Throughout the whole
book, Mildred suffers with her sexual desires. Not suffering in the sense where
she isn’t getting her needs satisfied, but she’s struggling with it as an
addiction. I believe Mildred is addicted to sex and affection. Mildred
correlates sex and affection to one another. Sex gives her the affection she wants.
Specifically, in chapter 16, this is shown. Mildred had drunk so much VO one
night however, it was not helping her fall asleep. She decided to go for a swim
but after a while that got boring. Mildred stood in front of her bathroom
mirror and saw that she was aging and had wrinkles. This made her sad but then
she heard a car door slam and it was her neighbor Jimmy, who was married to a
woman Mildred never spoke to. Mildred knew Jimmy was married but had sexual intercourse
with him. Afterwards, Mildred went to the bathroom to clean herself up and when
she looked in the mirror the book says “now her face had some color to it and
the wrinkles seemed to have disappeared” (McMillan 264). For Mildred, sex keeps
her youthful in a sense. I see this as a sex addiction but also an addiction to
married men.
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ReplyDeleteI didn't view the scene with Mildred and Jimmy that way until you pointed it out. It seems like nothing was working to make Mildred happy, not even her VO, until she slept with someone. Just like how someone addicted to drugs may feel depressed until they are high, Mildred feels depressed until she sleeps with another man, and it doesn't matter to her if they are married or not. This is evidence that she may in fact have a sex addiction.
DeleteYour ideas are very insightful and well thought out. I liked that your topic was unique and thoughtful. You also used specific examples and cited the book. I would only recommend to elaborate a little more about how exactly this is an addiction. You also may want to explain more about how she will sleep with married men as well too and why you think she does that.
I didn't even see the significance of this scene until you brought it to life. Your explaining of "sex keeping her youthful" makes me think of Disney's "Tangled." The evil mother uses Rapunzel's hair to keep her youthful. She yearns for her youth, kind of how Mildred wants to remain youthful by having sex. I feel that Mildred feels she's only youthful when she has sex because she and Crooks probably only had loving sex when they were youth. As we saw in the first few chapters, sex turned into a mind game. She would have to pleasure Crooks for him to stop beating her. Sex probably reminds her of a happier time.
ReplyDeleteI like how you made me few this scene in a new way. I also appreciate how you supplied a quotes and examples from the text to backup your theory. My only advice is that you explain how sex is an addiction compare to how I now perceived it.