Agostino by Alberto Moravia was an interesting novel, to say the least! The protagonist Agostino who is around the age of puberty experiences unsettling feelings towards his mother during their holiday. The themes of sexuality are predominant in this short novel and they tend to override Agostino’s formation of thoughts which lead to his misfortunate actions. By this, I mean that Agostino who is so infatuated with his mother becomes upset when she finds a young man who comes along their boat rides. This causes Agostino to rebel and hangs out with the lower-class kids of Vespucci beach. Even though these kids like Berto, beat him up, he somehow enjoys being in their presence. At this point, I feel like Agostino likes spending time with them because they are the opposite of who he is and they provide an escape from his mother. Agostino begins to dress like kids in worn-out clothes and even deceit people into thinking he is lower-class when he takes the man and his son for a boat ride on Saros’s boat. Agostino’s irradiation and love-hate relationship with his mother lead him to sneak out of his house and go to a brothel with one of the boys. Even though he is not allowed inside he finds a window and takes a peep. At this point, I feel Agostino felt like this would alleviate his feelings towards his mother although later on, he realize they did not.
Furthermore, class and status are prevalent themes in Agostino. I find these themes are more overt than in Bombel’s Shrouded Women. Mainly because Agostino’s upper-class status is directly mentioned many times. For instance, when Berto asks Agostino for his mother’s cigarettes and when he sees the brand name he claims “say, you must be rich” (p 19). Another mention of Agostino’s class is when he tells the boys his house has twenty rooms and he has a car with a driver. Unlike, Bombel’s novella, class and status were only subtly mentioned when Ana Maria could not marry Ricardo. Overall, I did enjoy reading this book and it felt like somewhat of a page-turner because I wanted to know what Agostino was going to do next.
My question is if Agostino was allowed entrance into the brothel, would his feeling towards his mother change like believed they would have?
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“I find these themes are more overt than in Bombel’s Shrouded Women. Mainly because Agostino’s upper-class status is directly mentioned many times.”
I agree. I think that class structure is just as important as sexuality. This is obviously triggered by the encounter with the boys when he basically discovers class differences (and what separates him from them)
Hey! you have brought up some interesting points about class in your blog. As you said the class difference is very prevalent in the book and in Agostino’s mind. He clearly seems to think that this difference increases the distance between him and the boys. He compensates for this by dressing similar to them and acting like them to the person he gave a boat ride to.
Regarding your question, that is one of the things we are left to ponder with. Despite seeing another woman Agostino only ends up comparing and noticing the similarities the woman had with her. This indicates that things could have possibly remained the same even if he went to the brothel.
Hi Jaisleen!
I enjoyed reading your post and thought it had some really good points. As you mentioned, Agostino is hyper aware of the class difference between him and the other boys, and he spends much of his time trying to convince not only the boys, but himself, that he is not who they perceive him to be. I also found the book to be a page turner, I got through it faster than anything else we have read due to being so intrigued by what Agostino’s internal struggles would lead him to do next.
To your question, if I had to guess, I would say no, I do not think Agostino’s feelings towards his mother would change. I feel like Agostino would perhaps feel emptier afterwards, and be filled with rage that his view of his mother did not change. I think it is for the best he was not allowed to enter, as I feel that in some way his participation in these acts would have begun a downward spiral for Agostino.