In the short story "Uncle" narrated by a six-year-old boy named Jake, the idea of when someone's sexuality can "determined" is brought up by Jake's recounting of his sexual thoughts and experiences with his older brother, Vince, and his Uncle James. To someone not familiar with the complexities of the definitions of "gender" and "sexuality," it may appear that Jake is experiencing "homosexual" tendencies, also at a very early age. However, to label Jake in this way because of his innocuous and naive desires would very much limit the concepts of psychoanalysis and sexuality. In Judith Butler's essay "Imitation and Gender Insubordination," she states that "the psyche is the permanent failure of expression, a failure that has its values, for it impels repetition and so reinstates the possibility of disruption." In this sense, concluding that what Jake is thinking about accurately reflects his identity would be wrong, for what he thinks is merely a mirror of what he sees. For example, the idea of phallic significance does not originate in his mind; rather, it is brought about by the forced encounters that he has with his brother's "razor." By the numerous repetitions of the Barber game that he plays with his brother, Jake is instilled the thoughts that he has, which are then passed onto his Uncle James. Also, according to Butler, "identification and desire can coexist, and that their formulation in terms of mutually exclusive opposition serves a heterosexual matrix." In this sense, it is possible for Jake to both "want to have" and "want to be" like his uncle. Therefore, it would be misleading and unjustified to assume anything about Jake's sexuality besides the idea that it is fluid and ever-changing.
Also, Butler argues that "gender is a performance that produces the illusion of an inner sex or essence or psychic gender core; it produces on the skin, through the gesture, the move, the gait, that illusion of an inner depth." This would connect with Jake's emotional detachment with his father, who scolds him that he "can't be such a crybaby all the time" and that he is going to "have to get tough one day." Through this parental "lesson" that Jake's dad teaches him, it is apparent that his father has a rigid definition of "masculinity," which includes the non-tendency to cry or express any emotions for that matter. He believes that being "tough" is the ultimate symbol of masculinity. He "performs" this "masculine" role himself and does not give Jake any affection, which leads to his son preferring his uncle over his own father. By telling Jake that he should be true to his male gender and act like a "real" boy, he is only creating an illusion of an internal gender. This reinforces Butler's explanation that gender is naturalized "through being constructed as an inner psychic or physical necessity."
I really love how, in your post, wrote about the two readings as if they were in conversation with eachother. Using Uncle as evidence for many of Butler's claims and including your own thoughts on both sources helped me put a lot of the ideas together in my own mind- so thank you :).
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