VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 14:07:51 12/18/01 Tue
Author: dreamingman
Subject: Re: The answer.
In reply to: Flirty 's message, "The answer." on 13:49:50 12/18/01 Tue

"Why" and "Because" in Pigs Can't Fly --a depiction of social reality through children's eyes.
Aw Yaomien
"Why?" Amma said. "Because the sky is so high and pigs can't fly, that's why." --From "Pigs Can't Fly"

The "why" and "because" of life is often best captured by children, for they, as the relatively less socialized individuals in society, will often innocently question the social myths we, the adults, always take for granted and as the truth. Hence, adults are usually at a loss as to the "because" when children ask in that "cruelly direct way" why certain things happen, or why certain things are the way they are in society. Many adults simply brush off the children's disturbing questions, either telling the children to leave well alone or replying with an answer that has absolutely no relation to the original question, as Arjie's mother does in "Pigs Can't Fly". However, question though they may, children do not have the ability to comprehend the complex societal boundaries they transgress. Intelligent criticism of what we assume as our social reality must come from adult minds. Very often though, a literary text is able to dexterously blend both the poignancy of childhood and the sharp perspective of a mature consciousness to better question the social myths we assume to be truth and reality. "Pigs Can't Fly" is such a text, and it achieves its blend of childhood poignancy and adult maturity through the literary devices of narrator and narratee.

The narrator in "Pigs Can't Fly" is a young child of seven, and the whole story is related to us through his childish perspective, except for a brief moment when we get a sense of an older Arjie, who tells us that "the remembered innocence of childhood" is now lost to him forever. The narratee, the person whom the author assumes the story is to be told to, is however assumed to be an adult. Hence, certain things in the story, which the young narrator can only describe and cannot understand, such as what Arjie's father actually means by "funny", is understood by the adult narratee as being gay. The interweaving of the poignant loss the narrator feels for being blamed for something he cannot wholly understand, and the mature consciousness with which the narratee reads the text, and understands the social consequences that may lie ahead for a gay man, fuses the text into a tightly woven tale that is not only about bride brides and petty cousins, but is also an indirect criticism of our parochial view of social reality.

"A bride is a girl, not a boy."...I stared at her, defenseless in the face of her logic... --From "Pigs Can't Fly"

The societal definition of gender and gender roles is part of the social reality that Pigs Can't Fly seeks to explore. Play is used in all societies to enhance the socialization process, for it is in play that children learn to imitate their elders and thereby entrench themselves more firmly into the social system. Therefore, the children, in playing bride bride, are actually learning and conforming to the gender roles of men and women in their society. However, at the same time, they have also unconsciously adapted and redefined the roles to their own convenience, which is an indicator of how fluid gender can be. Arjie, being the leader of the girls, has the privilege to take on the most desired role of the bride even though he is a boy. The bit part of the groom is given to Sonali, his younger sister. Meena, it is noted, though a female is allowed to play with the boys and in fact assumes a leadership position. Therefore, Arjie is actually not the only one in the story who is transgressing conventional gender denomination, and the children do not see anything inherently wrong in all the roles they have assumed. It is the adults, who, indoctrinated with a more rigid set of beliefs about gender that put their stamp of disapproval on all the proceedings and proclaims that Arjie is"funny".

However, when questioned, the adults find it difficult to explain to the children exactly why Arjie cannot play with the girls, and Arjie's mother simply brushes them off by saying "Because the sky is so high and pigs can't fly". Their decision is difficult to explain and justify on the one hand because it is difficult to explain to young children about gender roles and issues of homosexuality, but at the same time, the children have touched on a crucial point. Heterosexuality as the norm and conventional gender roles have been so entrenched that it is taken to be the truth, and when the children question its validity the adults suddenly find themselves forced to reevaluate what they have always assumed to be the truth, and to realize that "Life is full of stupid things and sometimes we just have to do them". The reevaluation process happens with the narratee as well, who has to make his or her own inferences from the description of the events through the childish perspective of the narrator. For example, homosexuality as an issue is never overtly raised; we only get hints of it here and there. We are told that there is a boy who turned out funny, and who became the laughing-stock of Colombo, and the narrator hints to us even as he tells his story retrospectively that these Sundays will mark the beginning of his exile from the world he loved and will also propel him into "the precarious waters of adult life". Having to draw our own inferences forces us to reevaluate our own definition of and prejudices about gender roles and homosexuality, and finally spurs us on to criticize a social system which forces individuals into rigid gender roles.

Two things formed the framework of this system: territoriality and leadership. --From "Pigs Can't Fly"

Power relations mark every human group, and the groups of children in "Pigs Can't Fly" have a complex power structure underlining their relations as well, and are through play, actually experiencing their first glimpse of how power shapes and controls human relations and lives. The two camps of children separate themselves into different territories, choosing to ignore the other as they know they have different ideologies and that contact will likely bring conflict. Different qualities bring admiration from each camp, and Arjie recognizes instinctively that his capacity for fantasy and active imagination will not bring him acceptance in the boys' camp, and hence, gravitates towards the girls' camp where he naturally enjoys himself more and is recognized for his abilities and made leader. His leadership is soon challenged by Her Fatness. She first tries to win the girls over by showing them her dolls, but that having failed proceeds to get rid of her competitor by appealing to her mother, a higher power in the hierarchy of the children's world.

Such proceedings are not dissimilar to the maneuverings of modern political parties. Political parties try to win supporters of other political parties to their side by seducing them with novelties and benefits, and often resort to underhand means to get rid of a rival whose power is difficult to topple through legitimate means. Her Fatness' appeal to her mother is a move that is considered sly and underhand in the moral system of the children's world, and it is symptomatic of the politics of our society when Her Fatness does succeed in getting rid of Arjie. The girls are also an apt depiction of political supporters, slightly bewildered, indecisive, meek and to a great extent accepting of political struggles as long as they are not greatly affected by the changes. The girls do feel delight when Arjie returns to play with them, but do not question Her Fatness' authority as Her Fatness has shown them what she is capable of doing. Their lives also go on as usual despite the change in leadership, they continue playing bride bride without Arjie, and soon, Arjie's plight, though having touched them for a time, will be lost among sweepings of busy and cluttered memories.

Though I have tried to show how an adult narratee may read "Pigs Can't Fly" as a criticism of the social myths we wrap comfortably around ourselves as reality, my reading requires a narratee who has a certain background in social criticism and who may be interested in reading the story in this way. However, many readings may be derived from "Pigs Can't Fly," and hence I feel it is enough to simply understand that the story is essentially about the alienation and loneliness one feels at not being what society expects, and empathy with such a person, instead of bristling self righteousness will better serve towards peace and tolerance in our societies, than all the wealth or knowledge we can ever garner.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Post a message:
This forum requires an account to post.
[ Create Account ]
[ Login ]
[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.