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ENGL262G
March 6th, 2011
Painful Misconceptions
Searching for a feeling of identity caused by undeveloped moral principles takes a certain
skill that can only be established through life experiences of trial-and-error. Amid the
progression into adulthood, one can become easily persuaded by the pleasure of the opposite sex.
Within a 24-hour period, the satiety that comes from sexuality and the desirable pleasure of
feeling wanted gives the misplaced person a newfound sense of purpose however temporary.
Both the Protagonists in each story, the unnamed adolescent female in Susan Minot's "Lust" and
James in T. Coraghessan Boyle's "Carnal Knowledge" are modern examples of how both genders
handle their attraction to the opposite sex, and the wavering principles that led them ironically
into trendy situations where aiming to please only left them with further confusion and dismay.
Working your way through immaturity brings along many trials of heartache, regret,
and dismal attempts of fulfilling the need for self worth. "Lust" and "Carnal Knowledge" have
titles that similarly suggest the inappropriate yet overwhelming craving for sexual stimulation.
Ironically the definition of "Carnal" is "Of or pertaining to the body or its appetites; animal;
fleshly; sensual; given to sensual indulgence; lustful; human or worldly as opposed to
spiritual."(Webster's) So it isn't a surprise that the story is about a young boy named James who
justifies his "carnal" pleasures, until he's drawn to a Vegan girl named Alena who challenges his
natural hunger for flesh-eating indulgence. Boyle delivers a comical undertone throughout the
entire story with verbally ironic claims made by Jim in-efforts to impress Alena. Rather than
make the story about a person conversion to veganism and animal rights activism, the
protagonist is constantly contradicting himself as a heartfelt animal lover, beginning with being
introduced to Alena's dog that he tries to beat up after being urinated on, suggesting that he's
more interesting in fulfilling his body's cravings than Alena's cause.
Jim's futile attempts to entice Alena become a pathetic excuse as he entertains the idea
of abstinence from flesh eating and forced unemployment because of his full agenda consists of
picketing for animal liberation. Feeling "weightless, adrift, like a piece of fluff floating in the
breeze...each step I took I could feel my consciousness expanding like a balloon, the breath of
saintliness seeping steadily into me"(237-243) Jim's immaturity made him prey to the first selfassured person who not only made him feel desired, but gave him a sense of direction. His
newfound feeling of morality was constantly interrupted by the overwhelming ravenous flesheating desire that came natural to him. When Alena turned her admiration towards Rolfe,
another man who aiding in rescuing farm animals, Jim fought his hunger and the feeling of being
indispensible to Alena, saying:
The question [of animal abuse] was rhetorical, even if it seemed to have been
aimed at me, and I made no response other than to compose my face in a look of
wedded grief, outrage, and resolve. I was thinking of all the turkeys I'd sent to their
doom, of the plucked wishbones, the pope's noses, and the crisp browned skin I used to
relish as a kid. It brought a lump to my throat, and something more: I realized I was
hungry.(246-247)
Even though Jim felt devotion and a sense of being wanted by Alena, he battled his innerfeelings that were contrary to the feelings that he was trying to project. Much like Jim, the
protagonist in "Lust" battles the same denial during her promiscuous career, and cannot seem to
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quiet her yearning for the supposed love that follows the act of sex. Lust addresses the current
issue of the female's propensity to sleep around; the narrator lists a deplorable amount of sexual
encounters and the memorable details about her brief affairs with each man. The female narrator
also fears her desires as being seen by the opposite sex as appalling claiming "I thought the
worse thing anyone could call you was a cock-teaser. So if you flirted, you had to be prepared to
go through with it. Sleeping with someone was perfectly normal once you had done it...but there
were other problems. The problem had to do with something else entirely."(232) She's simply
brushing her pain under the rug for the opportunity to feel wanted, and also trying to validate the
male presumption of women's consent for premarital sex.
The fear of Jim exposing the "wishbone plucker" he once was, was the similar type of
emotional transparency that became more profound for the female narrator of Lust. The battle of
masking her carnal desire to feel more than "a piece of pounded veal"(235), began to strip away
the purity of her identity. Invalidating her priorities did little to help the condition of feeling a
need for love. Minot captures how the women's loss of innocence strips her of her beauty and
her identity, and the double-standard of promiscuity by saying: "The more girls a boy has, the
better. He has a bright look, having reaped fruits blooming. He stalks around sure shouldered,
and you have the feeling he's got more in him, a fatter heart, more stories to tell. For a girl, with
each boy it's as though a petal gets plucked each time."(233) Even though women have risen to
challenge this double-standard, the man prevails by gaining the valuable labor of the blooming
fruits. The flower though, often symbolically compared to the female genitalia, cannot survive
during a parasitic relationship, and therefore the man's benefit happens to come at the women's
expense.
Both stories bring and modern insight into hopeless love, by incorporating the trendy
following of vegetarianism and the boom of female promiscuity, with the basic need for love and
belonging. Lust bears the tone of a more cynical approach, whereas Carnal Knowledge takes on
a comical approach to human fulfillment. But the one thing they share is being both compelling
tales about socially-driven aspects of human sexuality, that cannot be ignored even as
conventional as the need for consensual love may hopelessly seem.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. "Definition: Carnal Knowledge" Die.net
March 2010. <http://dictionary.die.net/carnal%20knowledge>