Red Azalea by Anchee Min and Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Fernberg - Essay Example

Freedom To Be Red Azalea by Anchee Min and Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Fernberg are two novels that discuss the psychological, emotional, sexual and political journeys of two women during times of political repression. Red Azalea is set in communist China, where during the time when the revolution was beginning to emerge from the countryside. The two novels were both situated in oppressive settings that allowed the main characters to uniquely experience subversive encounters, which drove them to retreat and escape from the repressive society, in order for them to manifest freedom and initiate the struggle of self-discovery. The authors patterned the two novels in this way, to intensify the difficult struggle that the two main characters had to go through, just to have a chance to freely define who they really are. The farm where the Red Azalea's lead character, Anchee Min worked left her feeling suffocated, which was why she wanted to try her luck in theater. Moreover, the stigma of the Communist Revolution drove Min to feel more repressed, as the ideals of communism to dampen the individual's desire for self-actualization for the benefit of the collectivist society. Stone Butch Blues is set in upstate New York, during a time of political turmoil in the 1960s. The lead character, Jess, was constantly asked whether she was a girl or a boy, and was thus being forced to fit into a society that only tolerated masculine behavior for men, and feminine behavior for women. The settings of the two novels both provided a backdrop by which tension could occur, since it was made clear on both novels that the two lead characters wanted to define themselves in settings where they were trapped - physically, politically, emotionally and sexually. The places, the times, the surrounding people, as well as the prevalent ideas and culture defined the repressive environment in which the two main characters lived in. The settings and surroundings definitely took their toll on the psyche of the lead characters, and the authors used strong language to show how the stifling effects of the ideological suppression were to the main characters. Compared to Jess, Min kept more to herself, but the author portrayed the latter as having humorous and insulting images of the surrounding people that oppressed her. Jess, on the other hand, was a more active social rebel, in the sense that she showed everyone that she wanted to be her own person, despite the dictates of society. Noticeably, Stone Butch Blues was written in the first person, such that the author did not have to use the pronouns "he" or "she" to refer to the novel's main character. This, in itself, is a bold statement implied by the author through her narrative style, in the sense that she did not want her main character to be defined by stifling sexual conventions and norms. Through the plot of both the novels, Min and Jess both had unique encounters that gave them glimpses of the life experiences that their respective surroundings had tried to hide from them. These experiences moved and invigorated them in very deep ways. These further roused their curiosities, as if to make them feel that the things that they had been longing for all their lives, actually do exist and are in fact in front of them. These encounters provided an opposition against the ennui and stigma that the respective settings provided. For Min, she met Yan, who was a charismatic woman who happened to be affiliated with the revolutionary movement. Min developed a strong and deep friendship with Yan, as latter's character provided warmth against the desolation that the former experienced. Jess, on the other hand, was introduced to the thrilling world of lesbian bars - where strong butch women would fight for the admiration of their feminine lovers. Here, Jess finally fulfills her long-time yearning for love and companionship, while getting the chance to be the masculine female that she had always wanted to be. These encounters both gave Min and Jess a window of escape from the stifling environment that surrounded them. Through their invigorating encounters, they still had to go through their mundane existences, and experience the daily struggle that they had to go through for them to have a chance at repeating the encounters that revitalized them. Min had to hide her relationship with Yan, as the communist society persecuted and humiliated those who engaged in taboo relationships, such as pre-marital sex, more so those who engaged in lesbian relationships. Jess, on the other hand, had to go through the daily grind of being a factory worker, while working for tyrannical managers. Both characters relished their unique and revitalizing encounters, as these made them endure the difficult daily lives that they had to live. In Red Azalea, vivid descriptions were used to describe the depth of the sexual encounters that the main character experienced. Strong words mixed with a variety of figures of speech clearly described images of heightened sensations of physical pleasure. In this novel, the female-to-female sexual encounters were adamantly considered taboo, which was why the encounters also depicted a subversion of the political and emotional repression that her surroundings imposed. Aside from this, the strong language used to describe Min's sexual encounters signified that these not only brought physical elation to Min's persona, but also a transcendental feeling of inner freedom and self-discovery. In other words, Min not only experienced the carnal satisfaction of extreme physical pleasure, but also the deep enjoyment of experiencing a pure form of inner freedom and self-discovery. The same descriptions were present in Stone Butch Blues. However, this novel focused more on the extreme situations and struggle that Jess had to go through, to fight for her right to define herself. She had to endure different experiences, such as being raped by the football team, or the abuse of cops during raids in the gay bar, during her journey for self-discovery. She continually and constantly faced challenging moments in her life, which further heightened and intensified her difficult struggle. Like Min, her bold sexual experiences did not only signify euphoric moments of physical pleasure, but also a deep enjoyment of becoming who she really wanted to be. Noticeably, the two authors used the sexual exodus of Min and Jess to signify the philosophical and political journeys that they had to go through, amidst times of rampant ideological and political repression. Implicit in the style that both authors used is the assumption that sexual freedom rests on the most basic and fundamental of all rights - the freedom to choose and the freedom to be. The freedom to choose gives a person an autonomy over matters that will affect his persona, while the freedom to be gives the persona full authority as to who he wants to become, provided that he does not impinge on other people's rights. These liberties lie on the assumption that deciding person will know and do what is best for him, thereby excluding the need for external factors, such as the state or society, to intervene in the person's basic freedoms. Furthermore, these liberties allow a person to fully and completely benefit from his life, instead of allowing him to be an instrument of the state, or of the society for that matter. The finality of self-acceptance and self-affirmation that Min and Jess displayed, despite the taboo nature of their sexual inclination, served as the final string by which the two novels were resolved. Furthermore, the resolutions of the two novels affirmed two basic tenets - that acceptance should first begin with the self, and that the process of self-definition should first begin with self-acceptance. Both Min and Jess experienced long quests for love and acceptance that they both tried to get from the people around them, as well as from their romantic love interests in the novel. Throughout the novel, their struggles continued because there was always something missing in the experiences that they encountered. They both only started to feel a sense of finality when they began to accept themselves for who they truly were. Moreover, Min and Jess truly experienced the freedom to become who they truly wanted to be, only after they have accepted their true selves. They could not possibly forge a clear vision of who they really wanted to be, if they have not yet accepted who they truly were. A certain sense of direction follows one's acceptance of him self, such that only a person who knows and accepts himself, for who he truly is, can know and decide who he truly wants to become. Ultimately, a person who knows and accepts him self, for who he is, empowers himself with the chance to forge his own destiny. Read More