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Mechelle Shan Doughty Deconstructing Fairy Tale Icons in Toni Morrison's Tar Baby and Rosa Montero's Te Tratare como a una reina ABSTRACT In this study I will examine how, from a feminist perspective, both Toni Morrison's fourth African-American novel, Tar Baby (1981), and Rosa Montero's third post-Franco Spanish novel, Te trataré como a una reina (1983), explore the problems that arise when women believe that they are the stereotypes permeating literature. Both women writers employ similar techniques that subvert and deconstruct the stereotypical roles of men and women, unveiling the fairy tale icons of the heroine and the hero that have been masquerading as "real" people. ESSAY
In 1975 the death of Franco and forty years of dictatorship and censorship offered Spanish women the freedom to reexamine their identity and question their role in a patriarchal society. At the same time on another continent, African-American women are also struggling to find their identity among the numerous American literary images that, until the 20th-century, had not realistically represented their gender or race. Notwithstanding the different histories, geographies, and ethnicities between African-American and Spanish women, a common thread that appears to bind them is their inheritance of a legacy of struggle against the internalization of controlling patriarchal perceptions and images of women that lead them to believe that they are, indeed, the stereotypes that permeate literature. This unhealthy cause and effect kinship between fiction and reality will only be broken when the source of these stereotypes is identified. I suggest that both Toni Morrison's Tar Baby, and Rosa Montero's Te trataré como a una reina probe the respective African-American and Spanish women's roles by similarly employing two techniques: the first, an interplay of binary oppositional characterization with the metafictional mode of multiple interpretations;2 and the second, allusion to fairy tale motifs. To subvert and deconstruct the stereotyping of women and men, these two writers unmask the fairy tale ideology influencing the formation of stereotypes and thus, underscore the role that literature plays in creating self-identity problems when reality tries to imitate art. In other words, the problems caused when -real- people feel compelled to live their lives as though they were fictional characters. In her book Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, Patricia Hill Collins argues that objectification is central to the process of oppositional difference. "In either/or dichotomous thinking, one element is objectified as the Other, and is viewed as an object to be manipulated and controlled" (69). Both Tar Baby and Te trataré explore this "either/or dichotomous thinking" through the creation of binary oppositional characters. In Tar Baby Jadine and Son are characterized by their opposition to each other as well as each one's erroneous interpretation of the other. While Son is an advocate for his African heritage, he lacks a college education, money and ambition. His violent outbursts resulting in the accidental death of his wife and the mistreatment of Jadine are a manifestation of his preference for the "backwoodsy" (273) ways when men violently killed or humiliated their unfaithful or uncooperative wives. In contrast, Jadine is uncomfortable with her African heritage, she is a well-travelled, educated, famous, and successful model who prefers the progressive life of the city. The tar baby folktale titling the novel has many versions of the trickster tradition, in which some type of "hero" shrewdly outwits a more dominant opponent.3 Morrison draws on the interplay between this binary oppositional characterization of Jadine and Son and the multiple interpretations that the roles of the trickster, the tar baby and the victim offer to deconstruct and subvert the either/or thinking that would characterize Jadine and Son in terms of either good or bad. Further, this interplay directs the reader's attention to the metafictional process of the characterization of an individual, by requiring his or her active participation in the characterization of Jadine and Son. A second example in which Tar Baby establishes an interplay between this technique of binary oppositional characterization and the metafictional mode of multiple interpretations is illustrated with the narration of Son's thoughts as he hides on the Sea Bird II. When thinking about Jadine Son consistently evokes stereotypical images of women that she clearly does not fulfill. He discovers that unlike the "sprawling laughter" (6) of the "fat black ladies in white dressesŠ minding the pie" (119), "nothing sprawled" in Jadine's voice and she "had not cooked-" , but "had warmed up carry-out food" (6-8).4 This narration of Son's thoughts bring to the reader's attention his dependency on the restrictive either/or stereotypical thinking. He defines Jadine in terms of everything that she is not. By offering the reader this insightful look at Son's process of characterization, Tar Baby invites its readers to follow Son's method which then leads them to arrive at their own rendition of Jadine's characterization which goes beyond the obvious binary oppositional characterization that plagues the novel. In much the same way that Tar Baby explores "either/or dichotomous thinking" through the technique of binary oppositional