Queer Theory Between Desiderio and the Ambassador

Angela Carter's The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman There is one part in this novel that I wanted to elaborate on and show how queer theory is presented. Though there are several instances where homosexual references are made in Carter's novel, the way Desiderio describes the Ambassador is the one specific part of the book I am analyzing. When Desiderio, the male protagonist, first meets the Ambassador, a young male, he describes the Ambassador to the reader. The way in which Desiderio describes him is very feminine, giving the Ambassador "woman-bearing" qualities. "Around his eyes were thick bands of solid gold cosmetic and the nails on his long hands were enamelled dark crimson, to match the nails on his similarly elegant feet, which were fully exposed by sandals consisting of mere gold thongs. He wore flared trousers of purple suede and used several ropes of pearls for a belt. I saw that he seemed to move in soft coils" (Carter 32). According to Desiderio's description of him, the Ambassador dresses very femininely and is a "soft" character. This description in itself is a homosexual reference and can allow one to believe the Ambassador to be homosexual. With that mind frame, Carter also describes Desiderio as being infatuated with the Ambassador. Desiderio says "I think he was the most beautiful human being I have ever seen. He was a manicured leopard patently in complicity with chaos" (Carter 32). This gives off the feeling that Desiderio is infatuated with the Ambassador and that Desiderio himself may also be homosexual. Also, Desiderio says that the Ambassador reminded him of a girl that he wished he was romantically involved with. If this doesn't give off a homosexual feel, then it definitely represents a bisexual relationship. To further support the theory that Desiderio could be homosexual or bisexual, I want to look at the scene where he is raped by nine acrobats. When Desiderio joins the professor's circus, nine acrobats also join. These acrobats, that are male, all take turns rapiing Desiderio. Desiderio does say that it was the worst pain and experience he has been through, this could be to, perhaps, hide a certain homosexual or bisexual sexuality. With Dr. Hoffman's desire machines, the idea that perhaps Desiderio secretly wanted the acrobats to rape him comes into play. With that, I believe there is some sort of homosexual or bisexual characteristic about Desiderio. And just a short comment to add, Desiderio nevers gets the girl in the end, but kills her

Foucault's Panopticon Versus Crawfordsville's Rotary Jail

Michael Foucault uses the panopticon as a paradigm for disciplinary technology. What is a panopticon, however? In short, it is a prison. In the design, it has a large courtyard area with a tower in the middle. This is surrounded by several buildings that are made up of different levels and cells. An observer or dwells in the tower and is able to keep surveillance over all of the inmates in the cells. This design and concept is successful not only because it allows minimal guards to observe the inmates, but also because the inmates never truly know when they are being watched. This causes the inmates to act appropriately at all times, since there is always that chance of them being watched. The panopticon causes the prisoner to become his own gaurdian, which therefore makes the guards job that much easier and more efficient. Along with controlling the prisoners, Foucault comments on how the panopticon includes a system for observing and controlling the controller, and Foucault sees this as being the most diabolical aspect of the design.

In visiting the rotary jail in Crawfordsville, Indiana, there was immediately a dichotomy between the rotary jail and the panopticon. The rotary jail was in explicit contrast to Bentham's panopticon. This Crawfordsville jail had all of the prisoners in the center on a round turntable that was split into individual cells. The guard would stand on the outside and hand-crank the turntable so that he could observe all of the prisoners without walking around. This design was very cool, but as can be thought, it was not effective as was the panopticon. There was no way to observe all of the inmates at once, and the prisoners knew when they were being observed. It is no surprise that there are no more rotary jails in use today, because they were just not successful enough. Although the rotary jail is a interesting design and cool place to visit, it simply does not compare to the panopticon.

Self-Regulation and "The Gaze" in HBO's The Wire

HBO's The Wire is an interesting show because of its complex story line, dynamic characters, and great cinematography. But what might be more interesting is that the show is a perfect illustration of the idea of self-regulation though the threat of surveillance.

I am examining the role of the "gaze" in the following scene from Season One of The Wire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy0VRRVs9wM&feature=related

In this scene, we see a perfect example of self-awareness to the “gaze.” In the scene, we see the transition of D’Angelo Barksdale as he is demoted from working the game in the tower to running the pit. When he first arrives, D realizes that the current operation is too loose: the handoff of drugs and money is too sequential and would be easily spotted by the police. He explains to his crew that they need to change up their strategy to make the handoffs less conspicuous. This awareness of being constantly surveyed illustrates one aspect of the power struggle that we will see throughout the series. The gang constantly has to regulate their actions so as not to be caught by the police. The police, for the most part, know what the gang is up to, but they lack evidence of the crimes committed because the gang operates in a way that prevents the police of easily gaining evidence.

