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

Sexuality in the concentration camp is not different from that in New York. Both are varied. Violence, rape, homosexuality, heterosexuality and sex for interest are parts of sexuality everywhere. In the camp Sophie flirts with Hoss in order to save her son from the gas chamber. Sexuality induces Sophie's choice between her two children. Wilhelmine, Hoss' housekeeper forces Sophie to make love with her. Wanda is also a character who finds satisfaction in making love with women. Sophie and Nathan's love-making is the expression of the diversity of their relationship. It is gentle but most of the time it is violent and aggressive owing to Nathan's drug-taking and schizophrenia. Their sexuality involves forced oral sex, Nathan's urinating into Sophie's mouth and raping her. Besides being mentally sick and a drug addict, Nathan cannot come to grips with the situation that Sophie, who is not a Jew, suffered in the concentration camp and survived it. He loves Sophie but from time to time this love turns into despising and degrading Sophie through sexual abuse. For example he calls her Irma Griese, who was known for her cruelty in the camp. By raping Sophie he wants to take revenge on cruelty in the camp. First Slingo cannot understand their strange love-making and searching for meaning he asks Sophie why she lives with Nathan. Sophie cannot give a satisfactory answer to Stingo. In spite of all these her relationship with Nathan is life-giving to Sophie. Nathan is everything to her. They make love and Sophie's touching Nathan's penis is like a child's asking for protection. "Whenever she began to grope for him she was reminded of the way a tiny baby's hand goes out to clutch an outstretched finger" (SC 395) Sophie confesses to Stingo that in Warsaw she had a lover, Jozef. She did not tell Nathan about him but she does not know why (SC 432). She has a dream about Walter Durrfeld, who has Jewish workers in his factory. In her dream he wildly makes love with her. After this dream she realises that she is attracted to him, but this attraction is ambiguous. She imagines having sex on an altar with him, and she thinks that she wants to pay back what she feels she has unfairly received. 53