Lust By Susan Minot Analysis

Sexuality comes from many aspects in a young adult’s life, there are many firsts for a young person. Both authors unveil different aspects of the growing sexuality in the protagonist of the stories. In Susan Minot’s, “Lust” the author paints the protagonist in a much more authentic and mature sexual life, enduring the effects of her promiscuity. While David Updike’s “Summer” gives his protagonist a more innocent and dream version of what you want sexuality to be like. The stories offer a spectrum of sexual experiences in young adulthood. The authors set differing tones to represents the character’s difference in personality and amount of sexuality the protagonists reveal throughout the story. The connotation of the word lust often is the immense craving of …show more content…
On the note of summer love its very innocent and great perfect in every way, and it ends when school comes again. In David Updike’s “Summer” Fred the protagonist has a secret love and admiration for his best friend Homer’s sister, Sandra. Throughout the story, the tone that is set is gentle and innocent compared to “Lust” which is completely different. Updike states, “As the boat rounded corners he would close his eyes and release himself to gravity, his body’s warmth swaying into hers, guising his attraction in the thin veil of centrifugal force.” (Updike 158) The tone given is sweet and soft the way he hides the way he feels, almost like it was a first love or crush. The sexuality that is present in “Summer” is dream-like, people long to have a pure and innocent love. The emotions that Updike demonstrates are things heard in fairy tales. While the emotions in Minot’s “Lust” has a raw sense of honesty, she gives her characters a surreal sense of what youthful sexuality can possibly look like. Updike reveals the great beauty of youthful sexuality, that out of the hard world a summer love can be pure, sweet and hidden like the one he depicted in