Symbolism In Susan Minot's Lust

Trapped. Lost. Confined. Absent. What do these words mean? Who do they apply to? Are you adrift with no sense of direction, or maybe imprisoned with never ending boundaries? In the poem “The Panther” written by Rainer Maria Rilke, the helpless creature whose eyes were once full of purpose, finds itself quarantined by “a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world” (Meyer 635). However, in the case of a young affluent teenage girl depicted in Susan Minot’s “Lust,” it is possible to be bounded without the presence of a physical constraint. Regardless of the time period represented in either text, there is an underlying theme of confinement. Whether holding complex emotions hostage, or merely restricting the ability to proceed, it is evident …show more content…
The fact that there is no stable setting in the story, suggests that the main character is lost without a sense of belonging or stability. Considering that she was sent to boarding school (assuming at a young age, as the text does not specify a year), the lack of parental supervision plays a role in the “promiscuity” of the character. Though it may seem that this is a minor detail that strays from the leading theme of the story, Minot strategically weaves an underlying theme of the absence of stability and direction that evidently leads to the characters demise of sexual impurity. “Parents never really know what’s going on, especially when you’re away at school most of the time” (Meyer 275). This leads to an assertion that Susan Minot may believe that lack of supervision may lead to a female’s yearn for sexual pleasure. But the central question that I must present is: are there specific qualifications that a female must encompass to be considered “promiscuous”? According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of promiscuous is “having or involving many sexual partners” (Merriam-Webster). By definition, one could say that perhaps this role in the story is portrayed as “easy”, however if the gender was switched to a male, it would be much more likely that he would not be branded as licentious, while it is very common for a woman to be instantly characterized by any of the countless vulgar terms to insinuate sexual immortality. “It was different for a girl” (Meyer 275). By expressing the emotional stress of the character through metaphors and similes such as “You begin to feel diluted, like watered down stew,” leads to the assumption that rather than vilifying the female for her sexual encounters, Minot sympathizes with the character (Meyer 277). Though the panther in Rilke’s