Perversion the Social Relation

164 Michael P. Biblerso sweet" (204). The initial violence of Nat's response corresponds tothe code of interpersonal behavior established within the slave institution.Although his own master is fairly tolerant, violence neverthelessremains the primary method of control and punishment within slaveryat large, and Nat reiterates the lesson almost perfectly. But his act ofstriking Willis also fosters a painful identification with him on the basisof their shared status at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Himself aslave, Nat cannot assert any real power over Willis by physically correctinghis behavior. The blow's symbolic emptiness thus pairs with Willis'shurt feelings to remind Nat of his own disenfranchisement and pain. Asa result, the scene quickly turns into a description of some other kindof relationship based in this identification—not quite the surrender ofeither man so much as the simple sharing of pleasure between them.Within the hierarchies of the slave plantation, Willis and Nat's equalstatus as black male slaves creates a situation in which their identitiesappear to cancel each other out. Although there are real differences betweenthe men, the cultural nexus of slavery renders those differencesirrelevant because they share the same fundamental relationship to thenetworks of power. Without a significant racial, gender, class, or evenage difference to unbalance the power relation between them personally,and without a narrative voice to infer one, the two men thus sharea moment of homo-ness in which their homosexual union renders theiridentities not only the same, but also virtually interchangeable. In muchthe same way that the institutions of slavery prompt an initial violentresponse from Nat, they also foster the realization and the pleasure ofa profound mutuality and sameness that appear to contradict the logicof violence. This experience of homo-ness paradoxically blurs, and evenseems to eliminate, the very categories of identity that define the twomen because their localized sameness actually neutralizes the axes of differencethat support definition. Moreover, this evacuation of identitiesderives a large part of its power not so much from the simple recognitionof similarity as from the temporary release from the self throughsexual orgasm. Within the act of their mutual masturbation, their identitiesdo not remain distinct, but merge into one, so that the sexual actthey perform on each other becomes an extension and repetition of thesexual acts they have previously performed on themselves. Nat's contactwith Willis represents an extension of both men's selves in the psycho-