Essay Questions

What is the significance of Little Bill catching his wife sleeping with another man?

Little Bill is married to a porn actress who sleeps with other men constantly on film. It bothers Bill in a major way, but he keeps quiet enough about it. That is until she is sleeping with another man at a party. He loses it and kills her and her lover before killing himself. Little Bill's murder suicide reveals the man who tells himself that everything is fine. That sleeping with other men is part of this porn culture. But, the truth remains, that fidelity in marriage is sacred, and regardless of the culture one belongs to, breaking this bond of husband and wife creates a pain so deep that if it isn't dealt with creates horrific consequences.

What is the significance of Eddie changing his name?

Eddie decides he wants to change his name. He wants it to, "cut glass" and be, "razor sharp." He chooses Dirk Diggler to be his porn star name. The significance of his changing his name is that he is giving himself a new identity, an armor that he can slip into that makes him powerful, which he is not in the reality of his life. It is a false protection that is ripped away to reveal his great emptiness, loneliness and pain that still exists at the end of the story.

Why is Amber denied custody of her child?

Amber goes to court in a custody battle over her child with her ex-husband. The court deems her unfit to parent her kid as she is involved in the porn industry, has a prior history of crimes and a cocaine addiction. What is significant about this is that one, it is all true. Two, regardless of whether or not Amber is a better parent than her ex-husband, the stigma of being a pornographic actress with a past record whose addiction to cocaine (whether past or not) will always work against her in a society created within the bounds of the law and protection of a child due to the facts.