characters, Te trataré probes this same type of thinking to subvert the stereotyping of women and men, revealing how their formation is based on fiction. In contrast to Tar Baby, where the characters break from their respective stereotypes, Te trataré, deconstructs the male/female stereotypes by inverting the roles. Unlike Son, a muscular tall and strong man, Antonio is an aging, pretentious insecure man, who, as is epitomized in his extraordinary sense of smell, embodies numerous characteristics that are "normally" attributed to women. He is so sensitive to any odor that he appears fragile and sickly when confronted with everyday odors. In contrast, Bella, who sings in the "male" domain of a bar and practices the "manly" activity of acquiring numerous noncommittal sexual encounters, underscores Antonio's "unmanly" traits. As her thoughts demonstrate, she reinforces Antonio's emasculation: "Antonio apenas alcanzaba su barbilla. Era bajo, bajo y un poco esmirriado" (131). ["Antonio barely reached her chin. He was short, short and a bit puny"]5 As is illustrated in this quote, Bella, a modern, nontraditional woman like Jadine, is a binary oppositional character who serves to deconstruct the either/or thinking of gender stereotyping. Parallel to Morrison's use of the tar baby tale in Tar Baby, Montero, juxtaposes four journalist's reports with the rest of the text, to create an interplay between the binary oppositional characterization of Antonio and Bella and the metafictional mode of multiple interpretations of this characterization as good or bad. Montero overlaps the role of "real" reporter with the role of "fictional" character and deconstructs and undermines the single authoritative patriarchal voice. The first of the four reports characterizes Bella as the "asesina" ["assassin"], who without any apparent provocation from Antonio, a victim that "parecía un cura" ["was like a priest"], throws him out of a four-story window (9). The last report is from a bedridden Antonio, who contrary to previous reports, is not dead, drawing attention to the metafictional process of characterization. Furthermore, the supposedly journalist fact-filled reports juxtaposed with the fiction of the text have the same subversive and deconstructive effect on gender stereotypes that the tar baby tale produces in Tar Baby. The second technique that both writers share is the allusion to fairy tale motifs. In Tar Baby, the fairy tale motifs -magic, enchantment, orphans living happily ever after upon finding riches and family- saturate the novel, drawing attention to the process of creating fictional characters, while at the same time, offering the reader more than one rendition of the characterization. One motif is that of the ugly frog magically turning into a handsome prince. This fairy tale motif emerges as Jadine's perception of Son changes. Her first perception of him focuses on his "wild, aggressive, vicious hair that needed to be put in jail" (113). Later, her impression, which is not based on his actions, focuses on the appearance of the magical Hickery Freeman suit: "It was incredible what Hickery FeemanŠcould doŠJadine was startled. In a white shirt unbuttoned at the cuffs and throat and with a gentle homemade haircut, he [Son] was gorgeous" (156).6 Another example of the fairy tale motif in Tar Baby, is illustrated with the narration of Jadine's perception of how she feels heroically rescued by this prince, Son, who "unorphaned," "cherished and safeguarded" her, giving her "a brand-new childhood." She frolics in the fictive world of the Brer patch of the tar baby tale knowing that when she wakes from a nightmare "the stability of his shoulder and his limitless, eternal chest" await her (229). Again, Jadine erroneously attributes the essence of an individual to his physical appearance; here, she attributes security, stability and limitlessness to the male body. Also when Jadine makes future plans with Son she resorts to fairy tale language: "'ŠWe'll get rich and send for them [Sydney and Ondine] and live happily ever afterŠ'" (226). In Te trataré the fairy tale image of a queen first emerges in the title: Te trataré como a una reina [I Will Treat You Like a Queen]. And like Tar Baby, this image is reiterated throughout the novel. Poco writes a bolero, a type of outdated country song, of the same title and shows it to Bella, who, rather than interpreting it as a fictitious text, immediately assumes the role of the queen applies to her. Only upon seeing how much she likes the bolero does Poco give it to a shocked and embarrassed Bella. Clearly, Bella's misinterpretation of Poco's outdated bolero foreshadows her failure to realize that Poco's friend's letter (promising to make him, her and Vanessa rich Cuban stars) was already twenty-seven years old. Antonio foreshadows Poco's violent beating of Vanessa, the intended queen (recipient of the bolero) and his failed promise to treat her like a fairy tale queen when he philosophizes to the perverted inspector García about the pilots' wives that Antonio seduces under false pretenses. Antonio believes that these women knowingly fall into his deception, because they want to play the part of a queen: "Hay que tratarlas como si fueran reinas. Son unas románticas, las mujeres" (100) ["You have to treat them as though they were queens. They are romantics, women"]. Another example of an allusion to a fairy tale in Te trataré is the image of the warlock