We also see that D’Angelo and his crew are also watching out for the police. When the cops roll up, D and Stinger Bell are warned right before they get there. This also helps to illustrate the idea of surveillance as a means of self-regulation by demonstrating that the gaze works in two ways. As stated before, the gang knows they are being watched and must regulate their behavior/activity accordingly. But they understand that the surveillance is not constant, therefor they are granted a little "wiggle-room." But when they know they are being watched, the crew is very careful.

A Foucaultian Critique of Crawfordsville's Rotary Jail

Michel Foucault, the famous French philosopher, looked closely at society and attempted to explain, in great detail, the ways in which people cohabitate on this blue planet we call Earth. In our Critical Reading course (ENG 397), our class looked closely at some of Foucault’s works where he describes his concept of "the gaze" and how it regulates power struggles in relationships between groups in society. I doing so, we looked very closely at Foucault's theory behind disciplinary mechanisms and how the gaze is used as a means of regulating behavior in his work Discipline and Punish. One of the concepts that we pulled out of his work to look more closely at was his theory of the gaze and how it works in panopticism. To fully understand panopticism, one must first familiarize themselves with a panopticon. The word derives its meaning from its root –opti, meaning observe, and prefix –pan, meaning all. A panopticon is set up so that an observer, or watchman, is placed in the center inside of a watch tower. Surrounding the tower are the cells of a prison. The idea behind the design is that the observer is able to watch all inmates in the prison at the same time. This puts ALL inmates under constant surveillance, or at least the threat of being watched at all times. This prison also leaves inmates hidden from each other, making it very difficult for them to stage any all out riots or escape plans. The reason that this type of prison was created was because the concepts used to get prisoners in-check revolve around the idea of self-regulation. Inmates believe they are constantly being watched, so they must modify their behavior to the threat of the gaze of a superior, or governing, power at all times.

Studying at Wabash brings with it a few pros and cons. One of the cons is that by attending an all male college in the middle of Nowhere, IN (known by locals as Crawfordsville) students subject themselves to a homogenous learning environment where they are alienated from women and modern society (kidding, but seriously…). But students of Dr. Szczeszak-Brewer’s ENG 397 class were witness to one of the benefits: when talking about the Foucaultian philosophy of “the gaze” and pamopticism, we were able to open the conversation to include a different type of prison. The small Mid-Western city of Crawfordsville is very unique. It offers a very unique history of disciplinary systems. Crawfordsville, IN is home of one of the few Rotary Jails. After reading Foucault’s Discipline and Punish, we journeyed over to The Old Jail Museum to see how a rotary jail works and how it compares to the panopticon Foucault illustrates.

The students were all very surprised by the make-up of the jail. It seemed to work contrary to the panopticon. Rather than place the observer—in this case the Montgomery Country prison guard—in the center of the jail, the design put all of the prisoners in the center. The cells are placed in the center in a cyclical manner, with the face of the cells facing outward. This, like in the panopticon, prevents prisoners from seeing each other. But unlike the panopticon, this doesn’t subject prisoners to the constant threat of surveillance. In fact, many of the students, myself included, noted that this seemed to be the exact opposite of the panopticon—or as Ryan Lutz noted in his blog, an “inverted panopticon.”Because the Foucaultian gaze centered around the threat of surveillance and self-regulation, it seems as though the concept of the rotary jail does not accurately represent his theory/observations. Despite that, the trip was a unique and educational. It was interesting to critique the jail’s effectiveness as a disciplinary tool by using Foucault’s work as a blue print.

Poetry: A Medium Depicting the Racial Struggle of Blacks in Society

Poetry: A Medium Depicting the Racial Struggle of Blacks in Society 

Telephone Conversations

by Wole Soyinka 

            The price seemed reasonable, location

            Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived

            Off premises. Nothing remained

            But self-confession. “Madam,” I warned,

5         “I hate a wasted journey—I am African.”

            Silence. Silenced transmission of

            Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,

            Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled

            Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was, foully.

