The Ups and Downs of the Sexual Movement Displayed in “Lust” by Susan Minot

In a society in which sex only seems to be a part of growing up, a girl gives in to her desire and later questions if it was really what she wanted or was she just letting herself because of the society and environment that she lives in. Daniel Evans wrote a story named “Virgins” which revolves around two girls named Erica and Jasmine, and their friend Michael. These three friends live in a society where having sex is not something uncommon and more like expected, but Erica believes and does otherwise, as she remains a virgin because she claims that men are not to be trusted. However; at the end, Erica gives in and has sex with Michael’s brother, Don, and later on attempts to have sex with Michael, realizing he was the one she wanted all along.

One of the norms Kincaid questions is virginity, whether sex is actually meaningful, that it could be enjoyable without the feeling of love. As a nineteen-year-old girl, Lucy is new to what a sexual relationship could have

In the mid-1920’s, there lived a young man named Tom in the rural area of Tennessee. He was the most popular man in his village because of his muscular body and his killing looks. He was handsome, smart, and muscular. Additionally, he was self-centered, hurtful, and lusty. In the town, every girl was attracted by his good looks and each one of them wanted to date Tom. He started dating the girls one by one, but once he had romanced with one girl, he would break up and move on to the next girl. Tom did not want responsibilities so he did not get married, instead, he wanted pleasure so he continued dating the girls. One day came, where he had dated all the girls in the town and still had the thirst of lust.

In this story, John Updike addresses the themes of lust and desire. He illustrates how lust can influence people to do things they usually would not do, and he reveals

he power that the female cultivates in her adolescent years during the prime of her sexual awakening is alarming. The theme of adolescent females not realizing the power that comes with their sexual awakening can be noted in two different short stories, An Ounce of Cure and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

"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 girls sex life. As portrayed by her thoughts after sex in this passage the girl is overly casual about the act of sex and years ahead of her time in her awareness of her actions. Minot's unique way of revealing to the reader the wild excursions done by this young promiscuous adolescent proves that she devalues the sacred act of sex. Furthermore, the manner in which the author illustrates to the reader these acts symbolizes the

Lust is defined as an intense longing or a sexual desire. It is a common theme in literature; particularly in classic Greek literature. The reason it is so prevalent in literature is that is prevalent in our daily lives. Everyone lusts after something or someone. It is an interesting topic to examine closely, and classic literature is an excellent medium for such an investigation. Two works I have studied, in which lust is a theme, are an epic, Homer's The Odyssey, and a play, Aristophanes’ Lysistrata. In both The Odyssey and Lysistrata, lust is a theme that plays a major role in the course of the story, making the stories similar, but very different.

This story speaks of a young teenage woman who, amid the civil rights’ movement and sexual revolution of the 1960s, is rebelling against the conservative morals and values of the 1950s and exploring her individuality and sexuality with a sense of egotism and inexperience that eventually gets her into harm’s way. Looking back, the Civil Rights movement may have been the most emotionally charged movement of the 1960s (Anderson). No other movement in United States history defines a change in culture better than the movement of the 1960s. Issues such as women’s rights, war, civil rights and the sexual revolution greatly influenced the American youth. Conservative family morals and values that predominated the 1950s were beginning to be questioned. Oates

Sexual Revolution and Changing Adolescence The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates can be viewed as both a metaphor of the sexual revolution and its consequences on youth in the 20th century and a thematic image of the struggle to understand sexuality and vanity as an adolescent in modern society ruled by sexualized media. Oates published this short story in the 1960s, in a climate of post-war celebration and sexual revolution with the rise of birth control and the decline of sexual abstinence due to a less uber-religious America. This world context gives insight to the extended metaphor that is this story and also shows how this seemingly horrific story of a pedophile attacking a young woman is not what it appears.

“If stories were depopulated, the plots would disappear because characters and plots are interrelated” (76). I chose to do my analysis paper over the short story Lust by Susan Minot, in this analysis I will be going over how the use of characterization in lust contributes to the message about relationships. The first-person narrator starts off by detailing her sex life likes it’s a grocery list or some kinds of list of things to do on the weekend. It just goes to show how meaningless these relationship with her sex companions mean. Although we do not know what the reader looks like we do how she thinks and feels. We can feel the narrator become more detached and emotionless towards the end of the story. Even though she is emotionally removed for the story at the end she also becomes more self-aware of what she is doing, and comes to the realization that she is looking for a relationship in all the wrong places.

The history in 1960s proves to the readers of how people live in the villages do not have enough information about sexuality or sex life. Parents do not have time to watch over and guard their kids’ safety or educate them more about sexuality. Connie is an example of how a teenager does not have any knowledge or tips from her family to act less sexuality or associate with anything related to sex such as hang out with strangers or listen to music, which makes her mind occupied with naughty daydreaming with the

“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

To do so, Levy turns to the experiences of several young women whom she interviews. From her interpretations of these experiences, Levy reaches the conclusion that these women’s sexual nature revolves around their need

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

Lust is having a self-indulgent sexual desire. Susan Minot portrayed the mind of a promiscuous high school female perfectly. Lust is powerful and seductive, but it's inherently selfish and opposed to love. For many girls who are having sex with different boys they can identify with the desire to be needed. The characters in "Lust" are written in a way to highlight the dysfunction and disconnection of everyone involved. The narrator herself is nameless and faceless, making the reader believe that she has already somehow disappeared, just as the men in her life have made her disappear after having sex. Similarly, the men are listed in a brief and are identified only by their sexual acts or by other, easily objectified characteristics. What