Desire within Duras’ The Lover and Acker’s Blood and Guts in High School

In the three stories “Eveline”, “A Rose for Emily”, and “Desiree’s Baby” three single women go about love in three different ways. Their struggles for love are similar; the decisions they made you will not believe. One thing you can say about all the women is their poor love lives. With their fathers in their way, the women find it hard to find love. Love is a four letter word that everyone wants, but some never get to experience the happiness. While Eveline, Miss Emily, and Desiree have controlling fathers, they want love; one walked away from her happiness, one kills for it, and another kills herself.

Does deviating from one’s gender norms inevitably doom one down a spiral of moral corruption? Tim O'Brien, author of “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” and Ernest Hemingway, author of “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, certainly seem to hold this view, as evident by the fates of the major female characters in their respective works. The deviance of the major female characters in both works appears to corrupt not only themselves, but also pollute their partners, causing them to suffer injury or harm as a result. The degree of injury ranges from negligible, like Fossie’s demotion and broken heart, to fatal, like the bullet that rips through Macomber’s skull. It begs the question, are these stories meant to serve as cautionary tales for their female readers, or possibly for their husbands, so they may recognize gender deviance and stop it in its tracks before their wives transform into Margot Macomber or Mary Anne Bell? This essay will analyze what such characters say about pervading views of women, both in society and in literature.

Junior is very observant and he describes his mother in a detailed way. He deposits emphasis on his mother’s hands. “One thing about Mami, her palms never sweated.” (27) Junior’s mother is a very lovely person, pretty and knows how to take good care of his sons. In contrast, the Puerto Rican woman is described oppositely of his mother. “She had papery hands, and when she rubbed the towel on my chest, she did it hard, like I was a bumper she was waxing.”(35) According to Junior, the Puerto Rican woman is careless and is not lovely as his mother. This increases his disgust towards his father for being with such a woman that will never be like his mother. This fact supports the idea that his son-father relationship is related to the Freud’s Oedipal Conflict.

Love between two genders is one of the most common themes in writing. In literature, love is often praised, appreciated and cherished. Another common theme in writing is the looming specter of inequality between men and women, which has been strongly depicted throughout history and is still worryingly present in the world today. It is extremely interesting to realize that though love is treasured and valued, in most cases, it takes both genders to create love, and those genders are often separated by inequality. Both these themes coincide well together; the clash of love and gender inequality is interestingly captivating. In John Updikes A&P and Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants, both stories send a conclusive message to the reader that equality between both sexes in love and attraction is almost impossible; one gender will always be more powerful than the other.

Secondly, promiscuity has obliviously changed the outlook of relationships. Every relationship in the book has been some form of interactions that would be considered immoral in our world. When talking about Henry, Linda surprisingly said to Lenina, “’Only 4 months!’... Fanny went on, pointing an accusing finger” (Huxley 29) explaining to the reader how absurd it is to have any kind of intimate relationship. We now know that any type of long-lasting relationship is not only absurd but unheard of. Continuing the lifestyle of the new world, elementary sex was being taught to children of London as an aspect to strive for. The activity gives kids in school time to play around with other girls and boys naked in a courtyard to become more familiar with bodies of the opposite sex. Tying together all these changes their world had made, family had been changed as well. “… families, no conditioning, monstrous…” (Huxley 69). Given the last aspect that not only love, but family, as well, faded away from this society as well.

Sexuality and personal growth has and always will be a topic of conversation in real life and even in fiction short stories. The idea of sexuality has just recently not only became an open idea to discuss but one to also write and publish about. Both Alice Munro and John Updike both illustrate the idea of sexuality and personal growth in very different ways. “The Found Boat” by Alice Munro, deals with sexuality in an aggressive manner while “A&P” by John Updike, deals more with the idea of sexuality rather than sexuality itself. They also have very similar elements of fiction that include (but is not limited to) characters, theme and conflict. The characters relate in both

Sex and relationships are recurring themes throughout the genre and are essential elements teen narrative. Their portrayal ranges from comic interactions to serious exchanges and emotional liberation from restrictive forces. Timothy Shary explains the significance of these two thematic threads: “Romantic longing and sexual curiosity take on heightened intensity and profundity for youth in the adolescent years struggle to recognise and cope with the emotional and psychological changes”(2002). The character’s experience with sex are usually comedic and linked to sexual discovery and loss of virginity, which are continually present topics in the narrative. It is is often a determinant that shapes teen identity, as well as providing a commentary on societal questions regarding a desire of intimacy. The sexual exploits between the teen male and female investigates teen behavior and the conceptualization of feelings and emotions in their discovery of identity.