10         “HOW DARK?” . . . I had not misheard . . . “ARE YOU LIGHT

            OR VERY DARK?” Button B. Button A. Stench

            Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.

            Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered

            Omnibus squelching tar. It was real! Shamed

15         By ill-mannered silence, surrender

            Pushed dumbfoundment to beg simplification.

            Considerate she was, varying the emphasis—

            “ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?” Revelation came.

            “You mean—like plain or milk chocolate?”

20         Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light

            Impersonality. Rapidly, wavelength adjusted,

            I chose. “West African sepia”—and as an afterthought,

            “Down in my passport.” Silence for spectroscopic

            Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent

25         Hard on the mouthpiece. “WHAT’S THAT?” conceding,

            “DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS.” “Like brunette.”

            “THAT’S DARK, ISN’T IT?” “Not altogether.

            Facially, I am brunette, but madam, you should see

            The rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet

30         Are a peroxide blonde. Friction, caused—

            Foolishly, madam—by sitting down, has turned

            My bottom raven black—One moment madam!”—sensing

            Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap

            About my ears—“Madam,” I pleaded, “wouldn’t you rather

35         See for yourself?”

Ballad of the Landlod

By Langston Hughes

 

Landlord, landlord,

My roof has sprung a leak.

Don't you 'member I told you about it

Way last week?

Landlord, landlord,

These steps is broken down.

When you come up yourself

It's a wonder you don't fall down.

Ten Bucks you say I owe you?

Ten Bucks you say is due?

Well, that's Ten Bucks more'n I'll pay you

Till you fix this house up new.

What? You gonna get eviction orders?

You gonna cut off my heat?

You gonna take my furniture and

Throw it in the street?

Um-huh! You talking high and mighty.

Talk on-till you get through.

You ain't gonna be able to say a word

If I land my fist on you.

Police! Police!

Come and get this man!

He's trying to ruin the government

And overturn the land!

Copper's whistle!

Patrol bell!

Arrest.

Precinct Station.

Iron cell.

Headlines in press:

MAN THREATENS LANDLORD

TENANT HELD NO BAIL

JUDGE GIVES NEGRO 90 DAYS IN COUNTY JAIL!

 

 When speaking of famous American poets of the early 20^th century, one of the many great names that often gets thrown around is Langston Hughes. As an African-American poet during this part of American history, Hughes wrote about the quotidian life of blacks in Harlem. In his poetry, Hughes captivated readers, both white and black, by poetically depicting the harsh realities of African-American life during an age when racial discrimination was running rampant. One such poem is his Ballad of the Landlord. In this paper, we will take a closer look at Hughes’ poem and critique it through a number of lenses. In our critique, we will look at the bibliographical and historical aspects of the poem and the author, the structure of the poem, and the complex power struggle portrayed in the piece. The main focus of this critique will analyze the poem for its depiction of power struggles. Similarly, Wole Soyinka’s poem Telephone Conversation shows a similar power struggle in regards to racial struggles. We will analyze both poems, showing how each illustrates a power struggle based on race.

When reading/analyzing poem, one of the many aspects that can change the way you read it is by looking at when it was written. By familiarizing yourself with the happenings of that time, you can gain a better understanding about what is taking place in the poem. Some critiques, such as New Criticism, like to ignore the historical and biographical aspects of poetry. But I believe that understanding these elements are particularly useful in with these two poems, offering up a chance for a stronger and deeper reading. As mentioned before, the 1930’s were a time where America was filled with open racial discrimination. Because it was primarily whites in power, blacks we treated unjustly by the laws. The emergence African-American literature brought these struggles of both race and power to the forefront of readers’ minds. Blacks in America were often, and still sometimes, considered the Hegelian “Other.” This concept of the Other is often used in power struggles between dominate groups and groups that they dominate. One of the most popular uses of such language is apparent when speaking of power struggles when it comes to power struggles between male and female. With racial power struggles in America, as well as many places over the world, this comparison becomes similar to the struggle between the colonized and the colonizer. The voice of the colonized in this situation, the voice of blacks in America and the United Kingdom, lacked a unified voice that gave them a medium of expressing the injustice of their treatment. With the surfacing of canonical literature through the Harlem Renascence and Negritude movements, black writers were finally able to express the power struggle by depicting a classical example of colonizer and the colonized. We will see this injustice in Ballad of the Landlord when the black tenant is thrown in jail after giving an idle threat. We also see this in Telephone Conversation where the landlady inquires about the blackness of a man’s skin color when considering him for residency. While I argue that we should play close attention to the time these poems were written to heighten our awareness of the social problems of the time, another reading might suggest that the historical time period in which the poems were written does not matter. Because race is still an ever apparent issue in society today, a modern day interpretation could, in a way, be just as justified.

