Stephen’s Wrong Punishment
boys. All students must live in a dormitory. They live apart from the environment outside the school. As the consequence of a sex-homogeneous school, there is no any
female in Clongowes. Such condition logically causes some problems to the people inside the school
frequently. Students of Clongowes are teenagers. As commonly known, each human has a certain sexual orientation. Those who are interested in the opposite sex have
heterosexual orientation. Otherwise, homosexual orientation is owned by people who are interested in the same sex. In Catholicism, the allowed sexual orientation is only
the heterosexual one. The other one is totally unaccepted. Therefore, in a Catholic school like Clongowes, the same rule is applied. All of the students, who are boys,
must be interested sexually in girls only. Here, the situation of Clongowes as a homogeneous school and Catholic
values about sexuality existing together at school causes a problematic situation to the students. They are teenagers who normally start to concern with their empirical
sexual experience. This concern meets the obstacles due to the absence of girl in Clongowes. None of them can wreak their sexual desire in a proper way according to
Catholicism. The boys meet no person with opposite sex. It certainly becomes a problem for those who cannot adjust their sexual desire to the condition where they
live in.
In this event, the symptom that is shown by a certain group of students is the action of smugging. They eventually overcome the problem of the absence of girl at
school by releasing their sexual desire to the persons with same sex. This is clearly considered as a disorder according to Catholicism. It is prohibited. Therefore, those
boys are about to get punishment from the prefect of studies. They break the school rules and the values of Catholicism.
The role of the Other in this case is not occupied by a person. It is occupied by the Catholicism value that is applied at Clongowes. The existence of this Other forces
the students to adjust their desire into something which is acceptable in their environment. It also teaches the boys in Clongowes about the reality where they have
to live in during their school time. They need to understand that each person in that school is male. Besides, the Catholicism value the Other teaches that since they are
Catholic, they have to obey the rules including having a heterosexual orientation. For the symptom shown by the boys is doing a homosexual activity, their
desire must refer to the opposite idea. Those boys are interested in girls. They really want to release their sexual desire through the activity that they should have done
with girl. However, this desire must be jailed inside their mind. The fact is that they cannot meet any female human around Clongowes. Such problem causes them to find
an alternative way in order to do what they want as adjusting it with the condition around.
Smugging emerges as the possible-but-prohibited way to overcome the problem that those students face. They eventually make certain excuse for themselves
in order to fulfill their need of sexual activity. Smugging leads them to the chance. It is done by them secretly. They do not want anyone to know because they are under
the pressure of the Catholicism values that they break. Here, smugging can be related as the returning action of what is repressed in the students’ unconsciousness. They
have the desire to engage in sexual activity with person with opposite sex. However, they are not allowed to meet one. Since every desire must eventually be released,
those boys choose homosexual activity as the way out. For what the students do is truly opposing their desire, this case can be
considered as a repression that is done through the Catholicism values which are applied at school.