Patricia Muench

Prof. Lecker

9/20/08

Old to New Identities

            Frances Moore Lappe once said, “I’ve grown certain that the root of all fear is that we’ve been forced to deny who we are.” Two literature examples of this quote are “Yes Ma’am” by Deirdre N. McCloskey, and “Up, Close, In Touch” by Georgina Kleege. Deirdre and Georgina express through their stories that they have to perfect accepted identities, instead of showing their true identities. Deirdre needed to perfect her feminine personality after a gender change, so that way nobody would ever know she was once a guy. Georgina had to perfect her reading skills, in order to cover up that she was only able to read Braille well. Hiding true identities means that someone might never be able to express their true self. Deirdre never let anyone know that she was once a guy, and Georgina never let anyone know that she could only read Braille well.

            For Deirdre N. McCloskey and Georgina Kleege, it took a while for them to figure out their true identities. For a while, Deirdre and Georgina did what was expected of them. Deirdre lived as Donald McCloskey for over 50 years. He was married and even had kids. Georgina forced herself to read with her eyes. She would only read with her eyes like her mom wanted her to. Deirdre didn’t really endure any pain when she was a male because she didn’t make her true identity a reality, until she was 54 years old. However, when Georgina was figuring out her true identity, she dealt with a lot of strain on her eyes. She put her eyes about two inches from a page when reading anything. When she was reading something, many times she would have to hold one eyelid closed to make reading a little easier. She even has a blind spot that erases much of what she might have written a second ago. Deirdre and Georgina lived by the “normal” life for a while, but discovering their identities didn’t make their lives any easier.

            When Deirdre and Georgina discovered their identities, they also went through a journey of becoming their identities. Deirdre discovered that she should be a female, and Georgina discovered that she could read in the form of Braille and audio books. At this point, Deirdre had a tougher time than Georgina did. Deirdre’s transformation took about three years to complete. First, she had to live a year as the opposite gender. Then, she got a physical procedure to change her gender from male to female. Lastly, she had to learn every female gender clue, so that she could pass as a woman. Georgina discovered her identity through the Yale University English Department. She found out that the university had “close reading” as an English major. When she discovered this major, she said, “I felt physically well-suited, if not predestined, to be a close reader.” This is important because it proves that she found her true identity of being a Braille reader. Deirdre picked up every gender clue she noticed, including the walk, the talk, and the overall personality of a woman. Some gender clues she picked up were the gentle way to shake hands, the checking of hair and jewelry constantly, the way that females keep their knees closed when sitting, and the way females keep their elbows close to their bodies. Deirdre said that, “It becomes second nature, and a comfort to oneself even when alone.” This is important because it shows that switching to the opposite gender takes a lot of hard work and practice. It shows that Deirdre knew the many difficulties that would come about in the process of becoming a woman. Georgina discovered that there are other ways to read, such as audio books and Braille. At this time, it became a little easier for Georgina to read. She started to get rid of her habits of reading to inches from the page, and was able to lean back and read comfortably. She even said, “The frantic uncertainty of reading print was gone.” This shows that after reading Braille, it really made her feel comfortable. It also proves that she discovered her comfort zone of her true identity. Deirdre and Georgina both had difficult journeys in becoming their identities.

            The most influential part of Deirdre and Georgina’s lives is the way they have to hide their true identities from society. Deirdre had to perfect her feminine skills, so that she wouldn’t be read by others as a male. Deirdre explained, “Women who read a cross dresser are not violent, but frightened and indignant.” This is important because it shows that cross dressers are no different. However, they still get discriminated against. Even Deirdre’s sister provided her with pepper spray because it is dangerous in public sometimes if someone finds out your true identity of being the opposite gender. She knew that her transformation was complete when a waiter addressed all of the dames as dames without even noticing that Deirdre was once a guy. For Georgina, she became more of an auditory learner, so that she wouldn’t draw attention to her disability. So that she wouldn’t have to read assigned readings aloud in class, she would memorize a part of the reading that she would volunteer to read aloud when it came time in class. She would even lie to her friend when studying with her, so that she would have more time to study by herself at home. She explained her experience as, “I did not consciously work to conceal my blindness from my friends, but it was just often easier to pretend that I saw what they did…” This shows that she wanted to express her true identity, but couldn’t because it wouldn’t have been accepted by her friends. Overall, hiding identities can hold back a person from expressing their true self.

