Streams of Consciousness… Beware of wordiness*!

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A Gay-Lesbian/Queer Criticism on “Dalawa”

By Philip Hope P. Mamugay

            The play entitled “Dalawa” from the twin-bill production In2rscors tells the story of two best friends: Rita and Gigi, and the revelations made by each of them one night when the former decides to spend the night in the latter’s apartment.

            The first hint of homosexuality, although quite subtle, is depicted on Rita’s choice of clothes. She wears a simple tee and a pair of baggy pants. She doesn’t like to dress up, and because of this fashion attitude, she is dubbed a “tomboy”.

            The two talks about different personal topics and shows streams of consciousness, they converse in an unrestrained, continuous, and natural manner. The spontaneity of their talks stresses out the firmness of their same-sex bond as best friends and is not quite viewed with malice by the audience at first.

            Before exploring the depths of homosexual behavior, it is rather important to note the individual personalities of the two characters: Rita is the silent type. She appears to be troubled. It is mentioned that she happens to be her dad’s favorite. This attachment to her dad will soon surface a revelation as the story unfolds. Like what has been stated earlier, she is “tomboyish”. She doesn’t talk unless someone catalyzes her to speak out, and in this case, Gigi is her catalyst.

            Gigi, on the other hand, is bubbly, perky, and “kikay”. She is adventurous and is quite the outspoken type. She views intimacy as something exciting, although she has never done “it” all the way.

            Later on, a drastic change of atmosphere occurs to Rita and Gigi’s “slumber party” mood when Rita confesses to Gigi that she has been repeatedly molested by her father. Gigi was dumbfounded at first, but as the two decides to go to sleep, her curiosity and adventurous trait took control over her causing her to act queerly. She caresses Rita and tries to kiss her. Rita wakes up and tries to stop Gigi but the latter blackmails her, saying that she would spread the word that Rita is having sex with her dad.

      “Gusto mong ipagkalat ko sa buong campus na you’re f****ng your dad?!”

            There has been an exchange of personalities. Rita, who appears to be the tomboy at the start of the play, is now being harassed by her friend Gigi, who is now the one displaying real homosexual tendencies. In the end, Rita gave in.

            The coming-out-of-the-closet by the character Gigi is quite notable. Throughout the play, we were led to believe that she is the “straight” one. But once she finds out about Rita having had sex with her dad, she decides to take this opportunity to test her curiosity and her closeted lesbian tendencies. Gigi recognizes within herself her desire to be sexually intimate with Rita and decides to act on it. She uses Rita’s secret as a leverage to blackmail her and take advantage of her.

            It is thus, then revealed that Gigi is the one with lesbian tendencies and Rita is merely a victim. In this case, a victim of both her father’s and best friend’s sexual abuse. Rita and Gigi enter into a genital relationship with each other. Both make a step inside the realm of their first lesbian experience.

            The concept of the play rejects the idea of compulsory heterosexuality. This means that there is an act of resistance made by Gigi to heterosexual behavior as she decides to start “coming out of the closet” and expose her real sexual identity to her troubled friend, Rita. Compulsory heterosexuality is the assumption that men and women are ideally made for each other both sexually and emotionally and that homosexuality is abnormal and is not universal.

            The message of this play is very relevant for the contemporary times. It raises the recognition of non-heterosexual behaviors and calls for a greater understanding to it. It does not imply that same-sex relationships (i.e. friendship) should be viewed upon with suspicion and should be categorized with condemnation under the lesbian continuum, but it expresses the fact that such homosexual behaviors actually exist and turning a blind eye on them is not a reasonable solution.

This is a critique submitted by the author in his English 90 class under Prof. Christine F. Godinez-Ortega.

Dai Sijie’s first novel, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, is something that appeals for both Feminist and Marxist readers. It is a story of love, beauty, awakening of desires, romance, literature, and how all these “people” the lives of those involved in the re-education movement in the height of the Cultural Revolution of China in Mao Tse Tung’s reign in the 1970’s.

