CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH GENDER AND REBELLION
FOCUSED TOPIC: MASCULINITY
FEATURE NOVEL: FIGHT CLUB BY CHUCK PALAHNIUK
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS: "LOOKING FOR THE GIRL," BY NEIL GAIMAN, "MINOR HEROISM," BY ALLAN GURGANUS, "TO LIVE LIKE FIGHTING COCKS," BY ANDREW SLADE, "FEMINIZED MEN AND INAUTHENTIC WOMEN: FIGHT CLUB AND THE LIMITS OF ANTI-CONSUMERIST CRITIQUE," BY SALLY ROBINSON
Fight Club displays how, thanks to society, the concept of masculinity has been made to be understood by men as feelings of power and authority that are achieved through violence, aggression, and confrontation that does not involve "talking it out."-"Fight Club and Social Constructs of Gender," By Madison O'Neil
The first unit of this course involved pieces of contemporary literature that discussed how toxic masculinity functions as well as the rebellion against some of the traditional expectations that come with it. Chuck Palahniuk's novel Fight Club specifically targets the relationship between consumerism and gender and argues through the expressions of its questionable characters that giving in to the consumerist world of shopping and basic personal hygiene makes you less of man. Basically, what these characters and this novel project is that if you fall for the consumerist fad of taking care of yourself, you may as well just cut off your balls, because you've already been metaphorically castrated.
UNIT ONE
These days there's dudes getting facials
Manicured, waxed and botoxed
With deep spray-on tans and creamy lotiony hands
You can't grip a tackle-box
With all of these men lining up to get neutered
It's hip now to be feminized
I don't highlight my hair
I've still got a pair
Yeah honey, I'm still a guy
All my eyebrows ain't plucked
There's a gun in my truck
Oh thank God, I'm still a guy -"I'm Still a Guy," By Brad Paisley
UNIT TWO
Motherhood is not just giving birth to a child and raising it, motherhood is a responsibility to care for and nurture a life whether or not you created it.
-"A beloved tale of black motherhood," by Madison o'neil
FOCUSED TOPIC: FEMININITY & MOTHERHOOD
FEATURE NOVEL: BELOVED BY TONI MORRISON
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS: "NO NAME WOMAN," BY MAXINE HONG KINGSTON, "YADIRA," BY SUSAN ITO, "Maternal Language and Maternal History in Beloved," BY JEAN WYATT
In this scene from the movie adaptation of beloved, Baby Suggs is a mother figure to all of those who join her in her ceremony. This moment of nurturing and connectivity beautifully articulates the spiritual link between a mother and her children that Toni morrison's beloved focusses on.
Sethe, the main character in the novel, is devoted to motherhood, so much so that her children dictate a lot of the important decisions that she makes. The most notable one being her decision to kill her baby girl rather than let her live a miserable life. From the perspective of a reader, one may judge Sethe for her decision to kill her baby, but motherhood and especially black motherhood is incredibly difficult, and no one can truly say what the right thing for her to have done was. Prejudice can be defined as a preconceived notion or expectation of someone, a group, or something that it not based on actual experience. A reader judging Sethe has preconceived expectations of how a mother should behave and even if the reader themselves is a mother, they do not have true agency because they have not experienced Sethes' trauma. - "A beloved tale of black motherhood," by Madison o'neil
the second unit of this course involved pieces of contemporary literature that focused on the intersection of femininity and motherhood and how it shapes women. Toni Morrisons novel beloved highlights the struggles of black motherhood and how it may erode away a woman's sense of self or reality. One of the key themes of this unit and the novel beloved especially is necessary rebellion. depending on who you ask, to rebel against any given set of standards may be seen as something that gives you extra "cool points" or makes you "different in a good way," but this unit shows how mothers and women have to rebel for survival or an enhanced quality of life.
FOCUSED TOPIC: QUEER IDENTITY AND REBELLION
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FEATURE NOVEL: FLAMING IGUANAS: AN ILLUSTRATED ALL-GIRL ROAD NOVEL THING!
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SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS: "RIVER OF NAMES," BY DOROTHY ALLISON, "THE POETICS OF SEX," BY JEANETTE WINTERSON, "BURNING DOWN THE CANON: QUEER FAMILY AND QUEER TEXT IN FLAMING IGUANAS," BY SARA COOPER
The main character, Jolene "Tomato" Rodriguez, is an individual who invests an awful lot of time in performing as different versions of herself. One may initially perceive Tomato as an insanely unique person who can't be tamed, and yet, so many of her perceptions and actions are informed by social rules and norms. This polarity truly shows how Tomato lives every day of her life in conflict with her conditioning, desperately trying to climb her way out of a black hole of expectations and regulations.
-"Iguanas Should Be Free & Flaming" By Madison O'Neil
UNIT THREE
The third unit of this course involved contemporary literature that displayed women navigating queer identity and space. "Flaming Iguanas: An Illustrated All Girl Road Novel Thing," by Erika Lopez shows through its plot and marvelously wacky visual elements how, when in search of your identity and a space that you feel comfortable being that in, boundary-breaking rebellion is vital.
Final Thoughts
This course was an examination of some of the various themes seen in contemporary literature and how they connect. The first unit was a look into masculinity and how it is both represented and used in contemporary literature to send a message. The second unit delved into the necessarily rebellious side of femininity and motherhood in contemporary literature. The third unit of this course was a full immersion into queer space, identity, and lifestyle as it is seen in contemporary literature. All of these units overlap because they are about rebellion(whether its genuine/for good reason or not) and gender. Something that makes contemporary literature so powerful is its relevancy and overall cohesiveness. I do not mean to imply that Palahniuk's Fight Club and Lopez's "Flaming Iguanas: An Illustrated All-Girl Road Novel Thing," are at all cohesive novels in the sense that you can read every other page from each and come out with anything more comprehensive than gibberish. When I say that the current literary moment is beautifully cohesive, I am referencing the fact that (almost) every piece that comes from it has an agenda/purpose/lesson within it that aim to change the world. I know what you're probably thinking;"All literature is supposed to do that, you're just saying that to say it." However, I can assure you, no other literary moment has propelled so many rebellious and zany pieces of work into the literary world and even canon (WOMEN/POC/GAYS IN THE LITERARY CANON?!) than the contemporary moment.