My Present Age | Themes & Characters

My Present Age Themes/Characters

A black comedy about a man whose frustrations and crises often explode into lurid fantasies, My Present Age provides a sharp portrait of a modern loser. Tormented by the failure of his marriage, stigmatized by an irascible, prying neighbor, Ed is trapped by the repetitive rituals of a banal existence.

His unceasing diet of Cocoa Puffs is a perfect expression of his own essential softness as a person. Made obese by his junk food and laziness, he is a perennial adolescent in his exasperation and wish-fulfillment fantasies. His ex-wife, Victoria, is everything he is not: "assured, idealistic, ungrubby." When asked by her what he intends to do with his life, he replies: "Simplify it," but his compulsive chatter and chronic inability to cope with frustrations stamp him as the modern century's man of Angst. His anger, hurt, and neurosis lead to some near-demented acts of retaliation against his...
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