Part of the reeducation program at that time was the automatic suspicion on intellectuals, who are then sent to provinces or countryside to “cleanse” themselves of their bourgeois ways. Two of the main characters in the story, Luo and the narrator (whose name, as translated in English means "Horse Sword Bell") were sent to the fictional mountain named Phoenix of the Sky to be reeducated by carrying natural fertilizers (i.e. animal dung) on their backs and working in the dangerous copper mines. Luo is a son of a famous dentist, who has been labeled as “an enemy of the state” for once performing dentistry on Chairman Mao’s teeth and for hinting the imperfection of Chairman Mao. The narrator (we shall address to him as Ma), on the other hand, is a son of a pulmonary physician. Ma is also a gifted musician and is dubbed as “the fiddler” for he plays the violin.

It has been stated in the novel that only the books approved by the government (books about human labor and manpower) is allowed to be read. Upon Luo and Ma’s arrival, the village Chief goes through their possessions, throwing “bourgeois” stuff on the fire and nearly doing the same thing with Ma’s violin (thinking it was toy) before Luo convinces him to let Ma play Mozart on it. Ma charms the villagers with the sonata and is allowed to keep his instrument when the Chief is informed that the composition is in honor of Chairman Mao and is entitled “Mozart is thinking of Chairman Mao”. The ignorance of the villagers is in sync with the two boys’ capability to manipulate them, as they are more educated or more “civilized” as compared to them. This shows the possession of power among the two class strata.

The novel shows how various “rebels” of the Mao government adjust with the situation they are in pragmatically. For instance, Ma can still play Mozart’s compositions by attributing them to Mao or Lenin (“Mozart is thinking of Chairman Mao). Foreign literary pieces can even be hidden from illiterates, who may mistake an illustration of Flaubert for Karl Marx (like what happened when Ma got bullied by the gang who were jealous of him for spending much time with the Little Seamstress). The boys will never renounce their education, but will remain undercover intellectuals until the day that the government no longer requires that they hide their talents – after their reeducation has been made successful.

They soon meet the Little Chinese Seamstress, whom Luo thinks is "not civilized, at least not enough” for him. So, upon acquiring forbidden literary books from their friend Four-Eyes, who is in another neighboring village and also a candidate for reeducation, Luo reads to her books written by Balzac and other prominent writers of the west. This prejudice of Luo on women from the village underlines the presence of male dominance over women with an added discrimination on the people who live in the villages. Luo is stereotyping the Little Seamstress.

Luo and Ma are not aware of the impact of the Little Chinese Seamstress to their lives. Discreetly, she is the reason why they experience the feeling of having something to look forward to amidst the atrocities of their time, well, her and the literary books but she is the one who fires up the books that they read. They read the books all the while thinking of her and how she would respond to it. Will she like it? Will her eyes light upo when this is read to her?

The Little Seamstress then indulges in a sexual relationship with Luo. This act of “giving herself up” to Luo is another manifestation of sexualized power relations among men and women. By letting Luo have her, she thinks she is fortifying their romantic bond, when in fact, she is merely pleasing him. She succumbs to how her man (or boy, for that matter) expects her to behave. She embraces the cliché on women behavior.

Because of Luo’s desire to transform her into something civilized so that he’ll be good enough for him (this is a clear point of men expecting women to be attractive and to please them), he reads to her the “forbidden literary books”, especially those written by Balzac. And this creates a great impact on her - not only on her, but on Ma, and on the old tailor, as well.

Literature truly can become a life changing experience. The book makes sure it presents this theme with clarity. Ma, in particular is touched by Balzac and Flaubert, even going to the trouble of transcribing Balzac’s prose inside his jacket. After an all night reading session, he sees the world quite differently. The old tailor has also been affected by these works, which are made apparent in the clothes he makes which materialize those dresses described in the books. The Little Seamstress also is touched by Balzac, who convinces her that a “woman’s beauty has great value.” No longer will she feel so inferior. How do you keep her from living a better life after knowing that such a thing is actually possible to happen for her? After the ideas of Balzac have sunk in on her, she leaves off trying to search for that “something better”. That is the irony of learning; the more things you know, the more you feel incomplete and dissatisfied. But we cannot blame the Little Seamstress for longing for happiness on that “something better”.

Luo has indeed succeeded in transforming her. But then she turns out to be too good for him. More than what he hoped her to become. He no longer can take control over her. This is the Little Chinese Seamstress’ emancipation. She has been empowered. And she will never be stopped in going after what she wants…a better life.