BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA
Feminism and Sadomasochism: An Analysis
The relationships in Bastard Out of Carolina may be the norm for Bone and her family, but none of them are necessarily healthy. There are no heterosexual relationships that show an unequal share of power between women and men: the uncles cheat on their wives, get drunk more than anything else, and the women simply let them; and the one homosexual relationship we know of (Aunt Raylene and her ex-girlfriend) ended with one partner asking the other to choose between child and partner -- something else that isn't altogther normal or healthy, though, at least Raylene felt remorse for her actions. Bone is left without a decent role-model as far as healthy relationships. Combined with mental and physical abuse as well as molestation, this breeds a supremely unhealthy sexuality.
"I was ashamed of myself for the things I thought about when I put my hands between my legs, more ashamed for masturbating to the fantasy of being beaten than for being beaten in the first place. I lived in a world of shame. I hid my bruises as if they were evidence of crimes I had committed. I knew I was a sick disgusting person. I couldn't stop my stepfather form beaing me, but I was the one who masturbated. I did that, and how could I explain to anyone that I hated being beaten but still masturbated to the story I told myself about it?" (5)
It's a form of psychologically-induced sadomasochism that develops in the victims of abuse, especially when that abuse holds a sexual nature. Since Bone's sexual abuse continues through puberty, a crucial time in a developing child's mind, the sadomasochism goes even deeper and has a tighter hold on her psyche. She has no healthy outlet for her budding sexuality, and so her fantasies are rooted only in violence. Indeed, they grow more violent as the story progresses. At first, she envisions herself burning, then she imagines herself being tied up to die while crows peck at her body.
Eventually, the fantasies contain elements of both sadomasochism and the feminist idea of the "male gaze." Laura Mulvey, a British feminist film theorist, describes the male gaze in a more modern form than Freud. She believes the male gaze to be between an active male and a passive female. This holds true for Bone's later fantasy of being abused and beaten by Glen Waddell as other girls watch. This is a more exhibitionist flavor of sadomasochism with its roots in an imbalance of power -- something Bone experiences with each beating given to her by Glen. In this fantasy, she makes herself out to be a heroine, taking the beatings stoically and simultaneously becoming the envy of all the watchers (6).
Bone's sadomasochism takes another form in the novel, too. She associates gospel music with a sort of awful pleasure, feeling both satisfied and disgusted with herself each time she hears it.
"That was what gospel was meant to do -- make you hate and love yourself at the same time, make you ashamed and glorified. It worked on me. It absolutely worked on me" (5).
Despite these awful feelings, she continues to listen to gospel music, continues to let her own shame and guilt (misplaced though they may be) fill her heart. While not necessairly a sexual connotation, Bone derives a sick sort of pleasure from it, and the feelings she gives herself from the music follows the same pattern as her dark, sexual fantasies.
