Addiction is a One-Way Street
In Susan Minot’s “Lust”, an unnamed, faceless girl, the Narrator, becomes a victim to her own feelings. Falling further into conflict with herself, she becomes both the protagonist and antagonist of the story. Throughout the story, she develops symptoms for Post-Coital Dysphoria, a feeling of melancholy or sadness after sexual intercourse, making the title of “Lust” to be quite ironic. Originally overwhelmed by strong sexual impulses and a deviant nature, the narrator changes dramatically throughout the story; her motivation and character undergoes vicissitude, while her emotional state rapidly declines and her personal image diminishes to null.
The Narrator, although dynamic and complex, does not allow ample introspection. Her actions themselves do not offer up much information, however, they do reveal her relationships with others. It is not her itemized list of encounters, but rather the relationships themselves that inform the audience about the character and marks her change. She seems rather detached emotionally to everyone, including her parents, the men, and herself. To start, out of the whole story, the Narrator’s parents were mentioned once, and were not exactly addressed personally. “My parents had no idea. Parents never really know what’s going on, especially when you’re away at school most of the time.” (275) Her relationships with her partners were also pretty impersonal, getting worse as the story continued. The only connection that was shown was through how they made her feel. Additionally, nobody in the tale addressed her by name or by love. Instead, she was an object to be hit and quit. This had consequences, of course. Her relationship with herself was broken, and after the invisible wall came down, the audience learned that her sense of worth was replaced by a sense of obligation.
Initially, the Narrator was