This book is a lot shorter than the ones we read before. I really enjoy reading it, and I like the ending a lot. The theme I want to discuss in this blog is social class division and exposure to sexuality.
The protagonist, Agostino, is from a middle-class family. His father has passed away, leaving his mother and him a good amount of property.
At the beginning of the novel, I do not think Agostino knows the privilege he has, but this changes shortly. One of the boys asks him, “Are you rich?” Agostino responds yes, but when they ask how much money he has exactly, he answers, “I don’t know” (33).
They keep asking him if he has a big house. This time, he not only responds yes, but also stresses that there are twenty rooms in the house. Moravia describes his gesture as one where he “can’t resist boasting.” I think at that moment, he becomes aware of his privilege, which makes him stand out from the boys who look down on him and see him as an outsider.
They then ask him whether there are waiters in his house and turn to the waiter’s son in the gang, teasing him for that. From the questions the gang of boys asks out of the blue, as well as the later ones, it is very clear that they are aware of the social class they belong to. This is not true for Agostino, who is basically unsure at the beginning, since going to the beach is a special period of time, a summer vacation, that is different from his day-to-day life. For the boys, however, the beach is where they live their routine lives.
As an outsider, Agostino tries to become one of them by pretending to be a boatman’s son. He uses the information he has just gotten from Saro, that he never goes to school.
I have also realized that even though the gang of boys is almost the same age as Agostino, they are more exposed to sexuality and adulthood. For example, when Agostino struggles with the idea of how a price can be set on those women (92). Tortima, the boy who deceives Agostino and uses his money at the brothel without any hesitation, clearly has more experience.
The question I have for this week is: Do you think social class impacts the timing of children’s exposure to sexuality?
3 replies on “Exploration of adulthood – Agostino”
I appreciate your question and acknowledging how privilege can allow for a more sheltered life. Learning about sex seems to be delicate in childhood and varies from person to person. But what causes the variation? Social class might, yes, but what about other factors? With Agostino’s mom being a single mom to a 13-year-old, maybe the talk should have happened already, or she didn’t think it was time, or she wasn’t comfortable, or, or, or…
Good question.
Sarah
great question, I’ve always assumed that rich kids have later exposure to sexuality because their parents keep them busy with summer beach house vacations and stamp collecting etc as mentioned here. Poor kids are on there own because their parents are always working maybe? You brought up a great point about ages of the red tent boys – does it say? I assumed they were all around 13 like Agostino.
Interesting topic to analyze. I think that there is clearly a focus on both aspects (social division and sexuality) throughout the novel
As some of your classmate shared, the scene with the piggy bank can be read as a metaphor of this relation.
Please share your thoughts on class!
See you tomorrow.
Julián.