Valdivia 1

Jose Valdivia

Ms. Manchester

English 3 AP 2°

16 May 2018

Queering Social Atonement

Replete with complacency and intrinsic exclusion, the hegemony perpetuates social

conformity as the most efficacious means of achieving socio-economic, -political, and -cultural

mobility. For those who do not fit the dominant narrative, living amid perverse homogeneity

remains virtually impossible: these social dissidents are pushed into the interstices of social

queerness and are forced to assimilate; socially die; or, in the most unlikely case, live peacefully

yet ostracized from a popular culture. For both the sexually and socially queer, the act of

‘coming-out’—revealing oneself as queer to an individual, family, or world—requires a form of

self-atonement and forgiveness from others; given queer intersectionality1, dissonant outcomes

of atonement and social queerness perpetuate a queer experiential multiplicity.

This essay intends to posit three characters from distinct novels: Charlotte Brontë’s ​Jane

Eyre​—Jane Eyre; Franz Kafka’s​ The Metamorphosis—​Gregor Samsa; William Faulkner’s ​As I

Lay Dying​—Darl Bundren as, if not ​sexually​ at least socially, queer. The three social

non-conformists emblematize queer intersectionality, for, although similar in their ‘socio-sexual

orientation/identity,’ they experience vastly contradictory self-atoning relationships to their

queerness, resulting in the uprising, death, or containment of the aforementioned characters.

Rather than arguing for a universal non-conforming narrative, this essay’s paradoxical nature

1
For more on intersectionality, reference: Crenshaw, Kimberlé. "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex:
A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics." ​University of
Chicago Legal Forum​: Vol. 1989: Iss. 1, Article 8. https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8
 Valdivia 2

will obscure the stability of socio-sexual homogeneity, attempting to undermine monotony

within heteronormativity ​and ​mainstream minority culture.

In order to establish argumentative credibility, the three protagonists must be deemed

socially queer2. In Charlotte Brontë’s ​Jane Eyre ​(1847), the protagonist, Jane Eyre, recounts the

story of her life from abused and orphaned child to seemingly content heiress. Prior to her

adventure into the unknown world of Lowood and beyond, Jane Eyre lived with her widowed

aunt, Mrs. Reed. The cruel woman claimed that she lacked a “sociable and childlike disposition”

(Brontë 3). Jane’s defiant and queer spirit clashed with the Reeds’ conservative family-values,

many times driving Mrs. Reed to hope that “God [would] punish [Jane]... [striking] her dead in

the midst of her tantrums” (Brontë 13). The naïve Jane was apt to cause “discord in Gateshead

Hall,” threatening the stability of ‘Reedian’ socio-heteronormativity (Brontë 16). Exasperated by

the (un)purportedly rebellious Jane, Mrs. Reed sent the orphan to the boarding school, Lowood.

There—at least upon her arrival—Jane’s negative queer experience continued, resulting in

virtual loneliness, as she noted that the other girls did not “seem to take notice of [her],”

reminding her of the familiar “feeling of isolation [to which she] was accustomed” (Brontë 67).

Clearly, the socially queer Jane was excluded from popular culture just as a sexually queer

individual in society. Her only friend was an equally strange student, Helen Burns3. The

inherently dissenting Jane continued to live her life marginalized as a result of her social

queerness and defiance of social norms.

2
Due to a lack of literature in social queerness, an ‘anecdotal’ definition must be given: an ‘identity’ which relies on
non-conforming social attributes; rather than being sexual defectors, social queers behave in ways which threaten
traditional family-values or institutions created for social comfortability
3
For a homoerotic interpretation of ​Jane Eyre​, reference: Mclean Hasty, Sayler. “The Love that Dares to Speak its
Name: Queer Language and Female Homoeroticism in ​Oroonoko​, ​Jane Eyre​, and ​Aurora Leigh​.” University of
Georgia Master’s Thesis. https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/hasty_sayler_m_201405_ma.pdf
 Valdivia 3

