Grills 1

Timothy Grills

Doctor Tuttle

WGS 365

3 May 2018

Female Homosexuality, Heteronormativity, and Holiness in Toni Morrison’s Paradise

Hermeneutical exegesis is important to any interpretation of a sacred text. From the Bible

to the Quran, being able to interpret and understand sacred literature is important to the meaning

and structure of various religions. Toni Morrison, a fiction writer, knows this well. In her work

Paradise, she lays the groundwork for a base level feminist hermeneut to decipher. Paradise

takes place in and around the small town of Ruby, Oklahoma—a hegemonic all-black town that

subtlety works through a reversed racial hierarchal system that values blackness in skin tone

rather than whiteness. Ruby’s citizens do not just value skin tone, however. Beyond the surface

level meaning of the words, Morrison has embedded another meaning in the text:

heteronormativity is the only way that a town like Ruby can function. All the members of the

town in some way prescribe to a heteronormative lifestyle and do not stray from it, but many of

the men in the town of Ruby come into direct conflict with the women of the Convent, a small

convent that lies some miles outside of Ruby’s limits. The conflict between the men of Ruby and

the women of the Convent as well as the portrayals of heterosexuality and homosexuality show

that a reliance on heterosexual relationships and heteronormative power structures ultimately

lead to the untimely demise of societal constructions.

In the context of Paradise, homosexuality doesn’t necessarily exist explicitly. In the text,

homosexuality is erased in such a way that it is only visible at the surface level. In Morrison’s

book, there is no direct reference to homosexuality. Only a few cases in the book hint at
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homosexuality as an abomination or affront to society, but the text clearly shows that it is,

instead, heterosexuality that is judged more harshly. Similar to the image of homosexuality in

Paradise is the image of Hagar in the Qu’ran. The Qu’ran “never mentions Hagar by name in in

any of its 114 chapters” (Abugideiri 83) in the same way that homosexuality, especially between

women, is never explicitly mentioned in Paradise. Like Hagar, however, the image of

homosexuality in the context of the book does not necessarily mean that homosexuality is

unimportant. Abugideiri argues in her article that Hagar’s “near absence from scriptural

commentary is not necessarily a signal of her insignificance” and that it signals that Hagar’s

absence signals overt importance to the meaning of her character (83-84). Homosexuality’s

explicit exclusion from the text indicated that homosocial and homosexual bonds between

women are not unimportant, but vastly important because of how heterosexuality is portrayed in

the book. Heterosexuality, specifically in men, in Paradise is an unruly tool that exists only to

oppress those that are marginalized in or around Ruby such as the convent women or the women

in the town. The convent women act as a direct foil to the men in Ruby because of their

independence and their sexuality.

Early in Paradise, there is a segment in Gigi’s chapter about a rock formation that is

interpreted to be different based upon how one looks at it. Gigi’s goal is to find it with a brief

love interest: Mikey. Morrison writes of the rock formation that “it was believed by some … that

the couple was two women making love in the dirt. Others … said no, they were two males—

bold as Gomorrah” (63). Important to this section of texts is that Mikey claims that the rock

formation, which Gigi never finds, is supposed to be a man and a woman. This interpretation is

indicated to be the only interpretation that calls for a heterosexual exegesis of the rock formation.

During this section, a committee of “concerned Methodists” is mentioned who wish to get rid of
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the rock formation not because they are “antisex … but antiperversion,” referencing the possible

homosexual interpretations of the rock formation (Morrison 63). The Methodists, though only

minor characters of the text, reveal a religious issue with homosexuality; though heterosexual sex

can be tolerated by religious structures, homosexuality should not exist according to hegemonic

religious structures.

Female homosexuality, though not a threat to the town of Ruby, is a threat to the

fabrication of societies where lesbians exist, at least to those belonging to dominant groups of

people. Communities mentioned in the novel clearly radiate anti-gay views. After all, a few of

the reasons that the women in the Convent are being shot at the beginning and the end of the

novel is because there are “no men” in the space of the Convent and the women are “kissing on

themselves” (Morrison 276). In considering this message, a reader should also consider that it is

men that are plotting against the women of the Convent and coming up with excuses as to why

they must intervene. In her article “Created Unequal? Interpreting Hierarchies of Gender, Race,

and Sexual Orientation” in Genesis 1-3” Dr. Tara Tuttle argues that “The white heterosexist

patriarchal social order is explained and justified by the creative and speech acts of God” and

continues to mention that the Creation story is often used as a tool to reinforce heterosexist and

homophobic ideologies to religious communities (55). Furthermore, Tuttle also quotes Darby

Ray, author of Deceiving the Devil: Atonement, Abuse, and Ransom, who says “to sin is to

become female, which, in a patriarchal society, is to be rendered powerless” (qtd. in Tuttle 38).

