Perversion the Social Relation
Perversion the Social Relation Perversion the Social Relation
i82Michael P. Biblernew world of sameness and equality. Although the flawed logic hereobviously rests in the way that Nat personally forms his opinion aboutBrantley, Styron's inclusion of this second baptism seems to suggest thatNat's new vision of violent Christianity and bloody insurrection marksa final attempt to destroy the institutions and definitions of difference, aswell as the people who support them, so that the realities of interpersonaldifferences between those who remain will no longer need to besuppressed.But the flaw in Nat's thinking—and here, I think, in Styron's as well—cannot be ignored because Nat also allows the term "sodomy"—whichwe now more generally associate with homosexual acts performed byconsenting adults—to absorb and obscure Brantley's much more problematicidentity as a pedophile. He de-emphasizes the predatory form ofBrantley's apparent sexual preference and recasts it as something muchmore amenable to his own political goals. This slippage convenientlyallows Nat once more to redraw the axis of sameness and welcomeonly those who also live at odds with the hierarchies and ideologieshe is struggling to overthrow. 12 He now redefines sameness on politicalgrounds instead of racial ones by also misconstruing Brantley's habitsof sexual domination as something more akin to his own experience ofhomo-ness. Nat seems to privilege a false notion of Brantley's sexualidentity in order to reclassify himself and the white man as the same kindsof outlaws—men who are at odds with society not just because they'vedone something taboo sexually, but because their sexual histories haveprompted them in one degree or another to modify and challenge thesocial limitations placed upon them. With this subtle error, Styron apparentlywants us to read the scene as the full-circle return of homo-nessin a way that allows Nat to tolerate differences within a community builton a communal sameness. Superficially, Nat's embrace of Brantley seemsalmost like a realization of the Utopian form of homo-relationality thathomo-ness inspires—the place where social equality is grounded in thenotion of a fundamental sameness and where differences can exist withoutmattering. But to reach this new system of homo-relational community,Nat must constantly redraw the lines of sameness to satisfy hispersonal criteria of who should be admitted and who should not. Again,the error here seems to stem in large part from Nat's personal idiosyncrasies.But the inconsistency of Nat's criteria for sameness may also
"As If Set Free into Another Land" 183result from the extreme subjectivity of that demand in homo-ness forsameness to the self. As he expands his notion of community, he becomesless and less able to define that community according to his originalfeeling of sameness that his and Willis's shared status as black maleslaves enabled. Consequently, for every person Nat meets who is not likehim, but whom he also wants to save as a member of his community,he must distort both his own and the other person's identities to createsome kind of sameness that would justify a positive relationship betweenthem. The disruptive and communal powers of homo-ness are localizedand specific; and while they clearly offer a profound vision of what liesoutside the hierarchies of difference, they do not offer any specific meansfor transforming culture or for stabilizing the categories of sameness onwhich any new culture would be built.Nevertheless, if Styron's novel fails to examine these limits of homoness,we should not let that cloud us to the ways that same-sex desireand homosexual relations can still inspire a radical revision of the mainstreamhierarchies of patriarchy, racism, and the oppressive class structure,even in our own society. In its shifting definitions of sameness, itstotal exclusion of women, and its near-total exclusion of whites, the rebellionof Styron's Nat Turner fails in its attempt to create a new systemof open homo-relationality inspired by his initial experience of homonesswith Willis. But insofar as Styron's novel portrays his rebellion as afailure for Nat both politically and personally, the text still attests to thepositive capabilities of homosexual relations in the construction of community,for it suggests that homo-ness is the force that not only givesNat his greatest push toward open rebellion as the way to end slavery*but that also informs his every attempt to imagine a society after slavery.Although homo-ness depends on the construction of differences to opena space for sameness, it also enables the temporary dissolution of differencesthrough the orgasmic replication and extension of the self inan other. This dissolution thus offers a transformational and transcendentglimpse of a nexus of relations that actually defies the hierarchicalarrangement of difference that fostered homo-ness in the first place. Attemptingto realize this feeling of liberation in a more permanent andmore social form, Nat appropriates other forms of egalitarianism andtries to modify them according to that original sexual inspiration. Yeteven though these attempts ultimately fail, Styron's representations still
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"As If Set Free into Ano<strong>the</strong>r Land" 183result from <strong>the</strong> extreme subjectivity of that demand in homo-ness forsameness to <strong>the</strong> self. As he expands his notion of community, he becomesless and less able to define that community according to his originalfeeling of sameness that his and Willis's shared status as black maleslaves enabled. Consequently, for every person Nat meets who is not likehim, but whom he also wants to save as a member of his community,he must distort both his own and <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r person's identities to createsome kind of sameness that would justify a positive relationship between<strong>the</strong>m. The disruptive and communal powers of homo-ness are localizedand specific; and while <strong>the</strong>y clearly offer a profound vision of what liesoutside <strong>the</strong> hierarchies of difference, <strong>the</strong>y do not offer any specific meansfor transforming culture or for stabilizing <strong>the</strong> categories of sameness onwhich any new culture would be built.Never<strong>the</strong>less, if Styron's novel fails to examine <strong>the</strong>se limits of homoness,we should not let that cloud us to <strong>the</strong> ways that same-sex desireand homosexual relations can still inspire a radical revision of <strong>the</strong> mainstreamhierarchies of patriarchy, racism, and <strong>the</strong> oppressive class structure,even in our own society. In its shifting definitions of sameness, itstotal exclusion of women, and its near-total exclusion of whites, <strong>the</strong> rebellionof Styron's Nat Turner fails in its attempt to create a new systemof open homo-relationality inspired by his initial experience of homonesswith Willis. But insofar as Styron's novel portrays his rebellion as afailure for Nat both politically and personally, <strong>the</strong> text still attests to <strong>the</strong>positive capabilities of homosexual relations in <strong>the</strong> construction of community,for it suggests that homo-ness is <strong>the</strong> force that not only givesNat his greatest push toward open rebellion as <strong>the</strong> way to end slavery*but that also informs his every attempt to imagine a society after slavery.Although homo-ness depends on <strong>the</strong> construction of differences to opena space for sameness, it also enables <strong>the</strong> temporary dissolution of differencesthrough <strong>the</strong> orgasmic replication and extension of <strong>the</strong> self inan o<strong>the</strong>r. This dissolution thus offers a transformational and transcendentglimpse of a nexus of relations that actually defies <strong>the</strong> hierarchicalarrangement of difference that fostered homo-ness in <strong>the</strong> first place. Attemptingto realize this feeling of liberation in a more permanent andmore social form, Nat appropriates o<strong>the</strong>r forms of egalitarianism andtries to modify <strong>the</strong>m according to that original sexual inspiration. Yeteven though <strong>the</strong>se attempts ultimately fail, Styron's representations still