Performing for Fate

 Through Carr’s array of odd characters and hyperbolized occurrences, she manages to draw upon the idea that gender is not natural and innate, but rather, that it is learned. By displaying her characters actively engaging in the performance of gender, and even the gender of the opposite sex, Carr examines the role gender scripts play within the characters’ relationships with one another and the specific impact this has on how women and femininity are regarded throughout the play and how their fate is so inextricably tied to their gender. In doing so, Carr also satirically questions the role that gender scripts play in society today.

Act one opens the play and not only introduces the main characters, but also the idea which is perpetuated throughout the play and also within society today that a woman’s worth is directly equated with her body. Bender, the fifty-something year old mother of an innumerable amount of children, spends the majority of her time sitting in a bathtub, birthing children in what appears to be frequent time intervals. As a woman, Bender has learned that her fertility is something to hold in high regard. The possibility of being barren is so frightful in this book that it something the women throw around as an insult at each other:

Binder I had a dream your uterus fell out.

Bender I dreamt your ovaries exploded!

Binder At least I have ovaries and eggs, lots of eggs, much more than you because I’m young. I’m in my prime.

Bender I’ve had my share of eggs… (Carr, 10-11).

This flinging of insults reveals that the women feel their worth lies in their ability to reproduce. The play goes on to reveal that a woman’s worth is also directly equated with her body based on how pleasing her body image is to the male gaze. “(Baxter) She’s a 38B, ok!/ (Bone) Pink Sock’s a 32A./ (Baxter) We all have our limitations” (Carr, 25). During Baxter and Bone’s dialogue Baxter considers “Pink Sock’s” 32S bra size to be small which therefore renders it a limiting factor for her. Instead of analyzing intelligence or creativity as measures of the worth of women, Baxter and Bones compare the bra sizes of women as measurements of their worth. This relates to today’s society based on the way men are often socialized to only measure women’s self worth in relation to their bodies.

                As the play progresses the male characters Baxter and Bones literally act out scripts of what can be assumed to be a “typical” heterosexual couple, but the female role is always performed in a submissive and passive manner. If and when that role is not performed correctly the man playing that role would be corrected by his partner:

               

                Baxter I love your dress.

                Bone (back in female role) Do you?

                Baxter (exploding) It’s not ‘Do you’! It’s ‘I wear it for you’! I love your dress!

                Bones I wear it for you.

                Baxter (pleased) Do you?

                Bones Yes.

                Baxter Red’s your color.

                Bone  Red’s my color.

                Baxter And sometimes rust.

                Bones And sometimes rust

Baxter I bought you a present (Carr, 41).

In this scene, which mirrors an actual societal gender script, Baxter explodes at Bones for not performing his role as a woman correctly when Bones fails to be as passive and submissive as Baxter expects for him to be. Baxter expected Bones to passively and humbly accept his compliment, but instead Bones responded by saying, “Do you?”. Baxter’s explosion to Bones’ reply implies that it should not be in the gendered behavior of women to question men or to ever assert themselves. This performance also reveals that women will be rewarded for their adherence to gender scripts involving the gendered expectations of them to be coy and passive. This becomes relevant after Baxter explodes on Bones and Bones therefore corrects his female performance by becoming completely submissive to Baxter by agreeing with everything Baxter says about him, and in turn, being rewarded for doing so with a “present”.

Overall, there is an idea conveyed throughout the play which posits that women’s fates are inextricably linked to their gender. When Bender gives birth to her children she claims that they are all boys and assigns them not only names, but titles such as the pope, the president, and the doctor. However, when Baxter and Bones only want to birth baby girls they state that they, “(Bones) Hope they won’t grow up masculine” (Carr, 98), and plan to teach the girls to flutter their eyelids, apply lipstick, and “(Baxter) How to say no, when she means yes/(Bones) And yes when she means no” (Carr, 69). This shows that, within the play, as soon as children are born and their gender is determined their fates are predestined as their parents plan to raise them to meet social expectations and adhere to gender scripts. This will lead to favorable outcomes for boys whose gender is made synonymous with success and power within the play, but lead to less promising outcomes for girls as they are discouraged from being masculine and prompted instead to be passive, submissive, and coy. Although social expectations and gender scripts are taught from the moment a baby is born and swaddled in either a pink or blue blanket, individuals can choose to allow their gender to be a complete determinant of their fate, or decide to rebel against such scripts and expectations in order to determine their own destiny.