Because of religious and masculine messages circulating in Ruby’s overall community, the men

of Ruby are threatened by the independent women of the Convent. The women of the Convent

require no man to flourish in their own community and that independence and homosocial
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community is a direct threat to the heterosexist and heteronormative society that the men of

Ruby aspire to create and maintain.

The lack of a male presence and homosexual bonds between women, then, act as direct

affronts to the heteronormative society of Ruby. Delores Keller, author of “Toni Morrison’s

Sermon on Manhood: God in the Hands of Nine Angry Sinners,” argues that Morrison is taking

an approach that readers are supposed to sympathize somewhat with the nine men in the novel

that orchestrate the massacre on the women in the Convent. However, Keller’s argument also

highlights that “[the Convent women] are perceived as dangerously different from the ideal of

Christian womanhood as constructed by Ruby’s male patriarchs” (47). While there is an

indication that Morrison may want readers to better understand the men in the novel, there isn’t

really an indication that she wants readers to sympathize with them. From the very first line in

Paradise, “They shoot the white girl first, but the rest they can take their time,” the readers know

that the men are incredibly hostile forces ready to wipe out anything that is directly oppositional

to their way of life (Morrison 3). The men of Ruby are in direct conflict because of the lack of

control that they have over the women of the Convent. Not only does the issue present itself as

an issue of gender, however, but the problem is also a religious issue. If men can’t provide for

women and there is a place of religious meaning that provides for women while not necessarily

including men, masculinity has no meaning.

According to Keller, “Morrison … complicates the issue of protection for the people of

Ruby when her nine angry men assume their God-given right to wipe out any perceived threats

to their town and to their authority” and it is through their femininity and relationships with one

another and not men that they pose their threat (48). A great example of the difference between

the independent women of the Convent and the women in Ruby comes from a meeting during
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“Grace” in which the men gather to talk about the fate of K.D. who has physically assaulted

Arnette; above the men, the women are “pacing, servicing, fetching, feeding—whatever it took

to save the children who could not save themselves” (Morrison 60). Heteronormativity rules the

town of Ruby, especially since the men that gathered to talk about the assault are talking about

the assault on a woman without including her in the conversation. Women, even in their own

being, are disenfranchised by the men in their own town in the name of protection and

masculinity.

Contrarily, the women of the Convent are liberated in a variety of ways. Gigi, for

example, exudes sexual undertones as a character. The male gaze is explicitly mentioned when

K.D. notices Gigi’s “screaming tits” at the beginning of the chapter that encompasses her story

(Morrison 55). However, what makes her sexualization different is that Gigi owns her sexuality

and uses it to command attention and respect. Furthermore, Gigi is sexually liberated from the

confines of heteronormativity and her sexuality is explored through both men and women in the

novel. K.D. is an example of the male gaze and it is only through women that Gigi seems to be

sexually liberated. Furthermore, her potential female love interest Seneca is also notably

objectified by many men in her life such as the time she had her “nipple … tweaked by a boy on

a dare from his sniggering friends” or the moment a man “lifted his penis out and made kissing

noises” at her (Morrison 261). The physical connection that both Seneca and Gigi share together,

despite possibly being unreciprocal, isn’t one that is described in a negative way like moments

that sexualize the female body for the purpose of masculine satisfaction. In a short section from

Gigi’s point of view, Seneca’s skin is described as being having “ridges … [only felt] under the

covers” which indicates that Seneca and Gigi have gotten into bed together (Morrison 256).

Gigi’s relationship with K.D., in contrast, is described as not being “fun for long” with the
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implication that Gigi was physically abused by him at least once (Morrison 256). In moments of

sexuality, the women of the Convent seem to be sexually liberated from men and do not desire

or, more importantly, require them.

Because the women of the Convent do not require men, they are perceived as a threat to

the heteronormative values of the Ruby community. According to Heather Tapley from the

University of Victoria, Canada in her article “Queering Paradise: Toni Morrison’s Anti-

Capitalist Production,” the threat of the women comes from the idea that modern masculinity

comes from modern capitalism. In fact, Tapley notes that “The Convent women are not managed

by the nuclear family nor the valued objectives of profit, accumulation, and reproduction” which

further divides the all-female community in the Convent from the hegemonic town of Ruby (32).

Through this reading, female homosexuality is also a threat to Ruby’s values because of its

straying away from the nuclear family model. If the assumption that the women of the Convent

is that they are together in a way that is sexual, or possibly even in a way that is not, then the

women of Ruby, too, may be able to thrive without the men in Ruby. To the eight-rock families,

the Convent as a direct foil to their values and beliefs.

