Subject: Avoidance of stereotypes and the true themes of "Eskimos"
From: Andrew Kennis (kennis@math.grin.edu)
Date: Tue Feb 25 1997 - 14:13:02 GMT
On Tue, 25 Feb 1997, Jeff Ross wrote:
> He would not come right out and say that the man is homosexual because
> that is the point of the story.
>
Ok, so, ummmmm, in other words, JDS tries to establish ambiguity through
avoiding directly stating that Eric is homosexual, and instead only drops
stereotypical hints? Errr, I don't think so. Once again, I don't think
and would hope that JDS would try and establish ambiguity through the use
of stereotypical assumptions about any demograpic variable. There are
other ways, indirect and direct, obvious and ambiguous, to hint at the
sexuality of a person without having to resort to using stereotypes.
FURTHERMORE, I take issue with the guiding assumption that we have been
under in this discussion, that one of "Eskimo"'s central themes was
Eric's sexuality. I would posit that it wasn't even a theme at all. I
think that the story focused on the humorous and subtle flirtations
between Ginnie and Eric. Another theme was how the superficiality and
snobbishness that JDS has consistently shown contempt for, was embedded
in Eric's sister (this is Ginnie's viewpoint, at least in respect to the
whole "cab fare" situation) as well as in Ginnie's sister (this is Eric's
viewpoint, expressed in his conversation about her with Ginnie). There
were many ironic twists in the story as well, including Ginnie even being
intrigued in what would seemingly be, at least in shallow terms, a rather
distasteful young man (e.g. Eric's crudeness, like the sandwich
offering). Finally, the conclusion itself, presents us with an ironic
twist. Despite the long wait and the trouble Eric's sister (keep
forgetting her damned name) goes through to get the money that Ginnie had
previously reasoned, was in fact entitled to her, she turns
down the payment. With all of these, I would even say classic JDS literary
devices in effect, I am at a loss for how someone could make a claim that
JDS intended another important theme to be how Ginnie couldn't get what she
wanted, and that Eric's homosexuality (thus far only justified, with what
I would call, suspect reasoning <i.e. stereotypes>) and her subsequent
inability to "attain" him was an example of this theme. The discussion on
this whole topic has eerily seemed close, to me, to homophobia even.
Hopefully I'm wrong in that suspicion though.
--AK
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