More Mika!

Hey everyone! So I just found this amazing video that I think creates the look we were trying to go for with our original idea of having the "queer" cookies. Plus it's Mika, who is not only amazing, but he has been mentioned multiple times in our blog!

Here is the video:

"Blame it on the Girls" by Mika

A Definition of Gender Performance

Gender is defined as sexual identity, especially in relation to society or culture; The condition of being female or male; sex; females or males considered as a group:expressions used by one gender*. Performance is defined as the act of performing a ceremony, play, piece of music, etc.; the execution or accomplishment of work, acts, feats, etc.; a particular action, deed, or proceeding; the act of performing; or the manner in which or the efficiency with which something reacts or fulfills its intended purpose*. In accordance with Judith Butler’s idea of gender performance, it seems as though the best definitions to be used are “sexually identity, especially in relation to society or culture,” and “the manner in which or the efficiency with which something reacts or fulfills its intended purpose.” Males and females within society, especially American society, are expected to comply with certain gender roles according to the sex of which they are born. Females are expected to be caregivers, motherly, good cooks, cleaners, and still able to look good in a bathing suit. Males must be into sports, show less emotion than women, and be the provider. At least these are what are still thought of as “traditional” gender roles in our society, even though with time they are beginning to change.

However, there is this mythical norm of male and female, but no one falls in complete accordance with it. Gender is a socially constructed idea, yet people generally follow those norms and those who deviate are viewed as strange or “queer.” Butler states, “The body is only know through its gendered appearance,” (406)** and most people tend to fall into this category. What are we but confines of our gender based on are sex? Those who deviate are the brave, because most people will stay with the norms of society, because, as Butler warns, “Those who fail to do their gender right are regularly punished,”(405)** and there is definite evidence of that in American society. People are regularly harassed or shown violence because they do not fully identify (or identify at all) with the sex that they were born. Gender performance is a crucial part of society, because gender and gender identity seem so important to society.

*www.dictionary.com

** Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory.” Writing on the Body. Ed. Carolyn G. Heilbrun and Nancy K. Miller. New York: Columbia UP, 1997. 401-417. Print.

The Consequences of Catherine's Dissent from Gender Norms in The Garden of Eden

Ernest Hemingway’s posthumously published The Garden of Eden bursts with indications of nontraditional gender roles. The main focus is on Catherine Bourne, and how her unconventional gender performance influences a perceived insanity, which ultimately causes the decline of her heterosexual relationship with her husband, David. David is eventually reunited with a socially normalized relationship at the end when he and Marita decide to commit to each other. Following a seemingly linear structure of the novel’s progression, it shows Catherine’s expression of her desire to be a boy and the transformation she gives herself, evidence for how Catherine’s behavior as a boy seems to influence her steady decline into insanity, and the repercussions of Catherine’s actions and eventual elimination of her from the story.

Catherine’s internal struggle with her gender identity causes her to make changes in her appearance and behavior that better suit the sex with which she identifies. Catherine is a young woman who, at the beginning of the novel, seems to simply be enjoying the pleasures of her honeymoon with her husband, David. However, there is something lurking within Catherine that is yet to be seen, but it begins to emerge when she says to David, “‘I’m the destructive type…And I’m going to destroy you’” (Hemingway 5) in response to David’s declaration that he is the inventive type (which is true because he is a writer). She feels empowered when she cuts her hair like a boy’s, but she is still struggling with her gender identity when she says, “‘I’m a girl. But now I’m a boy too and I can do anything and anything and anything’” (Hemingway 15). The ambiguity between which sex she identifies as is shown in this dialogue, and it shows that Catherine is feeling that ambiguity herself. Catherine shows the dissonance between gender and natural sex with her desire to be a boy, with her behaviors such as cutting her hair, taking on a male role in bed with David, how she seems to be in control of their relationship (sexually, emotionally, and financially). She cannot find harmony between the socially constructed female gender roles of her society and how she wants to act.

From her first introduction, Catherine seems to follow a path leading into darkness, irrationality, and insanity. The first step happens when she cuts her hair, then she begins to become a boy in bed, and finally she brings the girl Marita into her marriage with David. These actions follow the same progression into her perceived insanity, and it is also mirrored in her physical appearance by her incessant desire for her skin to become darker and darker. David also begins to call Catherine “Devil,” which is probably the darkest name that one can be called, and she seems to make a hell out their perfect little haven by her progression into madness. However, the tipping point for Catherine seems to be when she sleeps with Marita and how she begins to have irrational fits of jealousy and hostility toward David and Marita. Since Catherine is the one who brought Marita into their relationship, she has created this “hell” for the three of them (and her hell may be her insanity), but she doesn’t seem to take any responsibility for her encouragement of David to fall in love with Marita. After sleeping with Marita, Catherine tells David, “‘There isn’t any us…not anymore’” (Hemingway 117), which acknowledges “the beginning of the end” of their happy, heterosexual relationship.