            The process of becoming a new hidden identity, and then living that hidden identity, can be a hard time for someone. For Deirdre, she lived the “normal” life, but then went through with a gender change. She was able to overcome her adjustment to becoming a woman, and got rid of the quality of being read as a guy. She never let anyone know that she used to be a guy. For Georgina, she lived the “normal” life, but she never let anyone know that she had a sight disability. She perfected her reading skills by becoming more of an auditory learner and a Braille reader, but hid this from everyone else. Discovering different ways of learning helped Georgina fit into the “normal” society. Overall, denying who you truly are is not caused by yourself, but by society’s standards. 

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11/10

This radio show takes places when Mao Zedong was in power. Karl Marx is the main theorist. He hosts a radio show to talk about different concepts that he has mentioned in his Communist Manifesto. Throughout the radio show, Mao Zedong and Mary Louise Pratt give their opinions on the different ideas that Marx talks about. For most of the show, they talk about communism and Marxism (Although, Marxism is not directly mentioned). They also added the topic to discuss the movie To Live. In W-C-N-A radio headquarters, an interesting conversation starts up. This is the original wording of the show of that day at the W-C-N-A headquarters.  

Marx:  Coming up next on W-C-N-A radio, we have a special version of the B-I-N-G-O song. It is a new song that everyone should get to know, and it is called, “M-A-O Yeah Yeah”. It is my new favorite song.

Marx: Right now, however, we have two very special guests coming to talk with me today in the studio. They are Mary Louise Pratt, author of Imperial Eyes, and everyone’s favorite man, Mao Zedong.

Pratt: Hello Marx. I am so glad to be here with you and Mao Zedong. This is such an honor.

Mao: Well thank you for that comment. Can we sing that song now? M. A. O. Yeah Yeah. M.A. O. Yeah. Yeah. M.A.O. Yeah Yeah. And Mao Zedong was his name-o. I love that song.

Marx: Hey let us get this discussion started because I cannot wait to hear what you two have to say. I just absolutely love to talk about communism. Is it not just the greatest concept ever?

Mao: The part that I like most about communism is that I am the leader of it. I love having a classless society.

Marx: I agree with that. I do not know about you Pratt, but I am sure Mao Zedong agrees with my concept that everyone should contribute what they can, and get what they deserve. That is the motto I feel that communism goes by.

Mao: I totally agree. One movie that you should get to see is To Live. That movie expresses how my concepts work really well with what you just said. In The People’s Republic of China, everyone should be a part of society. In To Live, it really shows the importance of citizen contributions to society. An item that is extremely vital to China is steel. We need pots and anything that people may have made of steel. People should not have pots of their own anyway. We need common areas that people can go to for food. Everyone should just get used to sharing because there is no need to have extra. People should not have any extra luxuries. Marx, I have a question for you. We should just go along with education in a “large” school. The “large” school would teach everyone to be a worker.  Do you agree with my concept of a large school?

Marx: I would definitely agree with that concept because workers would be the greatest benefit to society. Forget the bourgeoisie. The proletariat will rise up to power. WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!

Pratt: Well, in my eyes, I just think that communism avoids the “contact zone”, as I have spoken about previously in my book called the Imperial Eyes.

Marx: Can you explain more about that?

Pratt: “Contact Zones” are social spaces where disparate cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in highly asymmetrical relations of domination and subordination. Some examples are colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they are lived out across the globe today.

