Kepesh and Femininity in Roth’s ‘The Dying Animal’

Philip Roth’s novel ‘The Dying Animal’ (2001) is the third installment in a series concerning literature professor David Kepesh. It describes David Kepesh at an old age rather than predecessors ‘The Breast’ and ‘The Professor of Desire’ do, and it is a gripping novel from beginning to end. In this novel Kepesh has a relationship with student Consuela Castillo for whom he developes a romantic interest during his classes and during a party at his house. There is, at first, a clear unbalance in their relationship as Kepesh is, due to his position as professor, public figure, and self-proclaimed intellectual, in control of her. Kepesh even admits this disequilibrium in saying ‘’There is no sexual equality and there can be no sexual equality, certainly not one where the allotments are equal, the male quotient and the female quotient in perfect balance. (…) It’s the chaos of eros we’re talking about, the radical destabilization that is its excitement (Roth 11).’’ And it is this unbalance that characterises the novel. Consuela Castillo and David Kepesh are never equals at one point; there is always a certain instablity between them.
At least one of the causes of instability in the relationship between Kepesh and Castillo is the promiscuous personality of the older of the two. He is characterised by his intellectual abilities which he uses to entice women, and his many affairs with, allegedly, hundreds of women. He also has an almost uncontrollable need for sex. It even goes as far as there being a particualr scene where he is shown thinking ‘’She thinks, I’m telling him who I am. He’s interested in who I am. That is true, but I’m curious because I want to fuck her. (…) How much more am I going to have to go through? Three hours? Four? (…) I want to fuck this girl, and yes, I’ll have to put up with some sort of veiling, but it’s a means to an end (Roth 18) .’’ Because of insights in Kepesh’s mind one could even go as far as saying that he considers women as objects, which are disposable, and which can be replaced as they mean nothing more to him than ‘simple’ women he can sleep with. Another option is that Kepesh is not looking for women because they are women, but rather because they are people he can exert power over, and assert his own dominance.
There is, however, a turning point in the novel where the balance of power indefinitely switches from Kepesh to Castillo. This is, undoubtely, the scene where Kepesh performs an action similar to semi-rape on Castillo to which she responds by showing him her teeth in unmistakable fashion. From that moment on Castillo at least has the physical edge over Kepesh. It is not clear yet at that point whether the balance of power has switched entirely as, in performing the action, she does not speak. Thus, Castillo partially emancipates and takes control with that one particular action, but she is not completely ‘on top’ yet. This final act of taking control occurs in the penultimate scenes where Castillo relates her life to Kepesh. This last switch is unexpected, and happens only because Castillo is diagnosed with breast cancer. This causes her to lose one of her breasts, and with that one of the ‘things’ Kepesh is so very interested in. Paradoxically, this hands the agency to Castillo as Kepesh cannot leave her even though he now covets her less in the physical sense. He then appreciates her for who she really is, and decides to go to her. He is however stopped by the person whom he is relating his tale to, and it is left to the reader to decide what happens next.
The most important woman in ‘The Dying Animal’, Consuela Castillo, is an object in this novel. Her professor David Kepesh has complete control over her for most of the novel, and even when this is no longer the case she is still objectified. While it is difficult to say that all women in ‘The Dying Animal’ are seen and described as objects it is safe to say that Consuela Castillo is objectified. This only fuels the debate about Philip Roth and whether or not he is a misogynist writer.