Saturday, January 31, 2015
Effects of hormones
Something that really... intrigued (/amused/puzzled) me throughout A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was Stephen's obsession with the idea of some female figure appearing to him and whisking him away on a magical journey. He only really develops this idea when he's old enough to start thinking about girls sexually but once he comes up with it, it really sticks. Now, I'm not going to pretend to know how teenage boy minds work. But, I was under the impression that most adolescent boys aren't really picky about sexual attention. They have raging hormones. Stephen isn't most boys, but he's so much more specific about what he wants than I imagined a guy to be. He thinks about it at great length a lot of the time, and in a very artistic, descriptive, intellectual way. When his female figure finally "appears" to him and he has sex with the prostitute, he blows it up in his mind into this spiritual experience using a lot of flowery language. He creates all these different dimensions to the experience whereas a lot of guys might just be thinking something along the lines of "Yes, I'm having sex, this is great." Instead of thinking about sex in a very basic manner, do other teenage boys secretly have complex monologues about it inside their heads? I suppose I'll never really know what they're thinking.
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(Of course, Joyce rather discreetly pulls closed the curtains before Stephen and his date really get down to business--he only narrates to the point where she bends his head down to kiss her. But we must imagine that the overall sense of detachment, of watching the experience happen to him from a distance, sticks with Stephen throughout.
ReplyDeleteI imagine most boys who are having sex are as detached as Stephen was during that scene. Although we cannot know for certain if Stephen was truly detached throughout the whole act, since as Mr. Mitchell said, the Joyce closes the curtains once the woman kisses his head, but knowing Stephen's personality at this point, we can infer that he was totally out of it. I'm just saying, he's lucky he was detached with a protitute, and not a woman whom he actually cared about, or else things would of probably gone down differently.
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary, I think that if Stephen had been with someone he was close to and cared about, he could have gone at a pace that kept him more attached. The prostitute rushed him because she just wanted to get paid, and I think Stephen should have approached that situation with more tact and patience.
DeleteBecause of double standards, taking a girl's v card or having sex seems to be a victory for guys. I would imagine, like in the movies, the inner monologue--if there is such a thing--doesn't stay internal. Actually I think the guys who would go and tell their friends, the conversation itself is probably their inner monologue or victory speech. I think the detachment on Stephen's part was a good move; the not focusing on losing his virginity helped the story focus on the real importance of the scene, his first big sin.
ReplyDelete"But, I was under the impression that most ADOLESCENTS aren't really picky about sexual attention."
ReplyDelete^ Fixed that for you.
This whole post was saturated in stereotypes.
or at least saturated in rash generalizations
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