The Javelin ThrowerAs a boy growing up in rural Italy in the 1930s, Damn is experiencing the first stirrings of adolescence when he accidentally sees his mother having sex with the local Fascist commandant. His pain, anger, and confusion are uncomfortably intertwined with a compulsion to watch them, which becomes an obsession. Isolating himself from anyone who might help him understand what hes feeling, he channels his fury into his javelin, getting better and better