Gay perspectives in Arab communities - Essay Example

Abdulla Alkathiri Lydia Shatkin ENG 107 10/17 Gay perspectives Self-confidence affects human beings in their acts toward other people and how their personality is built. A person might lack confidence in whom they really are, such as a man who wants to be a woman. This type of lack of confidence and trust could lead him to believe that he is a man from outside; however, he is somebody else from the inside. Furthermore, this type of belief could lead a man to be uncomfortable with other men, because he is sexually attracted to men, which it is weird in Arab communities. Arab communities see gay people as if they are sick and should be treated as soon as possible. However, the personality of a gay can be changed if he intends to do so. Furthermore, it is a choice rather than a must. This type of behavior is called homosexuality. The narrator Rickel in the story “pass” didn’t show directly that he is gay. He is unwilling to express it openly. A person has to think deeply to understand that the narrator is gay. A person can realize that the narrator is gay through phallic symbols and the situation in which he is trying to pass. The text reveals how the narrator was structured as a gay from his childhood; however he wants the audience to experience the difficulties he was trying to pass through the town he lived in, people that was the main affects, and challenging of hiding his homosexuality. The narrator is unwilling to discuss openly that he is gay in the story. He tries to hide his identity between the lines to try to make the reader think deeply about what Rickel’s personality of Rickel is, and to cause the reader to read the story a few more times. For example, when he talked about the shape of other boy’s bodies, a reader might think that he is just discussing it as a curious teenager; in fact, he was attracted to the shapes of the other boy’s body as a gay. In short, he hides his personality to deliver his identity to the people who are interested in the story and would read it to discover its meanings, such as the audience of the Arab. There is an Arabic saying that from the black duck comes a white duck. This means that whatever was the color or the culture that a man is from, he can be just the opposite. For example, the narrator lives in a town called Tempe; it is a small town and all the people know each other. There is only one barbershop and one drug store. From their description, it is likely that the people in the city are close-minded, and they have their own culture and traditions. They don’t have tourists. The small community is like the black duck the somehow produces the strange, white duck, the narrator, he lived in a community where it was believed that no man would think of being gay, however, he did. Moreover, being gay in that community is unusual. People would look down on the gay person. Furthermore, if a person were gay in that community he wouldn’t admit it, because he might get into serious problems. In the 1950’s, people judged gay people as if something were wrong with them. Moreover, they would fire them from federal jobs, and they would put them into mental hospitals and treat them. “In 1955, in Sioux City, Iowa, 29 men suspected of homosexuality were committed to mental asylums as a preventative measure authorized by the State” (coming out). Homosexuality is an illness that a person can be cured from. In short, these are some influences that affected the narrator. The specific men in narrator city had influenced him. In the mid-60s in Tempe men usually went to a place called Q as a place of entertainment. As a man you had to go the Q to entertain with friends. Despite its reputation it was also of an aggressive place where young men would try to prove their strength. For example, a man would go to prove that he is something in the society. In all likelihood, gay people hated these places because it is just not the way they entertain as normal men. However, the narrator went there just to watch the other men fight, it was to him like a dramatic show. He would sit alone at a table with his drink and observe them doing their business. In my opinion, he was just impressed with their acts as if a man was fascinated with a woman’s body. Because, he liked the way that they stand to hit the ball. These elements affected and made him start to think about the body of other boys. For example, when he and his friends took a shower after a long tennis game, he was avoiding looking at their bodies so that they wouldn’t say he was gay. However, he was impressed with the structure of their bodies. The narrator is challenged by his own feelings as gay. In a society like Tempe in the mid-1960s most gay people would just say that they were not gay because gayness was considered a disease and something of an embarrassment to the family. These affects would make the narrator hide his real identity and try to live as someone else. Moreover, he didn’t try to say something foolish that would reveal his true self. He was living and not living. He lived as a normal person, but from the inside he feels different. In his story you can see that the town is filled with men but not women. In fact, he didn’t mention any women in the story but once. And it only says that if a woman brought her son to the barbershop, she would just leave him there until she finished some other business of her own (2). He was living in a world of men. He wasn’t comfortable with that he might have been more comfortable with girls if he had been around them maybe. Furthermore, the narrator wants to convey to the readers the feelings that he used to have when he was young through the difficulties that he faced as a gay. Many factors affected Rickel’s development as gay in his youth. These affects were sometimes direct and sometimes not. The direct affects were from the way he was treated and the figures he thought about since he was a child such as the symbol of the barber pole (phallic symbol). He was sexually attracted to these figures, but as a kid he didn’t know what they meant. These figures affected him as a young child and helped to grab his attraction and structure his personality as a gay when he grew. In fact, an Arab audience must have the opinion that is the most important elements that helped structure his personality. Moreover, he didn’t consult an expert or discuss his problems with any of his relatives to prevent reaching this point and be cured from it. However, he might have been ashamed of this serious issue that he had, and didn’t want anyone to know about it. This was a wrong decision that he made because he lived in a world of untruth and no confidence. He always tried to hide his real identity to not grab attention from the people that surrounded by him such as when he avoided to speak when he sit with his brother friends. The indirect effects were the way he sees his father changes whenever he goes to the barber shop. Rickel might have realized that if he was a man, he needed to change his identity every time he went to a new place. Direct and indirect elements structured his perspective towards boys. To sum up, gayness in the mid 60 s was something to be ashamed of. Most people would hate to see their own son as gay. The narrator used to live in a small city called Tempe. It would be hard for a person to be gay in such an environment. However, there are elements that affect a young boy to become gay. The surroundings that he lives in might affect him in indirect ways. The people that he used to be with, such as a father, would teach him lack of confidence. An audience from the Arab culture wouldn’t find this phenomenon plausible. Although the narrator had his own perspective of the way he thought that he was structured in that community, it’s hard to make Arab people see how a man can be attracted to other men, because it is unusual problem to them and their religion prohibits this kind of behavior. They would strongly disagree with the evidence and the explanation Rickel made. However, some would say it is okay; though it is a mental disease that needs curing. It is a disease that is structured in the mind and needs an expert mentalist to free him from his inside thoughts. Moreover, the audiences who are the Arab readers not be happy with Rickles story. In short, they might agree that a person with lack confidence is like a drugged person who doesn’t really understand what he is doing. Work Cited "Coming OutIn America An Historical Perspective." http://cowboyfrank.net/archive/ComingOut/02.htm. N.p., 12 May 2005. Web. 16 Oct. 2010. Boyer, Rickel. “Pass” Writing as Revision. Third ed. Boston: pearson learning solutionss, 2010. 145-47. Print. Read More