Subject: Stereotypes and gay "Eskimos" (wait, reverse that)
From: Jon Tveite (jontv@ksu.edu)
Date: Wed Feb 26 1997 - 13:08:32 GMT
Andrew Kennis <kennis@math.grin.edu> said:
> The number of people who seemingly insist
> though, that Eric's sexuality and supposed homosexuality was an important
> theme is definitely disturbing and like I said.......I'm afraid, a sign
> of homophobia.
I think this goes a little far. The original poster (Paul G.) was just
interpreting the story as he sees it. "Homophobic" is not how I would
describe his view. He didn't express any fear or loathing of Eric or his
alleged homosexuality, he just lept too confidently to a conclusion which
I find highly questionable. He may be guilty of narrow, stereotypical
thinking, but not homophobia. To be fair to Andrew, however, he
originally said something like "close to homophobia," and only later upped
the charges.
It's never occurred to me that Eric might be gay, so I would have to
reread the story to evaluate that claim. I would say it seems plausible
that Salinger might leave that interpretation open to the reader by
dropping the kind of stereotypical hints Paul has described. As Jeff
pointed out, the story was written 40+ years ago, and hardly anybody was
very sensitive to these issues. Stereotypes circulate the culture for a
long time before anyone recognizes them as stereotypes. And one person's
signifier may well be another's stereotype.
That said, I couldn't disagree more strongly with Paul when he says:
> Also, the story would fail aesthetically if Eric is not gay.
I've read the story a half-dozen times without seeing Eric as gay, and
I've never thought of the story as an aesthestic failure. To me, it's
about having your mind opened unexpectedly by glimpsing the humanity in
someone you would normally look down on. If Eric were gay, it wouldn't
negate my interpretation, but it wouldn't add much, either. To say that
Eric *must* be gay for the story to work would be something of a failure
of the *reader's* imagination, IMO.
Jon (Tveite) <jontv@ksu.edu>
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