Furthermore, the thing that causes David (and also Marita) to decide to exclude Catherine from their affair is her jealousy toward Marita and David’s bond over the stories about Africa that he writes. David wouldn’t let Catherine read these stories, and he has also put the narrative he had been writing on their (David and Catherine’s) lives in order to work on these Africa stories. This jealously infuriates Catherine, and after David has completed the stories she burns them all and then she thinks that this will solve her problems and now he will only work on their narrative. However, her plan seems to backfire. David says, “‘All I want to do is kill you…and the only reason I don’t do it is because you are crazy’” (Hemingway 223), and he finally seems to have broken free from any commitment he might feel for Catherine. He states that she is crazy and expresses his desire to kill her, to have her cleared from his life. Catherine must be eliminated though, to go back to Judith Butler’s argument, in order for Catherine to be punished for dissent from traditional gender roles which have influenced her insanity.

Since Catherine can no longer fit into the ideal of a traditional, heterosexual wife, she is forced to leave the story so that it can end with the monogamous, heterosexual couple reunited in David and Marita. Catherine no longer has a place in the story or in David’s life because she could no longer fit the standard of her socially constructed gender norms, which seemed to cause her madness. Catherine is now easily forgotten, and David tells Marita, “‘We’re the Bournes. It may take awhile to have the papers. But that’s what we are” (Hemingway 243). This solidifies the reemergence of a “victorious” heterosexual couple, falling into the gender norms of society.

Society constructs gender roles into which people are supposed to fit, and a cognitive dissonance between someone’s sex and their perceived gender role can lead to personal struggle, or even insanity (in society’s eyes) as shown by Catherine. In The Garden of Eden, Catherine is used as an example for the “queer” who is punished by society for not fitting into the role that she is supposed to occupy. Catherine is punished, as Judith Butler states, for failing “to do [her] gender right” (405) by being pushed out of the story, not only by her husband and his mistress, but by Hemingway as well. David and Marita punish her by eliminating her from their lives, and then proceeding to assume a socially “normal” heterosexual couple. Hemingway also punishes Catherine by creating the dialogue that she is crazy, and implying to the reader that this madness is caused by her refusal to accept gender norms. Catherine fails to fit these roles constructed for her by society, so she is punished and eventually eliminated from the story.

A Soundtrack for The Garden of Eden

While reading Hemingway’s novel The Garden of Eden, I subconsciously kept hearing songs that I felt related to the book, so I cr

eated an actual playlist to show the feelings of the novel in song and hope to enhance the reader’s understanding of this queer text. The playlist is as follows:

1. “Stuck in the Middle” – Mika

2. “Navy Taxi” – Kate Nash

3. “A Beautiful Mess” – Jason Mraz

4. “Oscar Wilde” – Company of Thieves

5. “It’s Too Late” – Carole King

6. “Pressure” – Company of Thieves

7. “Bad Romance” – Lady Gaga

8. “Almost Lover” – A Fine Frenzy

9. “Near to You” – A Fine Frenzy

10. “Nothing Lasts Forever” – Maroon 5

11. “Platinum Blonde Life” – No Doubt

12. “The Middle” – Jimmy Eat World

13. “Loving You” –Paolo Nutini

14. “Crazy on You” – Heart

15. “Hurts So Good” – John Mellencamp

16. “Low Rising” – The Swell Season

17. “Mr. Brightside” – The Killers

18. “Ashes and Wine” – A Fine Frenzy

Here are a few brief rationales on the songs that I chose:

Mika’s “Stuck in the Middle” seems to show how Catherine is “stuck” between her identities, and the singer talks about “looking at life from the perspective of a boy,” which I think Catherine clearly wants to do. “Stuck in the Middle” also eludes to desire for acceptance even though one is different, asking the question, “Is there anybody home who will believe me, won’t deceive me, won’t try to change me?” Catherine literally seems to be consciously “Stuck in the Middle” of being a girl and being a boy.

I believe that the song “A Beautiful Mess” seems to suit the relationship of Catherine and David. It hints at her slow descent into perceived madness with the line “Your style is quite selective, though your mind is rather reckless.” The idea of “A Beautiful Mess” just seems to describe this marriage of these characters because it’s dysfunctional with Catherine taking on the identity of a boy, and also how there is another woman brought into the marriage. It’s beautiful, but it’s a mess.

“It’s Too Late” by Carole King shows the struggles that Catherine and David face in their marriage, and how things have changed and they can’t go back. Carole sings, “There’s something wrong here, there can be no denying one of is changing, or maybe we’ve just stopped trying,” which shows the acknowledgement that Catherine has when she says “‘There isn’t any us’” and how they do try to deny it for awhile. Also, Catherine has changed, and there’s no denying it.

David’s position of writing their narrative can’t keep the song “Bad Romance” by Lady GaGa out of my head. He is literally writing their “bad romance” as GaGa suggests her and the subject of her song could write. It’s also very sexually charged, and I think that has been the basis of their relationship, and their romance has just gone bad.

The songs are “Almost Lover” and “Near to You” by A Fine Frenzy are raw and heartbreaking, and “Almost Lover” shows the reflection that Catherine must have of her time with David, now that he has dismissed her. In the song she says, “I’d never want to see you unhappy, I thought you’d want the same for me,” but David doesn’t care for “crazy” Catherine anymore. In the song “Near to You,” the singer talks about a dysfunctional relationship that leads to a relationship with someone else to help heal. Perhaps David is attaching so fiercely to Marita because he is struggling with moving on from his time with Catherine. It also can be used to suggest a return to the ideal heterosexual couple: “I’m battle-scarred, I am working oh so hard to get back to who I used to be.” Whether or not he likes it, David was changed by Catherine, and now he must reclaim himself as a stronger heterosexual male with Marita.