Joan Silber’s story, in this week’s issue, deals with changing attitudes about sexual desires and freedoms. “I like the habit of young people to openly puzzle out the great questions of the world,” the author says.
,” a teen-ager named Cara hitchhikes from New York to Arizona with her older boyfriend, Brody, in 1980, and experiences both liberation and disappointment from her newfound sexual freedom. Reflecting on the story’s events, an older Cara says that “people believed in sex in a way that they don’t quite anymore,” and wonders, “Did we run that idea into the ground, overplay it?” One of the main themes of your story is the existence of evolving ideas about sexual relationships over the generations.
I’ve often written about desire and longing, and this was a new way to see how these elements shape a story. But terms can also be reductive. Every era has its own clichés, and they’re never enough for what really happens. She doesn’t voice this to Brody, but Brody, for his part, makes an acerbic remark recalling a priest saying that nature was “how God revealed Himself to us.” Brody points to the scorching temperatures in a Tucson June as signs that the God of nature is not so nice. I like the habit of young people to openly puzzle out the great questions of the world, and I wanted to give these characters that.
We are following Cara through key moments in her understanding of her life as a body. In the very beginning, she is physically showing off—displaying her dancing skill and also rehearsing her future sexiness—and she manages to break a bone. Later, we see her coming into her own as a sexual being, taking pride in her adventurousness. There’s a shift again when death enters the story, and her history with Brody, which is over and done, alters its meaning in her mind.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Everything we know about how Kate Middleton built her bodyKate Middleton's diet and workout routine is surprisingly normal
Read more »
Health Is the Secret to HappinessOur health habits have a remarkable power to improve our potential for happiness. Here's how.
Read more »
What You Need To Know About Perimenopause: It's LonelyChanges to your body, mood swings -- perimenopause is isolating.
Read more »
After years of extreme eating, man loses 220 pounds: 'I feel amazing'A doctor told Jacob Stevenson he wouldn't make it to middle age if he didn't slim down. Now, after losing half his body weight, he feels 'amazing.'
Read more »