Finally, the community between both of the town of Ruby, with its differences in

citizens, and the Convent, whose members are all connected in some way, have different levels

of strength. The town of Ruby is unstable because of heterosexism, such as the Ruby men’s fear

of the midwives when Fairy warns lone that “Men scared of us, always will be. To them we’re

death’s handmaiden standing as between them and the children their wives carry” (Morrison

272). The town of Ruby is defined by an explicit exclusion of women from the conversation

while the women of the Convent, then, are defined by the community and the benefits that each

member gains from one another. Towards the end of “Consolata,” a new interpretation of
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Connie, the de facto leader of the Convent emerges and the reader gets an image of Connie

through a new name: Consolata. Consolata exists as an almost entirely new character and is

defined by her new-found strength in the face of the Mother’s death. Towards the end of the

chapter, the women of the Convent come together and bond “Naked in candlelight” while

revealing their personal traumas to Consolata (Morrison 263-266). At the very end, Connie has a

renewed vigor and a brief description of female masculinity frames her; her appearance is

described as “straight-backed and handsome” (Morrison 266). Because of the community of the

Convent, the women are able to come together and create new community in the face of the

heterosexist Ruby.

Morrison frames the community of the Convent to be important in such a way that shows

that heterosexuality and the expectation of heterosexuality as a norm is destructive. The

framework of the Convent works better because of the lack of expectation thrown behind the

ideals of the family and heterosexuality; instead, the women of the Convent are meant to

embrace the self in a way that seems almost spiritual, especially since Connie is a Christ-like

figure who revives the dead in the book while the women of the Convent seem to almost act as

hermeneutical disciples. Magali Michael, author of “Re-Imagining Agency: Toni Morrison’s

Paradise,” states, in reference to community in the novel that “the notion of community itself

undergoes an alteration in that … community emerges as constructed, dynamic, and necessarily a

function of coalition work among the different people that make up the community” and while

the women of the Convent prescribe to this idea of community, the men of Ruby tarnish the very

ground that they stand on (645). Heterosexuality, to the community of Ruby and the Convent, is

a self-righteous plague that fuels the murder of the Convent.

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From a close-reading, the image of Connie as the new leader of the Convent is also

important to understandings of homosocial and homosexual relationships between women in

Paradise. In comparison to Jesus, who resurrected the dead, Connie resurrects Scout in

“Consolata” and emerges as a powerful and victorious leader of the Convent with her loyal

disciples, the women of the Convent, under her (Morrison 245). The homosocial bond between

Connie and Lone during Connie’s scene with Scout also hints at the stipulation that connections

between women, sexual or friendly, are powerful and perhaps, to a society that values

masculinity over femininity, even threatening. Through her portrayal of Connie as a Messiah

figure, Morrison not only displays feminist hermeneutics through a retelling of Lazarus, but she

also shows that bonds between women are powerful and conductive of value in society. The

women of the Convent, despite their homosexual or homosocial bonds, end up becoming more

connected to the image of the ‘holy’ through Christ-like figures like Connie.

Through Ruby’s overall rejection of homosexual bonds between women, Ruby and the

Convent contrast heavily. The women of the Convent, though living in a patriarchal society, are

liberated in their Convent lives while the women of Ruby suffer under heteropatriarchal societal

structures. Through a critical analysis of both Ruby and the Convent, a reader can see sexual

liberation through a rejection of heterosexist norms that are standard in towns such as Ruby.

Furthermore, the women of the Convent, although possessing connections to homosexuality or

strong homosocial bonds between women, ultimately end up being more connected to the ‘holy’.

Deconstruction and reconstruction of heterosexist rule is what allows the Convent to flourish

before the massacre that takes place at the beginning and end of Paradise; through Morrison’s

exegesis of homosexual and homosocial experiences, she seeks to show that a utopia doesn’t
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necessarily have to be heterosexual and should, indeed, be queered to promote fairness and

equality.
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Works Cited

Abugideiri, Hibba. “Hagar: A Historic Model for Gender Jihad.” Daughters of Abraham, edited

by Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and John L. Esposito, University Press of Florida, pp. 83-

84.

Keller, Delores A. "Toni Morrison's Sermon on Manhood: God in the Hands of Nine Angry

Sinners." Midwest Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 1, Sept. 2009, p. 45. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,sso&db=f5h&AN=4464158

4&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s8356098.

Michael, Magali. “Re-Imagining Agency: Toni Morrison’s Paradise.” African American Review,

vol. 36, no. 4, 2002, p. 645.

Morrison, Toni. Paradise. Plume, 1999, pp. 3-272.

Ray, Darby Kathleen. Deceiving the Devil: Atonement, Abuse, and Ransom. The Pilgrim Press,

1998, p. 51.

Tapley, Heather. "Queering Paradise: Toni Morrison’s Anti-Capitalist Production." Feminist

Theory, vol. 14, no. 1, Apr. 2013, pp. 21-37. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1177/1464700112468568.

Tuttle, Tara M. "Created Unequal? Interpreting Hierarchies of Gender, Race, and Sexual

Orientation in Genesis 1-3." Researcher: An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 22, no. 2,

Spring2009, pp. 29-64. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,sso&db=a9h&AN=4710551

2&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s8356098.