Similarly to ​Jane Eyre,​ Franz Kafka’s ​The Metamorphosis ​(1915) presents the story of an

abnormal man, Gregor Samsa, who awakes transformed into a huge beetle. Accordant with

various readings of the novella, the beetle is a symbol of Gregor’s self-abhorrence. In his case,

the act of becoming a beetle establishes his queerness, for even his mother believed that “[there

was] certainly something wrong with him” (Kafka 10). As others became aware of his ‘queer

conversion,’ one of his managers noticed his “[flauntingly] strange whims,” which, in his world

of patriarchal capitalism, “[could not] be tolerated” (Kafka 11). The socially queered Gregor had

begun to come to terms with his glaring differences, as he realized that his entire family knew

“there was something the matter with him” (Kafka 13), some oddity which would forever

separate him from them.

Finally, in William Faulkner’s ​As I Lay Dying​ (1930), the Bundren family attempts to

reach a promised land of Jefferson in order to bury their deceased matriarch, Anne Bundren. One

of the elder sons, Darl Bundren, experiences unique episodes of telepathy, for, on multiple

occasions, it is noted that he “looks at [one] with… queer eyes… like he had got into the inside

of [one]” (Faulkner 125). As a result, the “queer” boy was often ostracized by the family and

ridiculed by his larger community (Faulkner 24). According to various readings of the text, Darl

was afflicted by mental illness4, which geo-psychically alienated him from society. This essay

argues that, rather than the mental illness causing his exclusion, Darl’s telepathy serves as a

symbol of his social queerness5, which, in turn, ‘obligated’ the Bundrens to actively prohibit Darl

from serving as a functional unit of the family. Nevertheless, the mentally preoccupied and aloof

4
For more on telepathy and mental illness, reference: ​Kleinbard, David. "​As I Lay Dying​: Literary Imagination, the
Child's Mind, and Mental Illness." ​Southern Review​, vol. 22, no. 1, Winter1986, p. 51. EBSCO​host​,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aqh&AN=15795016&site=ehost-live​.
5
For a gendered interpretation of Darl, reference: ​Southard, Marybeth. "‘Aint None of Us Pure Crazy’: Queering
Madness in ​As I Lay Dying​." ​Faulkner Journal,​ vol. 27, no. 1, Spring2013, p. 47. EBSCO​host​,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aqh&AN=98992017&site=ehost-live.
 Valdivia 4

Darl remained virtually unaware of his exclusion and hardly self-reflected on his abnormality,

causing him to live amid, yet outside of, a socio-heteronormative culture.

As previously stated, in order to destabilize the tradition of creating a single (social)

queer narrative, this essay will present varied outcomes of (non-)atonement in socially queered

lives; the conflicting stories will pluralize and ‘intersectionalize’ the lived experiences of socially

queer individuals from day-to-day. To commence, there is a story of hardship and triumph, trial

and resistance: Jane Eyre—​self​-atoner. At the start of her life/narrative, Jane’s main antagonist

was the Reed family, especially Mrs. Reed. She was bullied and persecuted for her social

queerness, marginalized and discriminated as an outcast in Gateshead Hall. Faced with constant

denigration, similarly to ​sexual​ non-conformists, Jane experienced “self-referred… negative

feelings, attitudes, and representations of [queerness]” (Pistella et al.). She was forced to view

herself in a negative light, believing herself to be truly abnormal and repulsive; these internalized

stigmas contributed to the idea of her social queerness as a transgression against society.

Furthering this self-hatred was Mrs. Reed’s treatment of Jane as a monster: when Reed “[feared

her] culture [was] under attack [by Jane], [she made] use of a vampire motif” (Heidenreich). In

other words, Reed’s deeming of Jane as a vampire/monster “[called] for [her] elimination from…

society” (Heidenreich). When Jane’s social queerness is emblematized as vampiric or monstrous,

it poses a threat to conservative family-values; as a result, Jane was “[taken] away to the

red-room,” a room which “oppressed” and “suffocated” Jane, symbolically forcing her to be

consumed by the humiliating stigma of social conformity—the realization of her alienation

