How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
He felt himself grasped by his long lapels, pulled forward and pushed back, as a creature with a hundred mouths started sucking the marrow from his bones. She said nothing as she came on like a starved animal, and he wouldn't have known who it was if it hadn't been for the taste of her watermelon gum, which after the first few torrid kisses he found himself chewing. (3.57)
When Lux and Trip finally get together, it's more of an attack than a romantic encounter. The sex is described with violent terms: sucking the marrow, a creature with a hundred mouths, starved animal. It's like something non-human has been unleashed in Lux.
Quote #5
It was as though he had never touched a girl before; he felt fur and an oily substance like otter insulation. Two beasts lived in the car, one above, snuffling and biting him, and one below, struggling to get out of its damp cage. Valiantly he did what he could to feed them, placate them, but the sense of his insufficiency grew, and after a few minutes, with only the words "Gotta get back before bed check," Lux left him, more dead than alive. (3.57)
More animal imagery: "fur," "otter insulation, " "snuffling and biting." It's all Trip can do to manage it. Women's sexuality is often seen as dangerous in some societies. Many ultra-religious sects make women cover up their bodies, not because they're shameful, but so the men don't become aroused by the sight and do something inappropriate. It's that powerful and dangerous.
Quote #6
Even though that lightning attack lasted only three minutes, it left its mark on him. He spoke of it as one might of a religious experience, a visitation or vision, any rupture into this life from beyond that cannot be described in words. "Sometimes I think I dreamed it," he told us, recalling the voracity of those hundred mouths that had sucked out his juice in the dark, and even though he went on to enjoy an enviable love life, Trip Fontaine confessed it was all anticlimactic. (3.58)
While the actual sexual encounter is compared to an animal attack, afterward, in his memory, Trip elevates it to a spiritual experience. There was something about this distant, inaccessible girl suddenly emerging as a ravenous sexual animal that had an unreal and dreamlike quality. It's still mystifying to the narrators as well.