So, Jake's injury. At first, I thought for some reason that he was like, castrated (the funny Italian word would be castrati or whatever) by flying shrapnel. This gave me a whole different perspective on the book. In fact, the damage appears to be to the actual penis rather than the testes, which really changes things an astonishing amount. When I realized, in class, that this made more sense, I actually said to myself, "Oh! No big deal then." Really, I could almost understand laughing at that injury for a minute there, so great was my relief for Jake.
When Freud talks about castration anxiety, I am confident that he's talking about more than losing the ability to make love- apparently the only thing that Jake lacks. Jake essentially has a bad case of E.D., which is tragic, sure, but nowhere near the worse-than-death sympathetic-thigh-clenching horrendousness of actual castration; it's not simply the loss of ability to grow facial hair, or any of the outward effects, but rather the loss of ability to even be considered a man. However much our attitudes may be culturally influenced, one feels that to lose the hormones we so rely on is to become a different person. Being unable to consummate desire is bad, but the presence of aggression, of a sex drive, is what in many ways defines our characters. I can't imagine my thought processes being the same sans primal urges. You'd be alive, yes, but would it really be you?
So what's the tl;dr? Jake is right to be tough and bluff about his injury. Every time night rolls around, he needs to remind himself that while he's greatly inconvenienced in the women department, some poor sap in the same hospital probably got it two inches lower and, for all intents and purposes, died.
2 comments:
(What does "tl;dr" mean? Is this some new internet-generation acronym that this fogie doesn't recognize?)
I don't want to dwell on this topic, for a number of reasons, but Jake's case should be distinguished from ED (a disorder we're all so much better acquainted with these days, thanks to aggressive and memorable advertising by Big Pharma!) in that there's clearly been a *physical mutilation* that is *visible* when he looks in the mirror. According to Freud, the prospect of such a thing freaks dudes out at some elemental level that doesn't necessarily have to do with hormones and other castrati-related things. It has to do with the symbolic potency (so to speak) of this particular anatomical detail, and also, I think, the simple fact that it's a pretty squeamish subject for a lot of men to even contemplate. We get a little queasy when the topic is discussed, more so than a discussion of a severed ear, or finger . . .
IMO, we're always freaked out on an elemental level by the prospect of, not to put too fine a point on it, nut-shots. We have to differentiate between the actual penis and the testes- it's my understanding that jake sustained some sort of visible injury to (perhaps even total severance of)his penis, but that his testes are left intact. Freud was really wrong about a lot of things, so maybe he did discuss dis"member"ment (hahah- I need to stop) as the ultimate fear, but I would disagree.
Here's a totally, brazenly graphic test for the dudes out there. Ladies, you should have stopped reading this a long time ago, but if you didn't- averting the old peepers might be a good call.
Imagine a guy getting kicked in the dick (just the flaccid shaft, that is). Go ahead; normal tennis-shoed foot, nice hard kick. Possibly the kicker has had some instruction in karate or some such.
Now imagine that same kick- but this time it crushes a teste.
Which one made you wince harder? I don't doubt for a minute that it was the second one. Symbolically laden as the longer-than-tall member is, the true heart of our manhood resides in the same place where our hormones and descendants are manufactured.
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