(Brontë 10 and 19). Mentally shattered by these attacks, Jane was reduced to a self-conscious

nothing, an object of self-loathing…

At this point, Jane is well aware of her social queerness; moreover, she internalizes the
 Valdivia 5

idea that it is immoral to live as such. The indoctrination of this idea is centered around a single

object/person—Mrs. Reed (‘home’)—and, “as the locus of social reproduction, the home…

perpetuates gender and sexual normativity… [becoming] a site of oppression, violence and/or

resistance” (Schroeder). Taken in this context, Jane’s homelife teaches her that her condition is

one about which she ought to be ashamed—one for which she ​must ​atone. Consequently, Jane’s

social life is negatively impacted, contributing to the already-isolating queerness of her

existence. These feelings of self-hatred destroy Jane’s social life, for “forgiveness of oneself…

accounts for… social loneliness” (Day and Maltby): Jane’s failure to self-atone for her ‘sinful

nature’ causes her to self-isolate and retreat from popular culture, a common course of action for

the socially marginalized individual. Once again, at Lowood school, one of Jane’s few friends,

Helen Burns, kept her company, reversing her previous isolation. Unfortunately, “disease had

thus become an inhabitant of Lowood, and death its frequent visitor” (Brontë 110). Jane’s object

of newfound hope, Helen, had abruptly been taken from her, forcing her to “pass a space of eight

years almost in silence” or mental alienation (Brontë 120). For many years after, as a result of ire

against Mrs. Reed and life, Jane felt “depressed, stressed and [with] ‘no sense of peace’” (Akhtar

et al.). This continuous cycle of enmity and isolation existed in Jane’s life for many years, until

she moved to Thornfield Hall, where she became the mistress of a French ward, Adèle. There,

she fell in love with her master, Mr. Rochester, for, when he had left on a business trip, she

exclaimed with a desperate howl of romantic longing, “‘I wish he would come! I wish he would

come!’” (Brontë 415). Having lived her life in social silence and suppressed rancor, Jane’s

newfound feelings of love transformed her previous hatred into blossoming compassion. Her

dedication to Mr. Rochester led Jane to gradually learn to forgive and forget, no longer storing a

burning animosity towards Mrs. Reed, her previous antagonist. As contended by Akhtar et al.,
 Valdivia 6

those who forgive others’ transgressions “experience intimacy with their partners, empathy,

open-mindedness and acceptance” (Akhtar et al.). Rather than focusing energy on rousing the

flames of resentment, she was able to give herself over to Rochester, whilst maintaining her

queer, feminine resistance and independence. While living happily with Mr. Rochester at

Thornfield Hall, a man from her past hearkened news of Mrs. Reed’s imminent death due to

disease. Forgetting all her altercations with Reed, Jane left “‘a hundred miles to see an old lady

who… [had] cast [Jane] off’” (Brontë 333). This illustrates that Jane no longer stores “any

negative mental reaction to [Mrs. Reed]. [She] just [had] an accepting and compassionate view

of [her]” (Akhtar et al.). Upon speaking to Mrs. Reed and discussing their past feuds, Mrs. Reed

disclosed that she “‘[had] twice done [Jane] a wrong which [she regrets] now’” (Brontë 355).

This seeming apology from Mrs. Reed was enough for Jane to truly discover an inner-peace with

herself, completely allowing childhood abuses to die—she was free from the haunting demons of

her memories. This forgiveness of—and from—Mrs. Reed was the final chapter of her isolated

life, for, Jane would now be able to live in complete harmony with Mr. Rochester—or so she

believed. An ephemeral legal-trouble with their marriage would prevent the two from uniting by

ring, which reminded Jane of her (familial) loneliness and social queerness.

Once again, lost in a strange world, without any belongings to her name, Jane escaped

Thornfield Hall, venturing into an immense and fleeting world. Little did Jane know that, by

embarking on this journey, she would discover that which she most desired—family. Before

finding the source of her avunculate6 wealth, Jane lived homeless in nature, feeling “loved…

outcast as [she] was… [she] who from man could anticipate only mistrust, rejection, [and] insult”

(Brontë 485). After, on multiple occasions, almost experiencing death, Jane was taken in by a

6
Definition transcends uncle-nephew relationships to ​all​ extended-family.
 Valdivia 7

clergyman, St. John Rivers, and his sisters. Having recuperated under their nurture, she was

given a job as a school teacher in a small town. Her elusive background concerned St. John

Rivers, so he ‘searched’ for more information about her, lest she were hiding a ‘dark past.’ Once

he confronted Jane about her time at Thornfield Hall, he informed her that she was not only an

heiress of superfluous wealth but also his cousin. Elated by the fact that she ​did ​have

blood-relations, Jane thought to herself that it was a “glorious discovery to a lonely wretch!”

