Kominski's Childhood
There was no father in his childhood. He was raised by the mother and
his two sisters, he saw the sisters as domineering
mother figures. Aaron shares a bed with one or both of his sisters when he is
living in the Pale, and begins to develop sexual fantasies involving his
sisters. He witnesses his sisters' menstrual bleeding, and the fascination
begins.
Betsy would have been 12 years old in 1869, and Aaron was only 4 or 5 -
and as a result of this becomes obsessed with the female sexual organs,
imagining blood or violence to be associated with sexuality.
Kominski Starts Hating
Women
At 16, during the Russian pogroms, he witnesses
the rape of members of his family, and he enjoyed it. His sister's often
ridiculed his
compulsive masturbation, which in his
mind signified their rejection of his sexual fantasies, and their rape was
justice.
Russia Flushes It
Sewers
Kominski immigrates and is now a
Whitechapel hairdresser.