Friday, January 25, 2013
Roundabout Possible Explanation of Stephen's Lust
Before Stephen visited the brothels daily, we never really saw much lust. I mean, it was there, but it wasn’t the only thing he thought about. Most of his fantasies were about him being the sad, romantic hero refusing women or brooding in a corner. His fantasies stayed innocent like this because he knew nothing of sexuality. The church refrained from teaching the boys about these things, so when hormones hit Stephen, he had no information to fall back on to explain what was happening. For this reason, I think he definitely made out his lustful thoughts to be more than they actually were. He didn’t really have a history of fantasizing about sex, as we know, Stephen isn’t really a man of action. However, because of how little he knows about what’s happening to him, I think he is under the impression that if he has this one thought or sexual impulse, every thought, every action, anything he does must also be pure lust and sin. Because of Stephen’s lacking education from the church, he overestimated his sin, thought that everything about him was sinful and so became purely lustful and started taking care of the lust he thought he had by visiting prostitutes.
So, in a possibly more coherent way: the church is the reason Stephen visits prostitutes. They did not educate the boys about sexuality so when Stephen matured in that direction he fell back on what he thought he was supposed to do.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Because of the inherently invisible/internal nature of Stephen's mental "sinning" (the "orgiastic riots" we hear about but, thankfully, don't witness in any detail), we can add another aspect to his levels of ignorance here: he has no way to gauge how "normal" he is. Just as none of the other boys would ever guess what's going on in his mind, he has no idea what's going on in theirs. This has a lot to do with why he experiences it as "monstrous"--not just "bad," but somehow deeply inappropriate or even inhuman, "bestial." He's convinced he's a freak--and maybe he is, and maybe he's even kind of into the idea, but he has no way of knowing. Maybe he's just normal. (And, knowing Stephen, that might be far *more* unnerving for him to contemplate!)
ReplyDeleteIn addition to his lack of education, we could very well attribute Stephen's polarized view of sin with his early tendency to clamp observations of all sorts to hard and fast definite answers. I think Stephen's ego plays into it too, whether he is the enigmatic kid in the corner at the children's party or the scandalous bad boy of the streets.
ReplyDeletePointing out that Stephen is not a man of action is very important. Perhaps that is why he just goes along with what is happening to him. He neither tries to stop or end it as he had fantasized about, but he also does not jump directly into at. At least, he does not want to feel as if he had done either of those things. I think if he were more a man of action he would feel more confident in his choices and would spend less time brooding over his sin.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that Stephen's visits to the brothels seem more out of desire for physical/emotional comfort and a desire to rid himself of him innocence because he no longer feels like a child. He wants to be independent and through those visits, he gains independence from the church through sin, independence from his classmates through experience, and independence from his parents because he's doing something secret that they don't know he knows.
ReplyDelete