(Brontë 579). As previously stated, prior to the establishment of Jane as their cousin7, the

Rivers/Eyres took-in and accepted Jane with her queerness; as stated by Schroeder, “coming out

to family members [as socially queer] can be a positive experience,” when one is faced with

acceptance and appreciation (Schroeder). In this case, with her new family adoring and accepting

her, Jane is able to feel respected, reverting any internalized socio-sexual stigma which she may

have been carrying: this allows her to ​self​-atone, and, for the first time ever, truly love herself.

The once-ostracized Jane Eyre is able to live peacefully amid the constraining laws of

heteronormativity—she is able to create a socially queer space, in which she can reside with

self-acceptance.

Unlike Jane, not all (socially) queer experiences can be of trial and tribulation with an

almost idyllic ending; in Gregor Samsa’s case, a queer individual is unable to overcome the

constraints of self-stigmatization and socio-familial obligation, ensuing his symbolic death. As

the primary provider of his family, Gregor is forced to take up the job of traveling salesman, one

which he exclaims is “a grueling job” proceeding to screech, “to the devil with it all!” (Kafka 3

and 4). As a result of conforming to a job which he obviously despised, Gregor awoke one

morning “and found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin”: an emblem of his

7
Jane thought of her three cousins—St. John, Mary, and Diana—as brother and sisters.
 Valdivia 8

self-disgust (Kafka 3). Lest his family discover his queerness and be ashamed of him, Gregor

attempted to suppress his metamorphosis, where his “identity… [took] the form of a secret”;

Ryan et al. claim that “secrets perpetuate shame and guilt, and come with costs to mental and

physical health” (Ryan et al.). In Gregor’s case, his social queerness and alienation from the

family literally deteriorates his physical well-being, gradually killing him both psychologically

and physically. Believing his queerness to be a transgression against his nuclear family-unit,

Gregor ​must​ self-atone but is unable to do so because of a haunting self-abhorrence. His feeling

of enmity is too strong to allow forgiveness, engendering a cyclical paradigm of denial,

depression, and self-hatred. Once his family discovers Gregor’s transformation, they are

horrified: this represents a negative coming-out experience, one in which “parental rejection is a

primary risk factor” for non-atonement (Ryan et al.). His original concerns of rejection

corroborated, Gregor is subsumed by the consuming vortex of self-perpetuated isolation. He

hides himself from his family, accepting the role of queer outcast, which non-atonement pushes

on the queer individual. Consequently, Gregor’s inability to ‘forgive’ ​himself​ leads to a “lack of

self confidence”—a common result of unforgiveness (Akhtar et al.). This lack of self-confidence,

as described by Akhtar et al., is emblematized by Gregor’s transformation into a beetle, for, the

beetle, as a representation of the psyche, defines feelings of self-worthlessness and uselessness.

Gregor is thereby consumed by socio-sexual stigma, failing to realize his own socially queer

resistance. He falls hostage to the ensnaring prejudices of the hegemony and further isolates

himself from society.

Furthering the idea of his isolation, Gregor’s (self-)imprisonment in his bedroom is

representative of his inability to forgive himself for a perceived transgression against his family.

