Online Journal 7: Analysis of the Short Story ‘Eye Candy’
I myself am not a cougar. I’m neither old enough nor rich enough to be one. Neither am I a boytoy, nor an accomplished woman married for 15 years. Despite this, there’s something strangely familiar in “Eye Candy”. There are many possible causes for this, one of them being that “envy”, an emotion strongly seen in the story, is not new to any of us.
Our narrator Maya, is a successful woman in terms of her marriage and career. Her descriptions of her workplace and colleagues say a lot about her work ethic, which in turn reveal a lot about her personality. She takes care of her colleagues in a seemingly warm and supportive manner, with the motive of securing a future for herself even after retirement. She’s incredibly observant, we as much as she observes the people in the restaurant, and in the way she notices the small details in how she behaves towards her colleagues. In addition, she called these actions “small” and “meaningless” which proves that performing them had little significance to her. Not necessarily cold, but definitely calculating. Maya is shown to have a certain need to keep things within her control. Similar to her job, she treats life as an accounting book, making logical and cold-cut decisions after balancing the odds.
I found it striking how she claims to live her life in “linear” motion. She assigns a certain way of life to a certain period in time. When she was young, that was the time for passionate and affectionate love. Once she moves past that age, she no longer deems it acceptable to be the same way. At old age, passion and affection are now seen by her as irresponsible, unfitting, foolish. She looks down on those who are unable to, like her, put those immature emotions behind as they move toward their later years. This belief of hers, that she cannot be a certain way because the time for it has passed, will create unbelievers limits for herself. I believe this to be another notable aspect in her character, although it is not exactly a characteristic. Maya’s emotions are incredibly repressed. It might not be a conscious action, but deciding that she should not feel certain ways, will lead to her forcing those emotions down if she ever does feel them. This was evident in her catching herself when she let her emotions slip while ordering food: she had already decided to eat something different, but at the end catches herself and orders the salad as usual. Eating certain foods only, acting certain ways in public places, these are restrictions Maya decided for herself, and she lives within the boundaries and control of these rules.
It must’ve been an unnerving experience, seeing the cougar similar to her in age but different everywhere else. A woman who lives her life freely, undaunted by her age. How detestable this woman must’ve seemed in Maya’s eyes. A “proper” woman wouldn’t be so loud and bodacious, how unbefitting of their age. A “proper” woman wouldn’t display matters of her relationship in public, if she had self-respect. As Maya sits on her own table, she cannot pull her eyes away from the pair of lovers. The relationship itself is certainly a cause for her disapproval, but she cannot help appreciating the young man. Earlier, Maya revealed that she has a determined set of responses “that’s great”, “great job”. Things that keep her from overthinking. This implies that if anything is out of her control, she tends to overthink, likely due to her observant nature. At first, Maya doesn’t question herself. There was no doubt that she was in the right. The more she gets flustered by looking at the two people living a life so different from hers, the more her thoughts slip. She starts thinking about what the young man might possibly do for a living, what he would look good in. She catches herself immediately after, and scolds herself. The swirling emotions in her head had not yet reached the point of bubbling up and spilling over.
Up until this point, Maya hasn’t yet brought herself into the equation. She judges their relationship based on her own morals, but remains on the outside as an observer. As she sees Andrei tenderly reaching out to the cougar’s face, a discomfort burrows itself in her heart. How could these two people be so brazen, displaying such matters in view of the public. This is where she begins to compare herself to them. Her marriage is no longer a passionately burning fire, not because there’s no spark, but because the willing chose to leave the embers behind with their youth. This was a decision she made in consideration of propriety. This was the correct decision for women to make. How can this vulgar woman have so little sense? So little self respect? Maya’s emotions kept mounting, and she was unable to keep them bottled up.
As the story closes, we see a significant change in Maya. It is a big change, but one that seems inescapable. She decides to try and rekindle a passionate love with her husband “while she still can”. The time spent in that restaurant couldn’t have been that long, but it was enough for her to make big decisions that not only changed the way she lived, but also goes against what has been her principle for the longest time. Maybe it was the way the cougar did not back down in the face of her disapproval, instead, the woman straightened her back and met her head on. There is no shame in that way of living. She does not have to bow her head down to more “proper” women. Maybe it was the attractive looks and scent of Andrei, the way both his and the cougar’s faces are carefully maintained, taken care of. Things that both her and her husband lack.
The way Maya thinks, the way she processes her thoughts and emotions, are incredibly well written. We follow her along the ride and share the same realizations, although likely not to the same degree. She is certainly a round character, as she significantly changed from how she was in the beginning of the story. This change doesn’t seem so big, but the decision to live freely must have been a hard one to make for some of her character. After living for so long following strict rules, limitations one sets for themselves, a little freedom must feel like a breath of the freshest air. Living life the way you want, not minding what others think, and holding your head up no matter the disapproval they send your way — truly is an admirable way of living. Maya’s experience is a wholesome one. While she disapproved of them in the beginning, observing them for a longer period of time allowed her to not only see more in their relationship, but also grasp some of that freedom for herself. Some other would look at things they dislike and never look back again, living their lives without understanding that “disgusting” things can look beautiful in different lights and angles. All one has to do is spend time looking at them.