Perversion the Social Relation

"As If Set Free into Another Land" 171fill his commitment to reinvent society according to "the Lord's will"by drawing on other models of egalitarian community already theorizedwithin culture. Yet these models are themselves limited in their potential,and when Nat tries to reconcile them with the transformational impetusof homo-ness, he moves beyond revolt into much more problematicideological ground. He becomes increasingly fascistic in his ideology bydisallowing any form of difference beyond a common racial identity, andthus plots to eliminate whites through genocidal warfare. And when hefinally decides that some whites might deserve to live after his revolt, heagainjaccepts them into his community with a subtly revised notion oftheir ideological sameness as opponents to slavery. Moreover, at everystage of his plan, he insists that all women of both races be excludedfrom any real participation in his community. Thus it seems again thatStyron's depiction of Nat's rebellion is as doomed to fail as the rebellionitself—chough not, perhaps, because of Styron's implicit racism or sexism,as others have argued. For although Styron offers a profound imageof the idea of homo-ness that supports Nat's insurrection, he does notacknowledge the way that homo-ness implicitly depends on differencefor its own eruption into culture, or the way that it depends on an extremelyrelative notion of sameness to the self. Nevertheless, even if Natand Styron both fail, the novel still works as a remarkable example inwhich we can better understand the emancipatory possibilities of homonessby also learning to recognize the limits of its power.In the weeks immediately following the baptism, Nat imagines creatinga new community that is quite typical of every other vision of evangelicalChristianity. But this attempt fails because while he privilegesa notion of sameness, he also ignores the disruptive capability withinhomo-ness to change the oppressive networks of slave society. At thispoint in his thinking, Nat decides to build a community of two peoplenot by entering into a full-fledged homosexual relationship with Willis,but by trying to educate him and prepare him for freedom:As for Willis—well, I realized now that loving him so much, lovinghim as a brother, I should do everything within my power to assurehis own progress in the way of the Lord. I must firsttry to teach himto read and write... that accomplished, maybe it was not beyondthe bounds of possibility that Marse Samuel might be persuadedthat Willis, too, was fit for freedom and could be set loose in the