Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. [Vol. 5.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 25)

Studies - László Dányi: Interpretations of Sexuality in William Styron's Sophie's Choice

to understand her. He does not want to understand psychoanalysis or the Christian dogmas on sexuality either. He thinks he was taken in, "if through those frigid little harpies in Virginia I had been betrayed chiefly by Jesus, I have been just as cruelly swindled at Leslie's hands by the egregious Doktor Freud. Two smart Jews, believe me" (SC 216). He escapes into work, into writing. He tries to forget his sexual urge, he leaves the promise of physical satisfaction behind, and he wants to find spiritual satisfaction in arts. The reader does not know a lot about another female character who might have played an important role in Stingo's life. It is Stingo's mother. The presence of the mother figure in Stingo's life is not so relevant as the lack of it. He thinks that he contributed to his mother's death, and that is why he has the combined feelings of remorse, selfhatred and guilt. The mother suffered from cancer and Stingo had to look after her. As he was a young boy at that time, one day he went for a ride with his friends and left the mother alone. That single day would not have any significance if the mother had not died later. The mother's death attaches a different meaning to that day. Abandoning the mother causes his very strong sense of guilt. In the following line he remembers the funeral, "I thought of the hearth, and my deserted mother, and became sick with alarm. Jesus Christ, guilt..." (SC 360). He thinks he sinned against Jesus and against his mother and against the moral teaching of helping our human fellows in need. The mother is the first determining female person in a child's life. From a psychoanalytical point of view it is possible to say that for Stingo the loss of the mother evoked a sense of guilt which recurs whenever Stingo gets involved with female characters. The mother's death is the starting point which evokes guilt, and since the mother stands for THE female, sexuality is associated with her. "I recaptured the fright in my mother's eyes, wondered once again if that ordeal had not somehow hastened her dying, wondered if she ever forgave me. Fuck it, I thought. Prompted by a commotion next door, I began to think of sex" (SC 362). The mother figure is supposed to be so dominant in a person's life that she is usually idealized. It is extremely difficult to satisfy the needs of an idol, to live up to an idol. In your life, sooner or later you will do something with which you will hurt your mother, the idol. 47