As argued by Schroeder, “both the bedroom and closet can conceal protectively or trap
 Valdivia 9

oppressively. It can be a prison or sanctuary—and often both simultaneously” (Schroeder). This

is especially telling of Gregor, for his bedroom8 (socially queer closet) separates him from his

persecuting family-unit, both isolating him and protecting him from denigration. The

oppressively protecting room shields Gregor from the reality of the hegemony, whilst

perpetuating his decadence and social death. His room, which lay with “streaks of dirt… along

the walls, [filled with] fluffs of dust and filth” represents both the declining—mental and

physical—health of Gregor and his ongoing inability to self-atone (Kafka 41). His geo-psychic

confinement symbolizes his regrettably extant attempt to assimilate into the

socio-heteronormative macro- (world) and micro-society (family). Murray argues that (socially)

queer individuals are taught “to compromise who they are… [in order to] enter the center”

(Murray). For Gregor, the center is living alongside his family, conforming to their expectations

of him, based on a contingent acceptance. Regardless, Gregor’s self-destructively impulsive

desire to join the hegemony forces him to divide himself—a dichotomy between human

(conformist) and beetle (queer). This paradox of existence or inability to atone ​and​ accept lead to

the moment when, “without [Gregor’s] consent, his head sank down to the floor, and from his

nostrils streamed his last weak breath” (Kafka 51). Sent into an emotionally ricocheting duel

between conflicting identities and wishes, Gregor’s dangerous non-atoning ‘nature’ symbolically

kills him, resulting in a complete ostracization from ​all​ society. His death is a symbol of his

conformity, for, by dying, Gregor allows his family to live normally—a ‘luxury’ which they

could not afford in Gregor’s beetle-form. This action taken for the ‘amelioration’ of the

family-unit is one which is representative of Gregor’s assimilation into the hegemony and the

8
​ For more on Gregor’s geo-psychic isolation, reference: Dow Webster, Peter. “Franz Kafka’s ‘​Metamorphosis’​ as
Death and Resurrection Fantasy.” ​American Imago​, XVI (1959). Pp. 349-65. Reprinted by permission of the editor,
Dr. George B. Wilbur.
 Valdivia 10

ultimate ​emblem of ‘non-atonement.’ Returning to the vampire/monster motif, similarly to Count

Dracula, whose “body… represents the perfect dual fear of penetration” and whose death

preserves the values of “both the middle class white family and its empire,” Gregor’s monstrous

body’s destruction upholds the values of his family-unit (Heidenreich). This idea is backed by

the family’s subsequent discussion about “their prospects for the time to come… [which] weren’t

bad at all” (Kafka 55). In other words, Gregor’s sacrifice allows the family to return to their

previous state of satisfaction, one in which they can, once again, live amid the hegemony,

conforming to the social laws of the dominant culture. Gregor’s consequent attempt to conform

rather than self-atone, results in his death, representing the narrative of a socially queer

individual, whose inability to resist socio-heteronormative pressures results in his/her social

demise.

Unaccordant with the previous two characters and other popular minority narratives of

social queerness is Darl Bundren. Arguably, Darl is unaware of his social queerness, for, on

multiple occasions, he openly and entertainingly congregates with his family-unit, while being

criticized by the larger world. Rather than experiencing a monstrous transformation, Darl’s

symbol of queerness is his telepathic ability, one which allows “the land [to run] out of [his

eyes]; [eyes which] swim to pin points,” psychically undressing even the darkest of the Bundren

family’s secrets (Faulkner 121). This unique and strange feature sets Darl apart from his family,

many-of-the-times, excluding him from serving as a functional unit. As a result, Darl is

unawaringly ostracized from his Southern society because he poses a threat to personal

autonomy. Ironically, Darl is an object of ignominy, and therefore, his family controls his life;

according to Ryan et al. “parents who thwart autonomy have children who behave in less

autonomous ways and develop psychopathology” (Ryan et al.). This is apparent in Darl, whose
 Valdivia 11

actions of social queerness reflect tinges of possible mental illness. Nevertheless, unaware of his

queerness, Darl “[rejects his queer] reality—a reality often defined by fear and compromise”

(Murray). He is an anomaly or outlier in the aforementioned narratives, for, aloof to his

differences, Darl does not feel an obligation to atone ​or​ forgive, contributing to the diverse

intersectionality of queer narratives. His relationship to atonement is non-existent: he does not

rely on the norms of society to live his life, defying the idea that non-forgiveness causes

individuals to “develop chronic emotions of anger or hostility, which can result in the

development of physical and mental health problems” (Akhtar et al.). Darl represents the queer

individual who lives relatively freely in an otherwise socio-heteronormative society. In fact, save

at the end of his liberty, Darl is given a minor role in the family, as he joins the Bundren family

on their journey to Jefferson; ​en route à​ Jefferson, Darl works to protect and save the family

from various ‘bumps in the road.’ However, a dangerous action of social queerness results in his

confinement to a mental asylum: while staying at another family’s home, Darl ignites their barn

in order to burn his mother’s coffin, thereby ending a trying and fruitless adventure to Jefferson.