Marx: I am really happy that you mentioned that because I totally agree. I believe that eventually the proletariat will take over the bourgeoisie. With saying that, if that happens, then it will avoid the problems of the “contact zone”. What a wonderful statement Pratt! Communism is something that gets rid of the “contact zone” if the proletariat can overcome the bourgeoisie.

Mao: Oh, that truly is a wonderful statement. Marx, did you not write more about the proletariat in your Communist Manifesto?

Marx: Certainly. I think under the Proletarians and Communists category, my exact line was, “In the various stages of development which the struggle of the working class against the bourgeoisie has to pass through, they always and everywhere represent the interests of the movement as a whole”. What I meant by that was that they agree on everything as a whole. There aren’t any cultures within the Proletariat that would clash. Everyone agrees on one concept because everyone in society is a member of the same group.

Pratt: Do you not think that a “contact zone” would actually be good for society?

Marx: Absolutely not. With a “contact zone”, people have too many choices and too many different beliefs. With all of these different beliefs, it can create huge conflict. It should just not be like that. With the concept of Marxism, everyone is on the same level. Everyone should just contribute whatever they can to The People’s Republic of China. You know?

Mao: Heck yeah. I just think that was the best statement ever Marx. It truly was.

Pratt: What are some other things that should not be a part of society?

Marx: Money. Money is not what bases our economic society. That is why capitalism sucks right?

Mao: I agree. People in The People’s Republic of China do not need money to survive. Money is useless. We should just have people do what they are supposed to do and get what they are supposed to get. If everyone has the same thing, there should be no need for a choice.

Pratt: Another thing that I mentioned in Imperial Eyes was how a “contact zone” would have trajectories that intersect. If you want to talk about capitalism, there is one reason why it is a lot easier for the United States. The United States only have to major countries touching its borders. The People’s Republic of China has at least three or four other major countries touching its borders.

Marx: That makes my belief even stronger. Everyone in the world should follow communism. It would just make things so much easier. There should be no classes and no differences throughout society. Also I wanted to go back to discussing that movie To Live for a second. It goes back to my thought that I discussed in the Communist Manifesto. Everyone should have “equal liability to work. There should be establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.” This relates back to the economic part of society that we were just talking about. However, with the establishment of industrial armies Mao, are you really for child labor? That is one thing that bothers me so much. I cannot believe you would be for child labor. If you read my Communist Manifesto, how could you have skipped over the part that says, “Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.”

Pratt: Before you answer that Mao, let me just say that if you say you went along with child labor, that would be causing destruction within society. For many families, such as the main family in the movie To Live, their son was on very little sleep. Yet, just to please you, he still kept going to burn steel. He also died because of an accidental car crash, but you still see my point. This characteristic of your society is making people start to not like the society they live in. It may even get to the point that you are creating a “contact zone” from your own actions.

Mao: Well, I am sorry for what happens because of child labor, but I cannot do anything about that. I feel as if child labor is good because they are learning at a young age how to be a worker. We need all of the help that we can get.

Marx: But at what cost. I cannot believe you would actually say something like that. We do not need child labor if we have so many workers. Proletarians do not have much to lose. They just have a world to win. We just need a Communist Revolution.

Mao: I am sorry if you do not like child labor. I do feel however that we need a communist revolution. The rest of the world should just become part of our communist society, and the bourgeoisie should tremble.

Marx: On that note, that was a great discussion. That is all the time we have for today. Thank you again Mao Zedong and Mary Louise Pratt for coming out here today to W-C-N-A radio station to talk with me. Now, everyone, live in harmony by the statement, WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! I just love saying that. Now, like I promised, everyone can enjoyed the new song M-A-O Yeah Yeah!

Bibliography

To Live. Dir. Yimou Zhang. 1994.

Marx/Engels Selected Works, Volume One, Progress Publishers, Moscow, USSR, 1969, pp. 98-137;

Pratt, Mary Louise, “Introduction,” in Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation, New York: Routledge, 1994