The Fluidity of Desire

Caity Croft

SWMS 215

Monday, October 31^st , 2011

Imitation and Gender Insubordination/Uncle

I loved reading the short story, Uncle. The first person narration from the perspective of a six-year-old boy was believable, while conveying the curiosity, excitement and wonder of personally formative childhood experiences. In particular, Jake’s recollections of his Uncle Paul are simple yet profound, for example, ““Just then I think that no one’s ever called me “big man” before, or said any of that other stuff” (6), and “ I never feel the things I feel with Uncle Paul with [Auntie Delia] though, either. I think it’s because she’s not as tall as he is.” (10) It was interesting to read the short story in the context of Butler’s essay. When Butler writes, “identity categories tend to be instruments of regulatory regimes, whether as the normalizing categories of oppressive structures or as rallying points for a liberatory contestation of that very oppression” (803), it made me think of how Jake was subject to the regulatory regimes of his father and mother, who have, from the moment of his conception, tried to shape his identity and how his Uncle Paul allows for and is the subject of Jake's curiosity and genderless desires.