Coincidentally, I have been reading a couple novels in different English classes that illustrate gender as a bell curve rather than two distinct entities of man and woman. One of the books is The Pagoda and focuses mainly on the character of Mr. Lowe. Initially, the reader is unaware that Mr. Lowe is a biologically a woman as Lowe lives his outward life as a man. Students in my class along with myself discussed how we felt uncomfortable with Mr. Lowe’s character because of his ambiguous gender and hidden, unclear sexuality. Society has engrained in us that there are only two genders and each one has a corresponding, defined sexuality. Thus, when we are confronted with a person who does not fit either profile, we can feel awkward and ill at ease.
As the novel progressed, our discussions started to really probe into what is sexuality and what is gender. We saw Lowe view his body as a foreign entity and struggle to understand and recognize his sexuality. In society where Lowe is supposed to be female and feel ‘female-defined desire,’ Lowe strains to understand why he does not feel this way.
It was also interesting to note certain acts of the author in the novel to illuminate the bell curve of gender. Patricia Powell (the author) plays with the classic attributes associated with a novel’s protagonist. Powell flips around everything that would be expected. In doing so, she is illuminating an essential theme of the novel; everything is not what it seems. Powell initially shows Lowe’s ‘male-hero’, Omar in a negative, condescending light. Thus, from this early description of Omar, one would never presume that he could become an object of desire for Lowe and a possible male hero. This element of surprise parallels Lowe’s own unawareness in regards to his gender and sexuality. There is no predetermined path that Lowe’s sexuality takes. His experiences are unexpected and somewhat overwhelming for readers. They do not make sense in regards to societal expectations.
Furthermore, Powell does not want her readers to make any assumptions. Therefore, by putting in unpredictable events, readers can never get comfortable. This is important as the issues in the novel are not comfortable issues. They are messy and confusing. It is impossible to grasp a situation, diagnosis it, label it, and fully understand it. Gender and sexuality are complicated. It is hard to look at and fully understand Lowe’s sexuality and gender because they are so different from what we are used to and what we are taught to see each and everyday. Instead of having a clearcut image of Lowe as a woman with certain sexual needs, there are numerous ways to look upon the feelings, emotions, and identities of Lowe. Sexual references and events in the novel are not one dimensional. For instance, Lowe does have sex with a woman but that does not make him lesbian by any means. Lowe dresses as a man but that does not mean he might not be female. Everything is up for interpretation and is chalk deep with multiple connotations and values.
Powell really wants her audience to understand that gender and sexuality are not the same thing and both can be bell curves. She makes her readers uncomfortable and creates situations where they cannot simply assume or think the way society wants us to think. Instead, she shows readers there are multiple ways of looking at sexuality and gender by creating unpredictable events and such an erratic character such as Mr. Lowe. These ideas parallel the ideas in Fausto-Sterling’s first couple of chapters.
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