Crash pt.1

After devouring the first four chapters of Crash, I can definitely see the truth in Martin Amis' statement that J.G. Ballard's work appeals to a part of the mind not yet discovered. While initially one may be shocked and/or disturbed by Ballard's graphic imagery and the degraded morals of his characters, it is still impossible to stop reading because it definitely appeals so something inside of us that we can't put our finger on. Much of the novel's transgressive nature comes from the eccentricities in each characters sexual being and the way they deal with them. Vaughan makes no effort to hide the fact the he is aroused by imagining and looking at graphic, deadly car crashes and pictures of the wounds of their victims. "To Vaughan, these wounds formed the key to a new sexuality, born from a perverse technology", the perverse technology here is the automobile; everyone has one yet they kill so many people in the most gruesome of ways. In the novel, the things he does to get off are portrayed as normal, while in real life the same acts are only seen in crime shows and the most depraved minds in our society. Catherine to me seems extremely sexually open but at the same time disinterested in making emotional connections with others. She is intimate with both men and women, but what really attracts her is the concept or idea of a sexual encounter, that she will relive in bed with her husband, James, the narrator. He, like Vaughan is also fascinated by the concept of wounds inflicted on people by automobiles, but in a less blatantly sexual way. Since he is the narrator, we see more depth in his personality and sexuality; he seems more "normal" because we are experiencing his mind at work. On the other hand, we only know about Vaughan and Catherine what we are told by the narrator, making them both seem distorted and slightly not human (not really sure how to explain this, it's just the feeling I got). Maybe the reason that this book is so gripping is because we see how open they are about every aspect of their sexualities and wish we could be that uninhibited. I think this is also an indicator that the setting of the novel is not exactly "real" life; because in our society today it is normal and expected to repress expression of something that is necessary for life to even exist. Is Ballard making a statement about how absurd it is that we openly accept so many things that can take our lives but try to hide what literally gives us life to begin with?