Humor is often used in literature to confront taboos and discomfort, including around sexuality, gender roles, and romantic relationships. It can be an effective tool for exploring themes related to queerness, which refers to identities that fall outside of heterosexual and cisgender norms. In this essay, I will discuss how humor in literature challenges societal discomfort with queer desire and provides insight into the complexity of human relationships.
Queer desires can encompass a wide range of experiences, from same-sex attraction to non-binary gender identities. Some people may identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex, while others may have more fluid identities. Humor can help break down barriers surrounding these identities by exposing their absurdity or celebrating their unique qualities.
Margaret Atwood's novel "The Handmaid's Tale" uses satire to criticize the patriarchal society of Gilead, where women are reduced to reproductive slaves and LGBTQ+ individuals are seen as deviant threats. The protagonist Offred's relationship with her commander's wife Serena Joy is portrayed as both tragic and comedic, highlighting the hypocrisy of their oppressive culture.
In David Sedaris's essay "Me Talk Pretty One Day," he writes about his experience learning French while living abroad in Paris. His struggles with language and culture reflect his struggles with his own identity as a gay man, but he also uses humor to highlight the absurdity of homophobia. He describes being asked by a Frenchman if he is a "deviant," which reveals the underlying assumptions about queerness and masculinity. By making light of such situations, Sedaris demonstrates how humor can be used as a form of resistance against societal norms.
Humor in literature can also challenge traditional ideas about romance and desire. In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's short story "We Should All Be Feminists," she explores the concept of polyamory through the characters Kambili and Jaja. Their love for each other is depicted as a healthy and loving partnership that defies cultural expectations around monogamy. By presenting this alternative viewpoint, Adichie encourages readers to question conventional notions of sexual and emotional relationships.
Humor can be used to explore the complexities of human desire and intimacy. In Eve Ensler's play "The Vagina Monologues," women share personal stories about their bodies and experiences with sex, including those related to non-traditional identities. The play challenges society's rigid understanding of gender roles and sexuality, offering a more nuanced view of what it means to be a woman or a person with an atypical body.
Humor in literature can provide insight into the complexity of human relationships and help us better understand our own desires and identities. It can challenge societal discomfort with queer desire and invite readers to reconsider their assumptions about love, lust, and attraction.
How does humor in literature challenge societal discomfort with queer desire?
Humor has long been used as a tool to explore, subvert, and confront issues of sexuality and gender identity in literature. In works such as William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," Virginia Woolf's "Orlando," and James Joyce's "Ulysses," humor is employed to address themes related to queerness and gender nonconformity.