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

Another explanation from the psychoanalytical point of view can be that in a male-dominated world in which Sophie lives, her sexual fantasies reveal her need to be overtaken, to submit to the power of male dominance. She chooses to enslave herself and it contributes to her tragic ending. But it is also seems to be all right to say that Sophie is the victim of all men, because their desires and prejudices distort their ability to save and help her. Stingo's relationship with Sophie brings him fulfillment. The first encounter they have ends in "Ejaculatio praecox (Psychology 4B at Duke University)'' (SC 439). Later on, before Sophie meets her tragedy, they have varied and satisfying sexual intercourses in a hotel room. Stingo has not been the perfect lover to any of the previous girls. He needs Sophie to prove that he is a great lover. She is the only one who appreciates him. The sexual relationship is also satisfying to Sophie, because she is usually forced to make sex, except when she is with Stingo and sometimes with Nathan. As it was revealed earlier in connection with Leslie Lapidus, language and sexuality are interwoven in the novel. Most students of English are shocked when they read SC because they find the language used in connection with sexuality obscene. But when they are given the task to express the same ideas that are in the novel in another way they have difficulty in finding substitutes for the nasty words. They have the same problem as all the characters have in the book, that is the difficulty of speaking about sexuality. Speaking about sexuality is not convenient because the way you speak about it tells the reader or the listener a lot about you. What does the reader know about the characters' sexuality just by reading how they speak about it? He knows that Leslie's sexuality is repressed, Mary Alice Grimball's is misused and abandoned, Nathan's is schizophrenic, Stingo's is unfulfilled and Sophie's is oppressed. The language of sexuality causes a lot of trouble to translators as well. Translations always modify the effect because translations are the translators' interpretations of the writer's text. In the Russian version of the book all the four-letter words were left out. Almost all the sex scenes were left out of the film version. These facts prove that the sexual liberation has not achieved its purpose, yet. 54