Intimacy and Connection

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Mckenzi Kerrigan

Text Reflection Super Sad True Love Story: Intimacy and Connection

            In Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shtyeyngart the GLOBALTEENS posts are more effective than Lenny’s Diary in communicating, explicating, and narrating the idea or theme of intimacy, connection, and interconnection. The GLOBALTEENS posts are honest depictions of the main characters thoughts and wants and illustrate more connections between the characters who are in all different parts of the world.

            The communications the Eunice has through the GLOBALTEEN chat are very emotional and often reveal what she is really thinking and feeling under her tough exterior. She appears to be more intimate and connected with the relationship she holds over GLOBALTEEN than in her real life because it is easier for her to be honest with herself when typing on a computer to someone who is in the other part of the world. This is true quite often in chats with her mother, sister, and especially her friend Precious Pony. “I feel safe with him because he is not my ideal and I feel like I can be myself because I am not in love with him. Maybe that’s how Ben feels with me” (Shtyeyngart, 74). Eunice’s understanding of intimacy seems backwards to the in this statement. She is expressing that her connection with Lenny is better than that of her boyfriend at the time because she does not love Lenny.

            Eunice continues to express her emotions in a very intimate manner over GLOBALTEEN throughout the novel. These emotions and feelings of intimacy and connection would not be so obvious had we only heard Eunice through her conversations with Lenny that he then transferred to his diary. Eunice is very closed off from Lenny and often hides her emotions and thoughts from him in the beginning of the novel, but she always remains totally honest in her posts to Precious Pony.

Throughout the novel Eunice continues to become more intimate with Lenny, but she remains connected to her friends and family through GLOBALTEEN. EUNI-TARD on GLOBALTEEN continues to be a different person than Eunice in real life. On GLOBALTEEN Eunice continues to question how connected she really is with Lenny. “I guess sometimes I just want to want him as much as he wants me” (Shtyeyngart, 143). Eunice’s choice of words through her posts to her friend Precious Pony reveal the trust and connection she feels. She is often more intimate and honest in her posts, and here refers to her physical connection with Lenny. “And I just want him to relax and maybe not always be so cute and caring and trying to please me, so that maybe I can pursue him a little myself” (Shtyeyngart, 143). Eunice attempts to find answers to her intimacy issues through her connection with Precious Pony on GLOBALTEEN, but instead of posting about her feelings she must act on them in order to change her situation to what she desires.

            At the end of the novel when GLOBALTEENS continues to send error messages back to Eunice every time she sent a message to someone the idea of intimacy and connection by way of these posts is strengthened. Without GLOBALTEEN the theme of intimacy and connection is put to a hault. “We are SO TOTALLY sorry for the inconvenience. We are experiencing connecting issues…” (Shtyeyngart, 262). Ironically after each of these error messages was a dating tip relating back to the theme of intimacy and connection through GLOBALTEENS posts.

            Although Lenny’s diary entries do display the common theme of intimacy and connection, the GLOBALTEENS posts are a better illustration of this theme because it is not merely the view of just one individual character but of multiple character’s honest opinions about each other, connections, and life.