I think it is best to first explore these poems individually, first,  to get to the root of their similarities. Hughes’ poem, at the most basic level, shows the struggle between a black tenant and his landlord. But the poem is much, much more than that. This incident is supposed to serve as a microcosm, demonstrating the average African-American’s struggle to live regularly in a white world. Hughes uses the power struggle between the tenant and the landlord to show social roles in society. The tenant is a black man and the landlord is white. Reading this as a microcosm lets readers see that the struggle of power is much more than simply economically based. Nothing in this poem suggests that the black man is of inferior intelligence or physical prowess. The power struggle between the two individuals lies solely in the fact that the black speaker is of a lesser socio-economic standing simply because of his race.

In the poem the tenant has asked his landlord to fix up the home he is renting. The landlord has put off the request; much like the government (composed of mostly wealthy white men) had put off giving African-Americans equal rights at that time period. While the landlord has yet to fix up the place, he still is asking for the tenants rent. In protest, the tenant announces his refusal to pay until the landlord does his job to keep up the house. Appalled by the tenant’s refusal, the landlord threatens to kick him out. To this threat, the tenant purposes his own, saying that he would hit the man if he threw out his furniture. The landlord doesn’t take to this kindly, going to the police.

Clearly Hughes is looking to show the suppression of African-Americans, so naturally the text demonstrates the black perspective. The story told through the poem is one that privileges the black voice. First, because it is shedding light on the struggle of blacks in America, we can see that Hughes is calling attention to the injustice put upon the black race. This means that it is catered to bringing forth the idea that blacks are suppressed, therefore giving voice to the problem at hand. While doing this, however, he leaves out any white perspective. This omission of the white perspective shows whites as oppressors in this power struggle.

This poem clearly demonstrates the African-American’s struggle to live regularly in a white world. Hughes depicts this by carefully using voice, style, rhythm, and imagery to portray the problem: racial injustice. First we will talk about voice.

It is important to note that the speakers in the poem are all unnamed to illustrate that this is not a specific case, but a situation which is constantly occurring around the United States (especially in urban areas). This first part is told through a one sided dialogue. Through the first few stanzas, the only thing the tenant has done wrong is threaten to hit the landlord. This threat is an idle threat, being that he doesn’t intend on doing it right now. It is a hypothetical response to the landlord’s threat. The voice of the poem switches after the threat. You will notice that we don’t hear from the tenant anymore after this. What does this tell us? It illustrates that blacks who threatened violence were silenced. Now we hear the landlord – he cries out to the police. Here, the landlord over exaggerates the words/actions of the tenant in a hysterical fashion—marked by repetition and punctuation— causing the tenant to be arrested. Despite the excessive claims, the arrest and punishment illustrate that the landlord has the police and the law on his side.

Secondly, we will notice rhythm and style: The rhythm and style of the poem change in this poem for a reason. The first part of the poem has a sort of free flowing, jazzy sound that takes place in 4 lined stanzas. Changing from 4 lined, jazzy stanzas to short, choppy 3 lined stanzas shows a struggle – the struggle being the arrest. The change in diction also shows the difference in the way each race speaks English. The stylized jazzy rhythm of the tenant’s speech is representative of the vernacular used by many blacks. Studies in linguistics suggest that the different dialects expressed by different races does not show a lack of understanding of English language, but rather is used to distinguish oneself with a particular group of people. We see such examples with Chicano and Ebonics, also known as African-American Vernacular English. Though these languages, or sometimes categorized as dialects, may seem more “primitive” than Standard American English, many argue that they are just as complex because they have there own set of language rules which are not to be broken. By refusing to speak Standard American English, the colonized disassociate with their colonizer.