The ‘monstrous’ action confirms Heidenreich’s claim that, for (socially) queer individuals, “even

their friends seek to contain them” (Heidenreich). In context of his life, Darl’s family wishes to

“‘catch him and tie him,’” a course of action which would later lead to his internment in a mental

institution (Faulkner 233). His family constrains Darl’s social queerness, suppressing it via the

psychiatric normalization of socio-heteronormativity. Unlike Gregor’s bedroom, which

represented his inability to self-atone, Darl’s prison does not represent an inability to forgive but

rather, an unforgiving society which could not allow Darl’s queerness to freely exist.

Undermining the personal, queer decision to atone ​and​ survive or assimilate and die, Darl’s
 Valdivia 12

unique experience dismally yet positively pluralizes queer narratives of (non-)atonement and

social mobility.

In an attempt to ‘intersectionalize’ the narratives of social queerness in the dominant

culture, distinct characters/experiences of (non-)atonement conflict, causing a tumultuous rupture

of homogeneity’s stability. The characters’ various experiences of self-acceptance—or the lack

of it—illustrate an already heterogeneous queer lived-experience. Complex relationships to

family-units and ‘greater societies’ interlace with social queerness, perpetuating varied results of

the ‘performance’ of queerness in society. In a greater context, the effects of (non-)atonement in

minority culture offer insight into the (in)tolerances of the dominant society, dissecting even the

most substantial realities of the hegemony and deconstructing preconceived notions of normalcy.
 Valdivia 13

Works Cited

Akhtar, Sadaf, et al. "Understanding the Relationship between State Forgiveness and Psychologi

ical Wellbeing: A Qualitative Study." ​Journal of Religion & Health​, vol. 56, no. 2, Apr.

2017, p. 450. EBSCO​host​, doi:10.1007/s10943-016-0188-9.

Brontë, Charlotte. ​Jane Eyre​. New York, The Modern Library, 2000.

Day, Liza and John Maltby. "Forgiveness and Social Loneliness." ​Journal of Psychology​, vol.

139, no. 6, Nov. 2005, p. 553. EBSCO​host​, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true

&db=aqh&AN=199243718&site=ehost-live.

Faulkner, William. ​As I Lay Dying​. New York, Vintage International, 1990.

Heidenreich, Linda. "Vampires among Us." ​Peace Review​, vol. 24, no. 1, Jan-Mar2012, p. 92.

EBSCO​host​, doi:10.1080/10402659.2012.651038.

Kafka, Franz, ​The Metamorphosis​. Bantam Classics, 2004.

Murray, Olivia. "Queer Youth in Heterosexist Schools: Isolation, Prejudice and No Clear

Supportive Policy Frameworks." ​Multicultural Perspectives​, vol. 13, no. 4, Oct-Dec2011,

p. 215. EBSCO​host​, doi:10.1080/15210960.2011.616835.

Pistella, Jessica, et al. "Coming-Out to Family Members and Internalized Sexual Stigma in

Bisexual, Lesbian and Gay People." ​Journal of Child & Family Studies​, vol. 25, no. 12,

Dec. 2016, p. 3694. EBSCO​host​, doi:10.1007/s10826-016-0528-0.

Ryan, William S., et al. "Coming out as Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual: The Lasting Impact of Initial

Disclosure Experiences." ​Self & Identity​, vol. 14, no. 5, Sept. 2015, p. 549. EBSCO​host​,

doi:10.1080/15298868.2015.1029516.

Schroeder, Christopher G. "Sanctuary or Prison: Queer Youth and the Family, Household and

Home." ​Social & Cultural Geography​, vol. 16, no. 7, Nov. 2015, p. 783. EBSCO​host,​
 Valdivia 14

doi:10.1080/14649365.2015.1023824.