Traditionally, society has implemented the gender binary of male/female. This binary stays constant due to the power society places in the concept. The details of the separate categories may change a little, but the binary has stayed in place. “Gender is an identity tenuously constituted in time, instituted in an exterior space through a stylized repetition of acts,” (“Gender” 2552). Different portrayals of gender change how the society views the binary but never is the binary completely destroyed. To counteract this, feminist criticism gave birth to queer theory to destabilize the power of the binary, and acts of subversion occurred to upset the binary’s power. Literature is a vehicle for multiple acts of subversion, and A Lesson Before Dying
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“Gender norms have everything to do with how and in what way we can appear in public space,” (“Performativity” 2). Grant follows this belief and acts the way a traditional male is supposed to when he is in public: unemotional, strong, aggressive, etc. He takes the role of a masculine authority figure in his class that does not show compassion when he first tells his class about Jefferson. Grant acts cold and unaffected when inside he is anything but. His outward behavior does not match up with his inner self because he is acting. “Consider gender, for instance, as a corporeal style, an ‘act,’ as it were, which is both intentional and performative, where ‘performative’ suggests a dramatic and contingent construction of meaning,” (“Gender” 2551). Grant barely portrays his inner feelings because he has been conditioned to keep it all inside over the years, particularly when dealing with his aunt. “I wanted to scream at my aunt; I was screaming inside…But she had not heard me before, and I knew that no matter how loud I screamed, she would not hear me now,” (Gaines 14-15). Grant has given up on trying getting through to his aunt, and that cracks his masculine performance. In a way, his aunt gains power over Grant because she can outlast him with her stubbornness. Grant then becomes almost submissive when dealing with her. When asked why he wants to go visit Jefferson, Grant
“Gender norms have everything to do with how and in what way we can appear in public space,” (“Performativity” 2). Grant follows this belief and acts the way a traditional male is supposed to when he is in public: unemotional, strong, aggressive, etc. He takes the role of a masculine authority figure in his class that does not show compassion when he first tells his class about Jefferson. Grant acts cold and unaffected when inside he is anything but. His outward behavior does not match up with his inner self because he is acting. “Consider gender, for instance, as a corporeal style, an ‘act,’ as it were, which is both intentional and performative, where ‘performative’ suggests a dramatic and contingent construction of meaning,” (“Gender” 2551). Grant barely portrays his inner feelings because he has been conditioned to keep it all inside over the years, particularly when dealing with his aunt. “I wanted to scream at my aunt; I was screaming inside…But she had not heard me before, and I knew that no matter how loud I screamed, she would not hear me now,” (Gaines 14-15). Grant has given up on trying getting through to his aunt, and that cracks his masculine performance. In a way, his aunt gains power over Grant because she can outlast him with her stubbornness. Grant then becomes almost submissive when dealing with her. When asked why he wants to go visit Jefferson, Grant