How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Now, from this night, this coming morning, no matter how many beds I find myself in between now and my final bed, I shall never be able to have any more of those boyish, zestful affairs – which are, really, when one thinks of it, a kind of higher, or, anyway, more pretentious masturbation. People are too various to be treated so lightly. I am too various to be trusted. (1.1.5)
In what ways have David's affairs been nothing but a "more pretentious" form of masturbation? What does David mean by the word "pretentious" here? If both people involved in the affair realize that they are just using each other, is it still "masturbation"? What about if one of them thinks they are in love?
Quote #2
But this time when I touched him something happened in him and in me which made this touch different from any touch either of us had ever known. (1.1.18)
Do we think that David was really as ignorant as he says that he was? Is this the start of love, "something happened"?
Quote #3
Perhaps it was because he looked so innocent lying there, with such perfect trust; perhaps it was because he was so much smaller than me; my own body suddenly seemed gross and crushing and the desire which was rising in me seemed monstrous. But, above all, I was suddenly afraid. It was borne in me: But Joey is a boy. (1.1.19)
Part of the reason that David begins to feel guilty about sleeping with Joey is because he sees how small and innocent Joey looks. It seems that David associates sex and desire with a betrayal of trust; he sees sex as dirty.