Another key thing that stands out about this poem is the title. Ballad of the Landlord seems to suggest that the injustice that takes place is occurring to the landlord, who is clearly illustrated as the oppressor. This is ironic because it is clearly the tenant that receives the injustice. This is important to note because the tenant is the man charged with the criminal act, or lack thereof, not the landlord. Noticing this, one might think a more appropriate name for the poem would be “Ballad of the [Tenant].” Hughes words the title of the poem in this way as a way of illustrating that, regardless of what actually takes place, the view of the white oppressor is privileged. This, like the rest of the poem, helps us to understand the unjust power struggle of race that took place in the scene depicted.

We went through the poem to analyze what it is saying about the life/struggles of blacks during this time period. By reading and critiquing this poem through the quasi-post-colonial lens, we have shown the struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed. Using the poem as a metaphor for racial struggles and illustrating the poem with concrete images of how blacks were socially suppressed by the government, this poem is an excellent means of demonstrating the unlawful injustice that faced the African-American community.

Like Ballad of the Landlord, Telephone Conversation is about an African man who looking to rent an apartment. One important difference, I would argue, is that the writer of this poem is writing for a very similar but different audience. While Hughes is writing during the time where blacks were discriminated against in America, Soyinka is writing about similar injustices in the United Kingdom. This suggests that the racial/power struggle between blacks and whites in America was not, and is not, just an American problem. The struggle seems to come from Eurocentric thought. As mentioned before, the struggle is based on the power struggle between the colonized and the colonizer. Like in America, the black body is viewd was what Foucault called the “docile body.” This is important to notice when comparing the two works because it elevates the problems from a national scale to a global scale.

As part of the process of searching for a place to live, the speaker of the poem, a black man he calls a landlady to inquire about the availability of one of her residences. It is also important to notice that this is different from Hughes’ poem. In Ballad of the Landlord, the struggle is between two men. Here, the struggle is between a man and a woman. This suggests that the power struggle between races takes place not just between men in a phallocentric society. Women at this time, in both America and the UK, were often, and still are, often viewed as the oppressed in a power struggle based on gender. This depiction of a struggle between a black man and a white woman suggests that the racial power struggle is greater than the gender based one which is also heavily written upon.

During the conversation between the potential tenant and landlady, the man decides it is in his best interest to come out and explain that he is black. If this was a post-racial society, the man’s race should be irrelevant in regards to whether or not he will be permitted to obtain an apartment. But it the man’s “self-confession” in lines 4 and 5 suggest that there is something wrong with being of African descent. To this the landlady replies, "HOW DARK?" (line 10). This brash, impersonal replay makes me recall the work of Fanon. In his book Black Skin White Masks, the Negritude writer explains the concept of “lactification” (47). He explains that the goal is to ‘whiten-up’ the race to adhere to a Eurocentric concept that white is good and black is bad. "...LIGHT OR VERY DARK?" (lines 10/11) the landlady continues. To this we hear the inner-monologue struggle to reply. He thinks of different shades of red – non-of-which were any less “red” than another. When asked to compare his skin color to white or dark chocolate, the man refuses to answer using the language of his oppressor: "West African sepia," he replies (line 22). His response is as comical and perplexing to readers as it is to the landlady. Rather than answer in the cut-and-dry way asked of him, the speaker chose an ambiguous response that not only showed off his intelligence, but also puzzled the landlady. He goes on to explain, in other terms, that his face is "brunette," his hands and feet are a "peroxide blond," and his bottom is "raven black" (lines 29-32). The speaker’s response is met with anger. As he senses the phone call coming to an end, the speaker ends his conversation with the landlady and the reader with the question: "Wouldn't you rather see for yourself?" (lines 34-35).

Both works of poetry are very similar because they not only depict the power struggle between tenant and proprietor, but the struggle of race and how blacks, being the minority, are forced to take on the role of the oppressed in this power struggle. Through their respective works, both Hughes and Soyinka illustrate poetically the racial struggles many blacks face/faced when dealing with situations of power. Though neither author uses their work to comes out and suggest a way to subjugate the problems, they both offer a Foucaultian observations about how the power struggle negatively, and unjustly, effects blacks on a day-to-day basis.

Bibliography

Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks. New York: Grove, 1967. Print.

Hughes, Langston. “Ballad of the Landlord” 1935. Vintage Hughes. New York: Vintage, 2004. Print.

Soyinka, Wole, and James Gibbs. Critical Perspectives on Wole Soyinka. Washington, D.C.: Three Continents, 1980. Print.