Alberto Moravia’s novel, “Agostino,” follows the story of a young boy transitioning into adolescence while exploring themes like identity, loss of innocence and sexual awakening. While many adolescents struggle with a sense of identity during their journey of self-discovery and growth, Agostino seemed to have matured much too fast in the span of one summer. From the very beginning, I took notice of Agostino’s pride and weirdly intimate descriptions of his beautiful mother during their swimming trips. It reminded me of “Combray” by Proust, how the protagonist was obsessed with attaining the warmth of his mother’s night kiss. Agostino took joy in being the only man his mother paid attention to, but that changed when a young suitor entered the scene. Pushed to his mother’s periphery, Agostino felt a sense of betrayal and abandonment as his mother formed a new romantic relationship with the suitor. After a quarrel with his mother, Agostino met Berto who introduced him to the community of working-class kids who resided on Vespucci beach. This is where Agostino’s life and understanding of intimacy and relationships took a pivotal shift. Firstly, it appears that Agostino grew up in a wealthy family with a sheltered lifestyle, so the behaviour and language used by the local kids came as a shock to him. It also came as a shock to me as well, how they made such disturbing comments and asked such intimate questions about his mother. When the boys found out that Agostino “knows nothing (p. 30)” about what a man and woman do together, they were crude with their explanation of sexual intimacy, using harsh words and vulgar gestures. After the loss of childhood innocence, Agostino grew even more confused about his emerging sexuality and the relationship between him and his mother. The admiration and love he once had for his mother turned into something distorted and cruel: “He couldn’t say why he wanted so much to stop loving his mother, why he hated her love (p. 46).” I think that the sudden dump of information about sexuality confused and shocked him, making him feel repulsed, lonely and even more susceptible to thoughts like this. It was also mentioned that Agostino’s father passed away, leaving him and his mother to form a close and affectionate mother-son relationship without the presence of a father figure. Therefore, it must’ve been even more overwhelming for Agostino to face his sexual awakening without a trustworthy adult to answer his questions or guide him through his adolescent journey. Agostino also struggled with his self-identity; he didn’t enjoy the company of the kids from his social class and gravitated toward the presence of the local working-class kids by “deliberately pretend[ing] to appreciate and enjoy the behaviour and manners that still horrify him (p. 73).”
Question:
Agostino always had an intimate relationship with his mother, how did this relationship affect his emotional and psychological development and alter his perspective on romantic relationships?
Hi, I am very surprised that you have many same ideas as me. You mentioned the protagonist in this novel has a fascination with his mother, similar to the protagonist in Combray. I actually didn’t expect that anyone would think exactly the same thing as me. And you also mentioned Agostino’s lack of father’s love, which is also one of the reasons why I think he is obsessed with his mother. I think he may want to get double love from his mother because of his lack of father’s love. Next time we can talk in class since we have many common thoughts.
Hi! Agostino’s relationship with his mother also reminded me the relationship between mother and son in “Combray”. To answer your question, I think that his intimate relationship with his mother probably stunted his ability to form relationships with girls his age. He is too attached to his mother seeing as she is the only parental figure he has in his life and she happens to be a woman. I think he will find it difficult to have a relationship with other girls because he is too attached to his mother.
“Agostino seemed to have matured much too fast in the span of one summer”
I wonder if this is his problem, or whether it’s the fact that his maturation is delayed, apparently, compared to the boys that he meets? That he’s been perhaps too shielded from the realities of both sexuality and class?
Hi!
We have a similar thought process in regards to this novel. I think Agostino’s relationship with both his mother and lack of a fatherly figure negatively affected his later years and maturation. He seems to have a very close relationship to his mother until the appearance of the boatman and his mother’s infatuation with her new found lover. I think this made Agostino feel lost and feel as though he needed to be like the boatman because to attract the same level of affection that he craved from his mother. In not having a second parental figure, he has no one else to rely on as a role model causing him to become even more vulnerable.