"He laid his head back on the headrest and opened his mouth to ease the constriction in his chest, when suddenly the air inside the car churned. He felt himself grasped by his long lapels, pulled forward and pushed back, as a creature with a hundred mouths started sucking the marrow from his bones. She said nothing as she came on like a starved animal...He felt her clammy shins, her hot knees, her bristly thighs, and then with terror he put his finger in the ravenous mouth of the animal leashed below her waist...Two beasts lived in the car, one above, snuffling and biting him, and one below, struggling to get out of its damp cage" (85-86).
This passage describes the sexual experience that Trip has with Lux in his car. After a frustrating and unsuccessful ordeal watching Disney movies at the Lisbon house, Lux appears in Trip's car and starts violently making out with him. This passage employs many similes, metaphors, and animal-like diction to create an image of Lux as a violent, hungry beast and characterizes her as being promiscuous and aggressive. This greatly contradicts any earlier characterizations of the Lisbon girls as being polite, timid, and pure. The descriptions of Lux are very beastly because she is like a caged animal--she's stuck in her house under her parents' very strict rules, so when she has an opportunity for freedom she seizes it and goes wild. This experience was also very significant for Trip. The touching imagery (forgot the proper word for it) when the "clammy shins," "hot knees," and "bristly thighs" are described emphasize the physical aspects of this event and show how clearly Trip remembers this (being that the narrators are speaking based on information they got from Trip later in life). This event totally shocked Trip and because Trip really liked Lux so much, this was a very significant point in Trip's road to maturity as well.
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