Intense sexual drive and acting on that drive, are among the primary driving forces of all three (Truitt, Catherine, Antonio) of the book's central characters. All three want a lot of sex and each reacts differently to their wants. Truitt judges himself all his life and thanks to his mother, considers himself corrupt. Catherine first uses sex as a means of survival, indulges herself in sex, represses her desires in order to get money and security, and then finds those desires released in a surge of passion with Antonio, which she then represses them once again.