. Instead of discussing one or two lovers in
depth she gives short scenes and descriptions about several. Often lumping them
all together as just men in general. While it might be nice to know more about
the men she finds herself with, and their relationship, much can be gleaned by
her generalizations and the idea that there is little difference between the
boyfriends.
The tone of this story is vey depressed. She laments her
lovers and says she’s ashamed. She uses the metaphor that every lover a woman
has is like taking a petal off a flower. She feels like she is losing herself
but she can’t stop herself because she can’t turn the boys down for dates and
if she goes on a date she has to do something because she doesn’t want to be a
tease. She’s caught in a vicious circle and she knows she is but still can’t
manage to escape.
No comments:
Post a Comment