Filth and His Relationships

                Although we discussed in class how the inability for Filth to express his emotions is largely to do with the way that he was raised and his experiences with this father, I believe that it was more than just his father that affected him. Also, I think he is rather aware of his inability to connect by the end, rather than being oblivious to truly knowing himself.

            Filth is not just abandoned emotionally by his father but rather by several figures that he tries to form an emotional connection with. The Ingoldbys are a notable and impactful example. He felt close to them, almost as if they had adopted him as part of the family. However, when Pat fell ill he was shunned from their family so easily and was left questioning “have I the right to be their living Eddie” (107). Past this example, there is his aunts, who admitted that they had put their plans on hold for him, due to his father’s generosity. But, as soon as he is old enough to care for himself, they pack up, get married, and seem to be more distant to him. Later in the novel we also see the brief relationship that he has with Queen Mary, but this too seems to be inconsequential and belittled the longer he lives because no one is aware of her. Then probably one of the hardest withdraws of emotion was Betty’s affair and knowing that no matter how much he loved her she had strayed.

            Even though there are these instances where others seemed to be the one pulling back the affection from the relationship, Eddie himself refuses closeness in relationships at times. For example there is the girl in his youth that he sleeps with and leaves without a second thought. When he is with Isobel she confesses her love for him and he just continues his preoccupation with getting back simply saying “I have a bad reputation already” (252).  These examples show that even though Eddie did get emotion withdrawn from him, he can also consciously make the decision to do that to other people.

            However, all these actions seem to make sense in the end of the novel when he admits that “he has lost desire. Not sexual desire, that had been a poor part of his nature always” (257-258). He is somewhat aware that the habitual withdraw of emotion, by people he became close to in his life, is one of the factors that has caused him to lose his desire to live, but he is also aware that sexual desire is what has kept him going. In a way, being the one that withdraws the connection, in these sexual relationships, is his way to deal with the fact that others have left him. That is, it is the one that that satisfies his needs, but also makes him feel like he has some power again and thus gives him reason to continue.