DISTURBING WHITENESS the Complexity of White Female Identity in Selected Works by Joyce Carol Oates

TURUN YLIOPISTON JULKAISUJA ANNALES UNIVERSITATIS TURKUENSIS SARJA – SER B. OSA – TOM.343 HUMANIORA DISTURBING WHITENESS The Complexity of White Female Identity in Selected Works by Joyce Carol Oates by Lotta Kähkönen TURUN YLIOPISTO UNIVERSITY OF TURKU Turku 2012 School of History, Culture and Arts Studies University of Turku FIN-20014 Turku Finland ISBN 978-951-29-4959-5 (PRINT) ISBN 978-951-29-4960-1 (PDF) ISSN 0082-6987 Uniprint – Turku, Finland 2012 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABBREVIATIONS 1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………..…………...…….1 The Problematic of Race and Identity…………………………………..1 Oatesian Oeuvre……………………….……………………………....10 Theoretical and Methodological Approach……………..…………….19 The Outline of the Study……………………………………..…………27 2. ETHNICITY AND RACE IN OATES’S EARLY FICTION……………….32 PARODY OF A WHITE SUBURBAN FAMILY IN EXPENSIVE PEOPLE…35 Post-War Suburban Woman……………………………………37 Noble White Ethnicity………………………………………….41 Reversing the Oedipus Complex……………………………….44 THE RACIAL OTHER IN “THE MOLESTERS”…………….…………….49 Recognizing Stranger…………………………………………..50 Black Man as Sexual Taboo……..………………………………53 Racial Fantasy……………………………………………………60 The Regulation of White Woman’s Sexuality………...………..67 White Female Characters and Intersectionality…………..……70 3. RACIALIZATION AND THE CONSTITUTION OF WHITE SELF IN BECAUSE IT IS BITTER, AND BECAUSE IT IS MY HEART…………………..73 Visual Economy and Racialization…………………………………….76 White Self-awareness, Shame, and Guilt……………………………...80 Opposition of White Gaze………………………………..…………….84 Whiteness as Unattainable………………………………..……………90 4. POOR WHITE WOMEN……………………………………….…………99 SOCIAL OTHERS IN BECAUSE IT IS BITTER, AND BECAUSE IT IS MY HEART...........................................................................................102 Class and Respectability………………………………………..104 Crossroads of Social Privilege………………………………….107 URBAN WHITE TRASH IN HEAT AND OTHER STORIES………………112 Classed Style and Mobility……………………………………..113 Space and Power Relations………………………………...…..117 In-Between Position………………….…………………………128 5. INTERRACIAL RELATIONSHIP IN I’LL TAKE YOU THERE……………131 Desire for Transformation…………………………………….………137 Denying the Idea of Race……………………………………………..142 Interracial Intimacy as a Rite of Passage……………….…………….149 Racialization, Self-reflexivity, and Agency………………………..…154 6. THE APOTHEOSIS OF WHITE WOMAN IN BLONDE………………..…164 GENDER, EMBODIMENT, AND PERFORMANCE……………………..167 Memory Work…………………………………………………..167 The Impact of Hollywood…………………..………………….169 Hysteric Performance………………………………..…………172 ANXIETY ABOUT WHITENESS……………………………….………..182 White Doll……………………………………..………………..185 Whiteness as Performance…………………..…………………188 Feeling of Lack………………………………………….………192 Towards Transformation……………………………………….199 7. CONCLUSION…………………………...………………………………206 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………216 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS So many people, communities, and institutions have contributed to the process of writing and editing this dissertation that I find it hard to begin acknowledging them. At the same time, I am delighted to have this opportunity to thank people, who have given me support, guidance, and feedback, as well as people, whose existence makes my life and work bearable. First, I would like to thank Professor Liisa Steinby and Professor Pirjo Ahokas of Comparative literature at the University of Turku for their encouragement, which was important for me in the beginning of the project. Both professors also helped me in various ways in the last phases of the project. In particular, I am grateful for my supervisor Professor Ahokas for squeezing in the reading of the manuscript, and assisting in its final editing before the pre-examination. I would also like to thank the two pre-examiners, Dr. Helena Wahlström (Uppsala University, Sweden) and Professor Ellen G. Friedman (The College of New Jersey, NJ, US). I am sincerely impressed by their attentive examination of my dissertation, as well as their detailed suggestions for the final stages of completing it. I would also like to express my appreciation for Professor Friedman, who agreed to serve as my opponent without hesitation. I feel indebted to several academic communities, which have provided me with assistance and motivation. My sincere thanks to the staff and colleagues of the department of Comparative Literature at the University of Turku: Sara Eeva, Marja-Leena Hakkarainen, Kaisa Ilmonen, Ulla-Maija Juutila-Purokoski, Tintti Klapuri, Hanna Meretoja, Kai Miikkulainen, and Aino Mäkikalli, and a long list of other people, who have worked and studied at the department. I have particularly enjoyed the shared book projects, which have taught me more than any other academic task or duty during the process