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Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 1, chapters; 5-7

#104: Jan. - Feb. 2012 (Fiction)
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Suzanne

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Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 1, chapters; 5-7

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LOST MEMORY OF SKIN

Russell Banks

Part one, chapters; five, six and seven
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giselle

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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 1, chapters; 5-7

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I'm curious whether people see the Kid as more victim than perpetrator or the reverse? Some details of his young life are revealed in these chapters and, given these, I think its possible to see him as a 'victim' of a terrible home/family situation, no friends except an iguana, lonely etc. yet we know he becomes a perpetrator .. maybe becoming a perpetrator (eg: offender) make him less of a victim in our minds? Or maybe he is not a victim at all but rather a young pervert who made deliberate choices and hurt others, became a convicted offender and we should not feel sorry for him or be concerned with his victimization. Given the content of the first 8 chapters, I could make an argument for either interpretation, but I wonder what others think.
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 1, chapters; 5-7

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At this point in the book, I feel Kid is not a pervert. I feel that whatever he did was not so bad. I feel sorry for him because he had such a rough life.
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In these chapters he is faced with his world being turned upside down. He lost his home and any stability he had obtained. He has seemed to accept his life the way it is, but he shows a moment of hope for change when he calls the real estate agent. It is just a tiny sliver of hope that dies as soon as he gets off the phone.

He is accosted by two young teenage girls who he is attracted to. This may be a symbol of what his offense was. He gets away from them, but finds out he was being watched which brings out his guilt.
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 1, chapters; 5-7

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I think we are seeing the Kid as more a victim so far as even though we know he was convicted of a sexual crime, we do not know what it was yet. I also believe that a good percentage of perpetrators of sexual crimes were themselves victims of neglect or abuse. As for being a pervert, or having perverted desires society changes its mind all the time about what that means. A homosexual was, and still is in some cases, thought of as a pervert.

So, far we have seen (I am only up to chapter six at this moment) that the Kid spend most of his time alone and much of it on the internet. He spent time looking at internet porn. He was missing good role models in his life and could have easily been misled about what acceptable sexual conduct was. I guess I'll have to read on to find out more.
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 1, chapters; 5-7

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I agree, in the early chapters Kid seems to be a victim and someone who is on the outer edges of society. He really doesn't seem to function with any knowledge of how social and political situations work. His family life is pretty non-existent and he doesn't really socialize with peers. He seems to be emotionally and socially handicapped, and may also have learning disabilities.
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 1, chapters; 5-7

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realiz wrote: As for being a pervert, or having perverted desires society changes its mind all the time about what that means. A homosexual was, and still is in some cases, thought of as a pervert.
I think this is true, the definition of a 'pervert' changes and I think justification and rationality have little to do with how it is defined or how that definition might change ... I think the definition falls into an irrational arena and the one constant there is 'fear'. The raid on the sex offenders encampment and the presence of the media was all about fear in my view ... a fearful population who wanted to see them busted and the camp broken up, possible a 'revenge' element too, a way to strike at a group they do not like. This is completely irrational from the point of view of managing the risk of further offense because the effect would be to scatter the offenders and, although some might spend a short time in jail, they will be back out and then they'll be living all over the place in unknown locations, which might increase the risk.
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 1, chapters; 5-7

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What are your thoughts on the Professor? He seems to have some secrets of his own and I'm wondering if his motives should be questioned.
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 1, chapters; 5-7

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I think the professor sees Kid as an object, instead of a person. He looks at him as if he were a bug under glass. The professor appears to care what happens to Kid, but I think it is for his own selfish reasons.
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 1, chapters; 5-7

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smileyface123123 wrote:I think the professor sees Kid as an object, instead of a person. He looks at him as if he were a bug under glass. The professor appears to care what happens to Kid, but I think it is for his own selfish reasons.
I agree and I'm also wondering if we're going to find out something more about the Prof. The Prof. won't even tell his wife about his past. Do you think that Banks is showing us that everyone has something to hide?
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 1, chapters; 5-7

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smileyface123123 wrote:I think the professor sees Kid as an object, instead of a person. He looks at him as if he were a bug under glass. The professor appears to care what happens to Kid, but I think it is for his own selfish reasons.
I made a comment on this but moved it to the Part II, chapter 1-4 thread.
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