Beamer 1

Chase Beamer
March 10, 2015
Mrs. Mary Martin
Advanced Composition
Lust:
In Perri Klasss Not a Good Girl
In Nathan Englanders For the Relief of Unbearable Urges
Deadly sins, what are they? That is determined by the way you classify the
word deadly. There are many different definitions of that word but it all
matters how you take it. Now it comes down to is lust deadly? Lust by itself is
not a deadly sin but paired with others it becomes very deadly. Lust leads to
affairs and then to jealousy and then to anger which leads to death. This
leads to lust being more of a gateway sin and not a deadly sin. In both sets
of text youll see that lust is a very entrapment sin of all. People fall under
the sin of lust all the time without even knowing that they do it, but in the
end everyone breaks the sin of lust. What is lust? Is it sinful to look at
someone the first time? Some people believe in the version of lust where you
cant even look at a women but in reality it is impossible not to. It is not a sin
to look one time at a women or species of the opposite sex but it is a sin to
look twice, and that is where a lot of people get confused and think you are
sinful the first time. It is human nature to look the first time.

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The world is plagued by lustful things all the time especially things like
pornography. People today have the easiest access to things via the internet,
which connects millions of people together. Sometimes thought you dont
need the internet to have pornographic images or relations with people. In
Nathan Englanders short story it is very simple for Dov to find relations. In
the story Dov is a very lustful and sinful man when he says, And I am
human, too. With human habitats. It will be impossible for me not to try and
touch her, to try and convince her. Which goes to show that lust is
everywhere (259). Also it is easy for Dov to complete those lustful urges
because all he has to do is drive down to the city of Tel Aviv (260). It is easy
for a man of good virtues to get drawn into the sin of lust. Lust is human
nature and every man and most women will be drug into the sin of lust at
some point in their lives.
Lust can cause spiritual turmoil in ones life. A perfect example of this
is Dov. He seeks advice from his rabbi because of these urges to have sex
with his wife (258-259). Dov is a complete train wreck in this case and is in
severe turmoil. Even with the help of his rabbi he still cannot figure things
out for himself. This is the case for many spiritual people who seek help rom
religious leaders. If they cannot find the help they are looking for they will
sometimes go into deep depression and commit suicide in extreme cases.
Therefore lust becomes a very deadly sin in the aspect of suicides.

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Even for women they can have some mental decay. In the short story
by Perri Klass the narrator has lost all emotional feelings when she says,
Eric and I seemed to have skipped emotionally to some point later on in a
relationship (and not a very appealing relationship), referring to her
relationship with Eric not appealing (246). The sin of lust can take a toll on
women and men in the way they perceive relationships with the other sex.
She does however have a physical boost in her body. When she says, It just
knocked me out how good he was,, after the sexual intercourse she has a
physical boost, i.e. an orgasm or more than one. This leads to a thriving for
more of this addiction. That is what the sin of lust becomes in the end it
becomes an addiction. The narrator is becoming more and more addicted, It
turned into a two night stand Every time you break the sin of lust you
become more and more addicted to it (247). The sin of lust will do that to
people though it turns people into sex caving people.
Is lust a characteristic of someone reaching human maturity? The
answer is simple and it is yes. Sexual intercourse is an act between two
people who love each other and are of consensual age. Where it becomes a
sin and becomes harmful is when you take it to the extreme like Dov. Having
sex with a prostitute was sinful of him even if he had the privilege to do it
from the rabbi.
The biggest question is, is the sin of lust necessary to humans? Yes it is
without the sin of lust we wouldnt have sexual desire to each other to

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reproduce and therefore the population would die out. Is it also harmful to
humans? Absolutely it is just look at Dovs marriage in the end of the short
story, it is completely destroyed almost because of two reasons one of them
being that he has a sexually transmitted disease and two the fact that he is
ignoring his wife. Lust is damaging to any relationship that it encounters, but
it is necessary for us to survive with one another. Another way lust is harmful
to us is the ugly fact and truth that rape happens to thousands and millions
of women every single day. Rape is a perfect example of the sin of lust in
everyday life. Dov even thinks about raping his own wife because the sin of
lust is so over powering to him. Does lust leave us not caring about others? It
can in the sense if it is to over powering to individuals those individuals stop
caring about the person and start only caring about the fact that they can
have sex with them and that is it. Sex can be a very motivating factor in the
lives and choices of many people and it is why lust is evident in our culture
because we are animals and we live to reproduce which causes many cases
of the sin of lust.

Works cited
Born, Daniel, Donald Whitfield, and Mike Levine. The 7 Deadly Sins Sampler.
Chicago: Great Foundation, 2007. Print.

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Klass, Kerri. "Not A Good Girl." The Seven Deadly Sins Sampler. N.p.: n.p.,
n.d. 245-52. Print.
Born, Daniel, Donald Whitfield, and Mike Levine. "For The Reilief of
Unbearable Urges." The 7 Deadly Sins Sampler. Chicago: Great Foundation,
2007. 255-68. Print.