of writing my dissertation. I feel extremely privileged for having received a four-year post at the Finnish Graduate School for North and Latin American Studies coordinated at the University of Helsinki. The graduate school provided me with a network of experts and mentors, who share the interest in the multidisciplinary field of American studies. I would like to thank the leaders of the graduate school, Professor Markku Henriksson of North American Studies and Professor Martti Pärssinen of Latin American Studies, for organizing our meetings and creating a generously encouraging atmosphere. I feel indebted to Professor (emeritus) Michael Coleman, who functioned as a noteworthy mentor during my grad school years, for his effortless attitude for reading and commenting my texts and his tailored assistance to help me to develop my academic agency. I am also grateful for the core group of “The Famous Five” and the co- members of the graduate school, as well as the grad school board members and various commentators, who participated in seminar sessions and other activities organized by the graduate school. The department of Gender studies (former Women’s Studies) at the University of Turku has guided my journey first in the form of research seminar and valuable conversations on feminist thought, and later as a working community, consisting of people, who create an invigorating ambience in which to work. I have benefitted, throughout the process, but especially in its nadirs, from the input and reinforcement of Professor Marianne Liljeström. My sincere thanks to the entire community of Gender studies and people who work or have worked at the same spatial premises: Anne Heimo, Tilda Junko, Milja Koponen, Anu Laukkanen, Taru Leppänen, Mona Mannevuo, and Sari Miettinen. I would also like to thank a number of people, who have worked in the larger community of the art studies and whose willingness to cross disciplinary boundaries has contributed to my work in one way or another. I am grateful to Professor Seija Ridell, the fellow “Reglibbers”, “the reading circle of Capitalism” and many other unofficial groups and clubs that have existed at the art studies during the years. For financial support I want to thank following foundations and institutions: Turku University Foundation, The Fulbright Center, Finnish American Studies Association, Finnish Konkordia Fund, and The Regulated Liberties project funded by The Academy of Finland. I have depended on a legion of friends whose friendship continues to sustain me. I would like to acknowledge my friends for sharing hobbies, cultural education, holidays, and the tricky tasks of being a parent or a spouse of a restaurateur. In particular, I would like to thank my friends Lotta Petronella and Mikko Carlson for their attending ears, love, and humor they so willingly provide. In addition, I am deeply grateful to my “Reading through America” –friends, Dr. Hager Weslati and Dr. Joseph Akawu Ushie, whose support, mentoring and presence in this world is important to me despite the distance and the remote possibilities to meet. I would also like to acknowledge my parents, and my sister Salla, for their frank encouragement. My debt to my mother, who is always ready to help, is enormous. My father and his sagacious wife have always supported my work and expressed sincere interest in each of my intellectual project. Finally, I would like to thank my family, Erkko, Elias, and Axel, for their love. Without the encouragement of my spouse, I might have chosen a totally different path in my life. I also appreciate his versatility of which his accurate ear for languages has contributed for perfecting the language of my dissertation during the different stages of the process. My two children have entertained me and kept me focused on things that are the most cherished in my life. My first-born child Elias grew up while I was writing my dissertation, and adopted an active role as the big brother of the boisterous baby-Axel. The norm-defying Axel has taught the whole family to contemplate more carefully about the precarious power of norms. I dedicate this dissertation to Elias, who meets every task, great or small, with a rare combination of cheerful buoyancy, scrupulous accuracy, and admirable perseverance. His attitude and sense of humor has taught me not to take my work too seriously while still being serious about it. ABBREVIATIONS E: Expensive People. BB: Because It Is Bitter, And Because It Is My Heart. H: Heat and Other Stories. B: Blonde. ITYT: I’ll Take You There. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The Problematic of Race and Identity If we stop pretending that whiteness studies will lead us to the promised land of a new racial justice, we can pay attention to more prosaic claims, to more realistic payoffs. We can say, at the very least, that the study of whiteness

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