Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Weird
Did you have a sense that the narrator was saying something particular about human sexuality? It's weird, but Cal seemed the most "normal" to me, or maybe "conventional" is the better word. I mean, we have the grandparents who were actually siblings (we can say circumstances forced them together, but really they liked each other before that), and Sourmelina who was gay, and the Object who was probably gay, and the parents who, weirdest of all, got off on that clarinet fetish. Cal was really just a guy who liked girls.
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6 comments:
Yeah, that's funny. That clarinet thing was certainly strange. Makes me wonder if Eugenides knew a couple who did that.
(This question also reminds me of one line in the book where Cal says that breasts have the same effect on him as on anyone else with his testosterone level. And I thought, um, what about gay guys? Perhaps I'm nitpicking.)
Yes! I remember that line! I thought the same thing. It seemed a disappointingly simplistic thing for Cal to say. Boobs are nice, but I think insanity about them comes less from testosterone than culture.
I have to admit I found the clarinet thing sort of intriguing at first, but then when I really considered it, I thought wouldn't it just be annoying to have someone, even Artie Shaw, blowing a horn on you? Wouldn't you just be like shut up and kiss me?
Totally. Although, were they in high school at the time? My recollection is that a lot of stupid stuff can seem unbearably exciting when you're in high school.
My recollection is that a lot of stupid stuff can seem unbearably exciting when you're in high school.
Oh my God. That is the quote of the day. Hehe
For me this is one of the most intreging "conversations" of the book, the relationship between chromosomes/hormones and gender.
Did you think the Obscure Object was gay? I actually felt she sensed something about Cal, perhaps before he did but was confused about the female package in which he was presented.
And I felt like the sex Cal had with the Object was similar to how he would act as an adult, say with Julie, as an identified male.
But the confusion, I think, is exactly the point. For a hermaphrodite the categories of sex and gender are always in question. Which makes me wonder, for all of us, to what degree are those same categories questionable?
So phallic, that clarinet. If you lived in such a button down world its not hard to imagine that all kinds of things would become erotic.
It's hard to say what the Object was. I thought she might have been gay because as far as she knew Cal was a girl, and she was very powerfully attracted to her. She also exhibited a passivity about the relationship which I read as typical "reluctance to be gay." Like, if I just lie back and let her do things to me I'm not really gay because I'm not reciprocating. And the Object's interest in that guy in the woods seemed sort of suspect to me. Who knows, though.
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