October 28, 2016 - 17:24
In the context of the relations between Dill and other characters, how is Dill’s identity represented and explored throughout the novel?
Tolerance without labels
Getting Mother’s Body is a novel that explores a largely untouched aspect of character identity, one that is created through the unspoken. During the mid-1900s, the time period in which this novel is set in, issues of identity including gender and sexuality are largely unexplored. Parks’ creation the character Dill adds an element of mystery as the reader is continuously bewildered by the complexities of this character’s identity. Dill embodies the idea of a multifaceted identity with their existence dipping into the realms of gender and sexuality respectively. Yet the inability for the novel to label these aspects of Dills identity creates a challenge for the reader to piece together the identity of Dill. In addition to this, the silent acceptance of these seemingly controversial identities demonstrates a commentary about how tolerance emerges when no preexisting labels and controversies are present to create discrimination.
In terms of Dill’s gender, the divide between the current labels and the absence of such labels in the novel creates a complicated problem of how to refer to Dill. As a result, Dill will therefore be referred to with the gender neutral pronouns of they/them/their in this essay. Dill’s gender, as many other parts of their identity, exists in a way that causes modern activists of current society to scream accusations of misrepresentation. The lack of labels forces the readers to mentally construct an identity through the context clues given by the characters in the novel.
From the perspectives and anecdotes of other characters the readers gain a sense of how the existence of Dill was perceived during the time period. Throughout the novel, various characters refer to Dill with she/her pronouns, not that it was unexpected seeing as Dill was biologically female. The unusuall aspect of the novel was the recognition of Dill’s very masculine traits. For instance, one could take Dill’s relationship to the townspeople. While all of them realized what Dill’s biological sex was (Parks 89) they still saw Dill as a very masculine figure. At first, when Willa-Mae revealed to the town that Dill was not a man, most of the town did not associate her statement with Dill’s gender. In the end it came down to “a woman’s word against a man’s word” (Parks 89) will Dill being the man. Even after the town slowly began to realize that Willa Mae was talking about Dill’s biological sex, Dill’s sex remained unspoken of. Dill’s ability to earn for themselves along with the way they acted gained the respect of the townspeople. The town accepted Dill as a man, even when they knew that Dill was biologically female. (Parks 89)
The town’s unanimous agreement to keep silent about Dill’s masculine tendencies despite realizing their female sex shows a level of tolerance that was not usually associated with the time period the story takes place in. This acceptance that Dill may possible identify as a man could have stemmed from various reasons ranging from their initial belief that Dill was male to Dill’s demonstration that they could provide for themselves. Despite the reason, this acceptance is an oddity seeing as notions such as being pregnant and unmarried during that time was a social taboo.
Contributing to this unorthodox tolerance was the fact that multiple characters viewed Dill masculine enough to refer to them as predominately male positions such father and husband. This mainly existed within Dill’s relationship with Billy and Will-Mae. Dill’s constant presence in both Willa-Mae and Billy’s lives along with their support of the mother-daughter combo caused the town to see Dill as Billy’s “father figure” (Parks 89). This perception was vastly important because, even ignoring Dill’s biological sex, Dill was not married to Willa-Mae. The idea that an individual who was definitely neither Billy’s biological father nor Willa-Mae’s husband was seen as akin to Billy’s father was a huge indicator of how the town accepted Dill’s masculinity.
This idea of Dill’s masculinity and acceptance as a masculine individual was further shown with Billy’s view of Dill as a guardian figure. This was demonstrated when Billy thought Willa-Mae was dead and Billy instinctually believed that she would go on to inheriting Dill’s pig farm (Parks 160), like a child would assume they would inherit their parent’s livelihood. Billy’s subconscious acceptance of Dill as their guardian/father demonstrates the extent to which Billy defines Dill by their masculine traits instead of their female sex.
In contrast from the town’s perspective, from Dill’s perception of themselves the readers can more acutely deduce Dill’s identity in terms of more common labels and standards. Through various elements shown through Dill’s perspective it was clear that Dill viewed themselves as male. Their actions, from “[peeing] standing up” (Parks 192) to hunting with the men of the town (Parks 89) displayed how they saw themselves as more of a man than a woman. Dill’s satisfaction when their mother Candy recognized them as a man and proclaimed them “Mr. Dill Smiles” (Parks 241) also demonstrated their desire to be viewed as a man. Candy’s recognition as Dill as a man and as a separate entity from “her little Deliah” (Parks 240) showed both Dill’s establishment as a man along with their departure from their former female identity.
Dill’s identification as a man was another part of the novel that was unusual. Their acceptance of themselves as another gender entirely was almost unheard of during that time period. The lack of background on Dill’s progression with their own identity prevents the readers to from truly creating a picture of how Dill broke past the standard constraints of gender to accepting an entirely new identity. Despite this, the common attributes of acting vary masculine, masking their feminine body features, and changing their name all point the readers to the experiences of transgender individuals in current society.
In addition to gender, an aspect of Dill’s identity that was also confounding was their sexual identity. While characters who saw Dill as a woman believed Dill to be a butch lesbian, as seen with Homer’s use of the word “lezzy” (Parks 229) to describe Dill, it was unclear what Dill’s sexuality truly was. With Dill’s possible male gender, it was possible that Dill identified as a straight transgender man. However, even if Dill’s sexuality was mislabeled, the existence and acceptance of Dill’s status of a lesbian was abnormal. The idea that homosexuality was not shown as condoned during the time period showed an almost unrealistic level of tolerance for identities outside of the norm.
Dill’s identity was a complicated existence, especially with the terms commonly used in modern day being non-existent during the time period the novel occurred in. It almost seemed like dill was anachronistic in nature. However, even without labels, there seemed to be an acceptance of identities outside of the norm. With the exception of the word ‘lezzy’ there was no labels given to Dill in term of their gender identity. This lack of labels and stigmas against transgender individuals allowed a level of acceptance in the novel that is almost unnatural in the era that it took place in. The capability to explore Dill’s gender and sexual identity in the novel in a way that avoids both labeling and discrimination demonstrates the idea that acceptance and tolerance is possible even in the most unlikely circumstances.
Bibliography:
Parks, Suzan-Lori. Getting Mother's Body: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2003. Print.