AP English Literature and Composition
“Lust” by Susan Minot
Study Questions/Seminar Facilitation
Emma O’Connor
“Men’s double standard of sex morals, whereby the victims of their lust are counted as
outcasts, while the men themselves escape all social censure, really applies to morals in
all departments of life. Men make the moral code and they expect women to accept
it.”—Emmeline Pankhurst
“Lust’s passion will be served; it demands, it militates, it tyrannizes.” –Marquis de
Sade
“True love never dies, for it is lust that fades away. Love bonds for a lifetime but lust
just pushes away.” –Alicia Barnhart
“Of all the worldly passions, lust is the most intense. All other worldly passions seem to
follow in its train.” –Buddha
About the Author:
Susan Minot was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in
1956, and raised in Manchester-by-the-Sea. Minot’s
interest in writing was sparked at thirteen years old, when
she began to write in her journals for almost two hours
every day. Minot pursued this passion in college; she
studied writing and painting at Brown University and
earned an M.F.A. at Columbia University. After publishing
short stories in such respected periodicals as Grand Street
and The New Yorker, she accepted a book contract with
renowned publisher Seymour Lawrence. She has published
four novels—Monkeys (1986), Folly (1992), Evening
(1998), and Rapture (2002)—and her short stories have
been collected in Lust and Other Stories (1989). She has
also published one volume of poetry, Poems 4 A.M. (2002).
Minot’s writing has earned her an O. Henry Prize and a
Pushcart prize, and Monkeys won the 1987 Prix Femina
Etranger in France. Minot, an avid traveler, now lives in an
apartment in New York City.
Comments about Susan Minot’s writing:

“Sex and the single girl have seldom been absent from Susan Minot's fiction.” –James
Marcus (The Atlantic Monthly)

“Her contribution to the genres of short story and novel is a feminized minimalist
style. Although minimalism is more often associated with male writers such as the
late Raymond Carver, Minot gives us a hybridized version. She incorporates
minimalism's narrow brush strokes, while at the same time painting the emotions
clearly…She begins with short, simple sentences, building gradually to longer ones to
create the inevitable conclusion: men don't love like women do. Her logic appears in
simple two-or three-liners that capture a sense of futility…Do not look for a happy,
mutual, heterosexual relationship in Minot. You will not find it.” –Jill Franks
(http://biography.jrank.org/pages/4598/Minot-Susan-Anderson.html).

“Minot has repeatedly found fresh, new ways to examine the emotional safeguards
within family and romantic relations that hold people apart. It's a theme that arises
repeatedly in the author's work…” –Dave Weich (powells.com)
Important Terms:
Style: In a piece of writing, style refers to the arrangement of words that the author uses in
order to achieve particular effects. Style includes individual word choices, sentence length,
structure and tone, and the use of irony.
Diction: Diction refers to a writer’s choice of words, and it is vital in controlling a reader’s
response and reaction.
Tone: Style reveals tone. Tone is the author’s implicit attitude toward people, places, and
events in a story.
Irony: Irony is a literary device that serves to reveal a reality different from the obvious, or
from what appears to be true.
Story Introduction:
“Lust” is told from the first-person point of view of a privileged teenage girl who is attending
boarding school at Casey Academy. The narrator recounts her observations and emotions
during her sexual encounters with at least sixteen boys, including with Leo, Roger, Bruce,
Tim, Willie, Philip, Oliver, Johnny, Eben, Jamie, Andrew, Simon, Mack, Paul, and Eddie.
The psychological effects of the narrator’s promiscuity become the focus of the story.
My seminar will focus on the tone of “Lust,” and what the tone reveals about the narrator’s
self-image. The seminar will also emphasize what the story’s tone and language suggest
about the narrator’s attitude toward sexual double standards.
From the questions below, please answer the first one, along with two others of your
choice. Please develop your responses thoughtfully and thoroughly, and use evidence from
the text when appropriate.
1. Describe the narrator’s tone. What does the tone reveal about the narrator’s
personality? What does it reveal about her philosophies and attitudes? What does it
suggest about her self-image and self-esteem?
2. What do the personalities and personas of the narrator’s sexual partners reveal about
the narrator? Can the reader learn anything significant about the narrator by
considering the men to whom she is attracted?
3. The narrator says, “The more girls a boy has, the better…For a girl, with each boy it’s
as though a petal gets plucked each time” (285-286). Do you agree with this
statement? Do you think that the narrator genuinely agrees with it?
4. After an encounter with an unnamed boy at a party, the narrator says, “I never saw
him again after that but I thought, I could have loved that one” (287). Do you think
the narrator has entirely separated, or disconnected, the ideas of love and lust? Why
or why not?
5. How do you think the apparent disinterest and ignorance of the narrator’s parents
affect her development, especially in regards to her sexual and romantic
relationships?
6. What fundamental differences does the story suggest there are between male and
female attitudes toward love?
7. The narrator says, “Sleeping with someone was perfectly normal once you had done
it. You didn’t really worry about it. But there were other problems. The problems had
to do with something else entirely” (285). To what “other problems” is the narrator
referring?
8. What is your opinion of the narrator? Do you think the character is meant to be
likable? Why or why not?
9. What is the theme of the story? How is it developed?
10. Discuss the story’s narrative perspective. How does the point of view affect your
opinion about the narrator and about the events in the story?