Susan Minot’s ‘Lust,’ creates the main character in the story and highlights her in an original way. The theme is at the heart of this short story. For example, her sexual adventures with various boys are the plot. The theme is the ambivalence of a woman as she enters the world of sexual activity in the 1980s. This was a period when women were not allowed to discuss this subject.
The anonymous narrator tells the story of a young woman who was a prodigious person at an boardingschool. She also describes her sexual pursuits. The story is about young people who drink, smoke marijuana, and engage in sexual activity with an ease that would surprise their parents. Minot wrote this story to illustrate the dangers that come with such freedom. She shows the emotional damage caused when young women don’t know what they can expect or ask for before having sexual relations. This was a time when women could finally experiment with more freedom. However, this can lead to negative outcomes. As the story progresses, it appears that the narrator has a feeling of regret or sadness. She isn’t ready to admit to it. You feel like your life is being exposed, just as a bathroom window lets in only gray light. Minot describes the light as ‘grey,’ which is dull, depressing and may even suggest that she’s filthy.
Minot revealed that the protagonist was not confident, despite her strong and different personality. She was weak around the men that she hung out with, so she felt obliged to accept their sexual advances even though she did not want them. The narrator says, “So, if someone flirted with you, you’d better be ready to follow through. After you slept with someone, it was normal. You didn’t even worry about it. Was the narrator attempting to convince himself that sleeping with a person was completely normal even if he didn’t like them and shouldn’t be worried about what other people thought? She struggles to be vulnerable, so to compensate for this she sleeps with guys. She hides her vulnerability and needs for emotional intimacy, which are part of female sexual desire. Her repression is only able to last so long. The theme is that girls are more likely to give in to sexual advances when they first start experimenting with sex.
Most girls are not afraid to try new things and to see what other girls are doing.
