In Alberto Morovia’s novella Agostino, the main character Agostino is a 13-year-old boy who has an unusual attachment with his mother. Despite he is already 13, he loves his mother with a “naive” heart and adores her as a mother figure.  One summer, he and his widow’s mother went on holiday to the Tuscan coast, and this trip caused Augostino to transform from a boy to a man exponentially, as well as added confusion, distress, and sexuality in him.  

From the narration, Agostino seemed to have lived a privileged and sheltered life, where he understood nothing about the suffering, sexuality, and violence of the outside world. His unusual dependencies on his mother lead him to be jealous and anxious when her mother is being attracted by other “men” while on the beach. I liked Morovia’s description of Agostino’s mood at this event. When he realizes that his adored mother acts so proactively toward another “man” and that he is being left out, he is overwhelmed, anger, confusion, and shame surround him. When his mother slaps him, it seems that this is the turning point, the turning point that changes Agostino, where he meets the local boys.

His comfort zone was shattered when he went to hang out with the gang of local boys, and that’s when he was forced to grow up. These boys were very rude, violent, and vulgar. In the first interaction, Agostino seems to be degraded and humiliated. I did not expect that he didn’t seem to care that he was being put down and still wanted to hang out with them. I think a big reason why Agostino kept hoping to be with them is that he finds these boys and Saro as a model of what is a real “man”. He never had a male figure in his life because he didn’t have a father, and meeting these rude boys seemed to open up the world of masculinity to him.

“He replaced his former reverence with cruelty and his affection with sensuality.” (p.69)

And after being teased and sexually educated by these boys, it seems that his opinion of his mother has completely changed, and he can no longer respect, and love his mother when she has no qualms about dressing and exposing herself to him. It seems that any stimulus during adolescence can easily change a child’s heart and moral values, which also makes me reflect that the wealth and status protection that Agostino has seems to make him even more influenced.

One question I have is that is the thoughts that 13-year-old Agostino are abnormal and immoral, or it is reasonable during puberty when he just learns about sex? How might his experience with the local boys shape his perception of man and woman?