and the motif of enchantment in Bella's perceptions of Poco. She perceives Poco as an image that "aparecía" ["appears"] and *quot;desaparecía como un fantasma" (152) ["disappears like a ghost"]. She mistakes this ghostly warlock for a good one and not a bad one. Also, Bella, like Jadine, turns Poco from the ugly frog that first repulsed her to a handsome prince -although she has to imagine him as a child in order to think of him as a handsome prince. Furthermore, Bella erroneously believes that she does not even need to look at Poco to know what he is doing because she believes their connection is so great: "aunque lo tuviera a las espaldas, no la pillaba jamás de improviso" (152) ["even though she had her back to him, he never caught her by surprise"]. She misinterprets "reality" because she fails to see it. Her renditions of "reality" deconstruct the binary oppositional gender stereotypes, by revealing them to be based on fiction rather than fact. Although Poco consistently demonstrates by his actions that he will not treat her like a queen, she reinvents his story continually making excuses for the conflicts between his "reality" and the motif of the bolero, "Te trataré como a una reina." Ironically, when Poco fails to rescue Vanessa from the two men trying to kidnap her, it is Bella who saves her. Nonetheless, she fails to credit herself with strength and courage, and instead creates a fictional excuse, crediting Poco with the wisdom to make Vanessa suffer for being stupid enough to flirt with the men in the first place: "En realidad, el Poco había hecho bienŠ Debería haber dejado que Š se compusiera sola, que aprendiera la lección" (184) ["In reality, Poco had done wellŠ I should have let herŠ settle it alone, let her learn a lesson"]. Correspondingly, Tar Baby and Te trataré suggest that women have the same capabilities as men and need to stop searching for a male figure to fulfill their needs and look to themselves for self-fulfillment and self-sufficiency. This is illustrated by the open-ended conclusion and the confusion of gender stereotypes that the novels offer. However, while Morrison's confusion of the gender stereotypes breaks from the boundaries separating both the mental and physical gender stereotypical traits, Montero's inverts them. This is encapsulated in the two female characters, Jadine and Bella, who take on traits that they had previously admired in men and perceived to be "male" traits, and thus, unattainable. Jadine finds security within herself and she feels proud "of having refused to be broken in the big ugly hands of any man. Now she felt lean and maleŠ" (275). Also, Jadine's refusal to hear Son's tar baby tale with the fairy tale motif of "once upon a time," suggest her desire to take control of her life and stay grounded in the "real" world and not in his fictive dream world (270). Madelyn Jablon further observes that she is also refusing to be a "character in a fictional tale" foreshadowing the tale's conclusion of an "escape" (104). Finally, Bella finds the insight that she thought Poco had, now noticing things in her "reality" that had escaped her before when she equated and measured her world by comparing it to outdated boleros. Later, after learning that Antonio has forced his sister's young lover to leave without even allowing him to say good-bye, a strong and powerful Bella, throws Antonio -the epitome of male chauvinism- out the window, symbolically freeing herself from her dependency on man. Considering this analysis, I find that the similar interplay between the two techniques of binary oppositional characters and metafiction employed in Morrison's Tar Baby and Montero's Te trataré are manifestations of the legacy of struggle shared between Spanish and African-American women against the either/or stereotypical thinking of patriarchal societies that view women as objects that they can manipulate and govern. They offer new meaning to art, by inviting their readers to leave the passive role and attentively participate in order to interact with the fictitious work of art, and thus, arrive at a better self-awareness of ourselves and our own reality and its relationship to literature. WORKS CITED Harris, Trudier. Fiction and Folklore: The Novels of Toni Morrison. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P. 1991. Hill Collins, Patricia. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Unwin Hyman, 1990. Jablon, Madelyn. Black Metafiction: Self-Consciousness in African American. Iowa City: U of Iowa P, 1997. Montero, Rosa. Te trataré como a una reina. 1983. Barcelona: Seix Barral. 1990. Morrison, Toni. Tar Baby. 1981.New York: Plume, 1982. NOTES 1 Luce Irigaray, This Sex Which Is Not One (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985) 217. 2 Critics have noted that what I call "multiple interpretations" and binary oppositions are characteristic of Morrison's works. 3 Trudier Harris, Fiction and Folklore: The Novels of Toni Morrison (Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 1991) 116. 4 On the Sea Bird II he thinks of "women" (6), later with the same contextual references he thinks of "fat black ladies" (119). 5 This and all subsequent translations are mine. 6 Racial stereotyping, also defined in fairy tale motifs, suggest that Son is a "frog" when his African-American hair is in its natural state and a "prince" when he conforms to the grooming norms of the white culture. Return to Session XIII BB Program |