“Elgin and Louise no longer made love. She took the spunk out of him now and again but she refused to have him inside her. Elgin accepted this was part of their deal and Louise knew he used prostitutes. His proclivities would have made that inevitable even in a more traditional marriage. His present hobby was to fly up to Scotland and be sunk in a bath of porridge while a couple of Celtic geishas rubber-gloved his prick” (68).
Winterson uses the terms “made love” and “took the spunk out of him” here instead of sex. The two phrases speak to the state of their marriage at this point in the book and have two very different connotations. Instead of “making love,” something that is viewed as very tender, something a husband and wife do or, at least, what two people who love each other do. However, she takes “the spunk out of him.” This seems transactional and like Louise is sucking the soul out of Elgin. He can no longer be entirely himself, she brings him down. The phrasing makes it seem like Louise is taming Elgin, just giving in to complete a task because she has to because they are still technically married. Marriage, culturally, is understood to include sex and especially in the past, it is the wife’s job to please her husband.
Like we talked about in class though, this sets up the idea that they already have a set “deal.” The wording implies that they already have discussed sex outside of marriage so the same deal for Elgin would theoretically apply to Louise in the fact that she can also have sex outside of marriage. However, later on, we find out that Elgin is not as okay with this as he originally let on. The difference, however, between Elgin’s use of prostitutes and Louise with our narrator seems to be the emotional aspect of the affair. Elgin won’t even let the sex workers see him naked, but Louise is implying that Elgin is into “untraditional” sex practices that she wouldn’t want to perform so therefore it is necessary for him to be with a prostitute. I think it is this passage that sets up the irony of him being upset at Louise for having an affair, though the circumstances are slightly different, it applies nonetheless.
I think the important part of this excerpt though, is the fact that she “refused to have him inside her.” Sex is defined culturally as penetrative sex, everything else is considered an ‘other’ form of sex, but true sex itself is penetrative (according to society and cultural expectations). I don’t think this is the exact thing Winterson is trying to get at. I think she is still considering them having sex, however I think she is making a sexual hierarchy. Some acts are considered more intense/personal than others, they are worth more in the long run. By not letting Elgin enter Louise, she is keeping their marriage at surface level and almost disassociating from the act and, maybe in her mind, they aren’t actually having sex. Although it is a sexual act, society stereotypically only defines sex as the traditional way. Louise has set the boundary that once Elgin is “inside her” that is the ultimate form of sex, and right now, she is just getting by by performing sexual acts to complete her ‘duties’ as a wife. However, she is only fulfilling her ‘duties’ as a wife in the sense that she is giving her husband pleasure, not (in the very traditional sense) by making it possible to have a baby.
The reader does not know what type of sex the narrator and Louise are having but it is set up to appear to be a much more intimate experience. Maybe Winterson might be trying to portray is that sex is ‘worth’ more when there is an emotional connection which was absent with Elgin. She is only performing sexual acts, not what society seems true sex, so that it isn’t ‘worth’ as much, it doesn’t matter as much.
I think there is an interesting connection to make here to the end of the first paragraph on page 92, where the narrator talks about Louise’s miscarriage. The complication that Louise “had given up her job at Elgin’s request so that they could start a family” (92) to her “current” refusal to have procreative sex with him implies that something changed for Louise, in terms of her relationship to Elgin and/or sex in general. This would indeed connect to the reason why she was “firm about no baby” (92) – she was worried that the child might look like Elgin. I doubt she would have followed through on this plan to start a family had she already viewed Elgin in this negative light, so it seems like something happened to them in between. Or maybe I’m just reading too much into this? Idk.
Great job on this post! Your observation that Louise’s idea of true, intimate sex with Elgin would be penetrative, and so doesn’t allow him to do that with her, works as a very good contrast with the whole-body obsessive intimacy that she has with the narrator (at least, from the narrator’s point of view). The zooming-out about how our real society venerates penetrative sex as the only “real” kind, then zooming back into the story and talking about how Louise may be consciously or subconsciously incorporating this belief into her sex life with her husband is a well-made point.
Also, your point about the difference between “made love” and “took the spunk out of him” – about the latter seeming like a very mechanical, factual act, and the former seeming emotionally-involved – is a very good close-reading of the text! I agree completely with your understanding of the dichotomy that Winterson set up between those two phrases.
Oh, this is such a great reading of that passage, especially the way you’re thinking through Winterson’s language choices and what they suggest about power, duty, and intimacy.
I think what you’re getting at with the idea of a “sexual hierarchy” ties directly into compulsory heterosexuality—this idea that traditional, heteronormative structures dictate what “real” sex is and what a relationship is supposed to look like. Louise refusing to let Elgin inside her feels like a direct refusal of that structure. Even though she’s technically still “fulfilling” her role as a wife, she’s withholding what is culturally considered the most definitive act of heterosexual intimacy. It’s like she’s playing the role of the wife but not truly being one in the way Elgin would want.
And you’re totally right about the emotional weight Winterson places on different types of sex. The narrator and Louise’s relationship is never explicitly described in sexual terms the way Elgin and Louise’s is, but it still carries so much more intensity. That’s one of the things the novel does so well—it forces the reader to rethink what counts as intimacy, what makes love feel “real,” and how much of that is dictated by social expectations. Elgin’s relationship with Louise is one where the mechanics of sex still exist, but the meaning is hollow. Meanwhile, with the narrator, there’s this sense that sex and love are inseparable.
Also, I love that you pointed out the irony of Elgin being fine with his own infidelities but outraged when Louise steps outside their marriage. It speaks to the whole double standard baked into traditional gender and sexual norms—men are given permission to seek out sex without attachment, but women, especially wives, are expected to remain emotionally and physically loyal. Even when Elgin theoretically gives Louise the same “freedom” he’s taken for himself, he never really means it. He assumes her love for the narrator is something lesser or temporary, but when faced with the reality of it, he sees how much more “real” it is than what he had with her.
Winterson really plays with what counts as sex and what counts as love, and I think this passage is such a great example of how those ideas get deconstructed throughout the novel.
I love your close reading of this passage! I remember having some of these same thoughts while reading it, especially the differences between the phrases “made love” and “took the spunk out of him”. I would completely agree with your thought that the latter makes it seem transactional. It specifically made me think about, like you said, the ways that the narrator talks about their sex with Louise and how it differs from the description of Louise and Elgin’s. Specifcally on page 82 they say, “We were quiet together after we made love.” I thought it was intreseting that though the narrator is very detailed, but vauge in their description of their sexual relationship with Louise, they still describe it as making love. I think it’s important that we see what the narrator thinks actually comes with a relationship where they are “making love.” Clearly the narrator believes that the emotional connection between them is part of why they are able to use this term, something Elgin and Louise no longer have.