Phillips Roth's The Dying Animal
The story is about the professor and the girl he chases. The structure of the story is the key turning points of their relationship: opportunity is hooking up, change of plan is wanting to possess her unsuccessfully, point of no return is when he declines to meet the Cuban parents, everything is lost is when he has lost all balance that he has in his life: his old friend, his old lover, his son and his girl.
But what is in between is full of events that happen with the people around the protagonist that fits the structure. Such as after change of plan, everything gets more complicated with everybody; after the point of no return, everybody becomes an obstacle that he has to get over with;
So the purpose of these secondary characters are to fill those structure gaps: his son is his obstacle; his friend is someone he talks and reflects the theme of age; his old lover is his complications and also reflects the theme of age.
Page 0Charlie Rose Interview. Not only to introduce the famous professor on TV, but also his world view about the life he wants to lead by talking about the historical development of sexual happiness.
Page 3The professor talks about his old age and his refusal to admit it. And his introduction of his student lover. The professor lectures. And talk about his vulnerability to female beauty.
Page 5The professor throws a party after he has given grades so that he can woo his student without getting into the trouble of sexual harassment.
Page 7The professor shows the student a picture that he thinks that it resembles her. He goes on and on with her so that he can have sex with her. He even invites her to a play even though he knows that the girl's parents are Cuban. (OPPORTUNITY: WOOING THE GIRL)
Page 9The professor plays racket ball with his friend, who thinks that he is confusing sex with love. (OPPORTUNITY: INTRODUCING HIS FRIEND)
Page 10The professor has sex with his old female partner. After the sex, his son calls and the story introduce his ever-present conflict with his son because he abandoned his family when he was still in college. He also has to lie to his partner about the play. (OPPORTUNITY: INTRODUCING HIS LONG TIME PARTNER AND HIS SON)
Page 13The professor and the student go to a play talking about the emptiness of the society. Afterwards, they go back to the professor's apartment where he plays piano for her; shows her around the apartment to his dark room and talks about famous pictures.
Page 18Soon he makes his move to touch her hands, kiss her and they make love.
Page 19The professor talks with his friends at café again. His friend tells him to grow up and is surprised at how long the relationship lasts.
Page 21The professor talks about how he loves her body and face after they make love. They also talk about their past, how many relationships that the professor had and how many boyfriend the girl has had.
Page 25The professor talks about how his goal of achieving independence is destroyed by his love and his jealousy. His friend's advice is to break up with her at a romantic spot. But instead, he promises to take her around the world, which he himself couldn't 't understand. (CHANGE OF PLAN: SINKING DEEPER INTO THE RELATIONSHIP AND THINGS GETS MORE COMPLICATED)
Page 28The professor feels insecure when she mentions that she will have dinner with his brother. After a long self-torture, he still decides to go out and look for her in the dancing studio. He is such a bad liar and the student is very unhappy that he doesn't trust her. Later, the professor laughs in sadness with his friend about his foolishness. (COMPLICATIONS WITH HIS OWN JEALOUSY)
Page 33The student talks very seriously with the professor, who is just a boy who is possessive of his toys, who doesn't know how to respond to her threatening questions. He is utterly defeated until he makes love with her again. (COMPLICATIONS WITH COMMITMENT)
Page 37The professor is embarrassingly surprised to have the visit of the old female partner. As he is still remembering his time with his students talking about her funny past with past boyfriend, the partner accuses him for cheating on her because she has found a tampon. He has no choice but to lie. (THINGS GET MORE COMPLICATED WITH HIS OLD LOVER)
Page 43The professor talks with his friend again about the invisibility of beautiful woman, who we can never see her real self.
Page 45After they have developed pictures that they have shot on the beautiful beach, they go out to shop for groceries. And when they bump into his friend who is dating other woman, they get into an argument about marriage and infidelity. (COMPLICATIONS WITH FIDELITY )
Page 48The female student invites the professor to his graduation party to meet her parents. Although she is not forcing him to come, she threatens him with her happiness and even though there is no way in hell that the professor is able to mingle with the Cubans , he still agrees to come. (PHYSICAL POINT OF NO RETURN OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP)
Page 51The professor talks with his friend about his dilemma and the girl calls him again to make sure he is going to come to the party, which makes the dilemma even more excruciating. (RISE OF THE EMOTIONAL ANTAGONISTFROM THE GIRL)
Page 52As the girl is enjoying the party with all the Cubans, the professor calls her with a lame excuse of breaking down of his car even though he has already had flower in his car, which makes the girl very disappointed. Later, she calls and confesses “I loved you.” (The past tense also means that they are breaking up.)
Page 56As the professor is grieving for his loss of the girl, his son comes to visit and talk to him because he is having an affair. They still couldn't connect because his son thinks that he is still morally superior to his dad even though he is having an affair. (RISE OF THE PHYSICAL ANTAGONISTFROM HIS SON)
Page 61The professor is alone again without his lover or his son. The only one he has is his friend, who not only comforts him by cooking for him, but also asks him to introduce him at the NYU reading.
Page 64After the professor has introduced his friend at NYU, his friend collapses from heart attack. When he goes to see him at his house, his friend is totally confused and dies miserably. (RISE OF THE PHYSICAL ANTAGONISTFROM HIS FRIEND)
Page 69The professor talks with his son again, this time with sincerity to reconnect with him although the son's attitude doesn't change. His son feels sorry for him when he hears that his friend has died. (FINAL PUSH)
Page 72The professor talks with his partner. The professor reflects about their lives, how immature it was. After they get home, he confesses to her about his love affair with his student. And in return, his partner confesses her fear of being alone. (FINAL PUSH)
Page 76The professor is trying to cope with his solitude as the leaves fall off the plants. He takes all the photos of his lover down and he continues to teach and talks on the radio with authors. But he couldn't fall in love or play racquetball again. (EVERYTHING IS LOST)
Page 79On the new year's eve, he gets a message from the girl asking her to call her so that she can tell him something. The professor thought that she is getting married, but instead, she sounds confused when he calls her nervously. (The director tries very hard to play the sense of anticipation.)
Page 81The girl tells the professor that she is sick with breast cancer. And the professor is asked to shoot photos of her beautiful breasts before they are gone. They are both sad and happy on the new year's eve. The professor wants to help her to get through this but the truth is, they are both scared.
Page 94The professor goes to see his son so that he can get more inside information about her medical condition. They finally have achieved some degree of understanding.
Page 97The professor talks with his late friend again about his lost love affair. Everybody is in the past tense.
Page 98The professor goes to see his lover after surgery. She has lost both of her breasts. The professor learns to take care of who he loves and has grown up.
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