“Lust,” describes a young teenage girl who has mischievous meetings with many boys. The narrator, which is the young girl, attends Casey Academy which is a coed school. She is sexually active and does not fear pregnancy because she has been taking birth control pills since she was a young girl. The narrator describes her sexual expected gathering with the fifteen different boys she has been with, and when she talks about them she seems emotionally removed from the experience. The narrator’s parents don’t have a clue about what she has been getting herself into: “My parents had no idea. Parents never really know what’s going on, especially when you’re away at school most of the time. If she met them, my mother might say, “Oliver seems nice” or “I like that one” without much of an opinion...” (1029). The narrator’s parents do not show much interest in her life which can be a reason to why she craves

desire something you have to turn those desires into goals and set out on a path that leads to

Sexuality has an inherent connection to human nature. Yet, even in regards to something so natural, societies throughout times have imposed expectations and gender roles upon it. Ultimately, these come to oppress women, and confine them within the limits that the world has set for them. However, society is constantly evolving, and within the past 200 years, the role of women has changed. These changes in society can be seen within the intricacies of literature in each era. Specifically, through analyzing The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, one can observe the dynamics of society in regards to the role of women through the lens of the theme of sexuality. In both novels, the confinement and oppression of women can be visibly seen as a result of these gender roles. Yet, from the time The Scarlet Letter was published to the time The Bell Jar was written, the place of women in society ultimately changed as well. Hence when evaluating the gender roles that are derived from sexuality, the difference between the portrayals of women’s oppression in each novel becomes apparent, and shows how the subjugation of women has evolved. The guiding question of this investigation is to what extent does the theme of sexuality reflect the expectations for women in society at the time each novel was written. The essay will explore how the literary elements that form each novel demonstrate each author’s independent vision which questions the

Acker writes, “…Janey depended on her father for everything and regarded her father as boyfriend, brother, sister, money, amusement, and father” (Acker 7). What is the most disturbing isn’t the incestuous relationship Acker’s main character is engaging in, it is the confusion of what love is. Janey has been divorced from the maternal, the only notion of love in her life is the problematic relationship she has with her father. This relationship is volatile, and only leads to Janey’s rejection. She endures this rejection many times after, finding herself surrogate fathers who will have sex with her, and in her mind, love her. Janey is the epitome of what male dominated society “desires” from a female. Women are taught that all they should want to do is have sex—and more specifically, sex with men. When Janey is repeatedly rejected by the men who are supposed to desire her, Acker is acknowledging the abandonment that comes along with supposed consent.

Desire is commonly referred as a “want, wish, or even an emotional or physical feeling” according to Merriam-Webster.com. However, desire can only be defined to a certain extent since such “feeling” can only be determined and is conclusively dependent on the person who “wishes”. With that in mind, it’s much easier to desire or “wish” since it seemingly acts as an instinct or necessity which dates back to the first stages of life. I personally view desire as a thought or belief that lingers throughout the mind and seemingly acts a defense mechanism or instinct to achieve a superficial purpose or reason. However, although effortless to establish, desires are even more difficult to handle. Desiring is simple, but handling it isn’t. Isolation for me is my way of handling desires, but consequently correlates with alienation. Handling desires is what makes or breaks us as human beings and can entirely define us. It seemingly acts as a waiting game where the longer you wait the longer and difficult it gets to successfully beat or in this case handle.

Desire is a motivation to change because you need to want the change in order to act on it, the African Americans had a burning desire to be able to walk as a free man. They craved being freedom so much they were willing to risk theyŕe lives by escaping to the North where

The search term, “Literary exploration of lesbian desire” yields three pages of results for pornography, erotica, and sexually explicit pictures. This perception of lesbianism as erotic extends throughout mainstream society, with images of lesbianism targeted to heterosexual men in advertising, film, and pornography. Lesbianism in literature has long served either as the pornographic subject of male voyeurism or subjects to be condemned by heterosexual authors—and in many cases, both. The genre lesbian realism is one that arises out of the revolutions of the 1960s in an attempt to combat pulp fiction narratives. Fundamentally, these works must take on a perverse meaning; their foundation in traditional literature style, even simply being a

Women in literature have been portrayed in a multitude of ways throughout time. From goddesses to witches, and even prostitutes, women have not been limited in their representations. One challenge, in particular, is repression of their sexuality. In novels by Kate Chopin, George Orwell, and Kazuo Ishiguro, female characters live in societies that seek to regulate their sexuality. Published in 1899, The Awakening by Chopin focuses on Edna Pontellier, a woman who seeks to create a life outside her marriage by pursuing relationships with various lovers. George Orwell’s 1984, which was published in 1949, features Julia, a woman who rebels against her society by having sex for pleasure and not for reproduction. In addition, like Chopin and Orwell,