Hide and Seek
It was certainly a fine party, notwithstanding the fact that everything seems to be in a haze—there is a reigning atmosphere of confusion and fun, existing and comingling with each other. I invited Marjane, and like the Trojan horse entering the gates of Troy stealthily, we passed through the sea of people. Between their breaths is the one of a kind atmosphere, a pocket of air that is very hard to penetrate. Taking Marjane here is also like putting a Trojan horse, a foreigner, into my very being. Yet she is very dear to me. I know she really likes me too.
It has been days since we made up. Me putting up a proposal for her to be my girlfriend, while her gladly accepting my offer. After that, we shared out days with each other’s company. It was certainly fun, but I am not sure if this is what the cheesy Oasis songs call ‘love’. Nonetheless, I am quite content and happy that I had done something Godly that day—“Love your neighbor as you love yourself. ” More than that, I memorized another verse, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength;” whatever that means.
Holding Marjane’s hand in mine, I saw Ingrid in a corner, chatting with a few men. I guided Marjane’s hand through the crown until we arrived at Ingrid’s place. “Ingrid, I want you to meet, Marjane, my…girlfriend,” I said, with a disturbingly apparent hesitation. “Girlfriend? That’s really so nice of you Enrique. Hello Marjane,” says Ingrid while holding out her hand. Marjane is obviously feeling awkward but the warm greeting touched her. We spent the night, passing through hours as if they are just seconds, having real fun in the process.
I am deeply glad that Marjane is also having fun. I then do not have to take much attention on her for the night. After the party, Marjane and I slept with each other’s arms. However, I am feeling a very awkward feeling. The embrace was like a prison, a violent intrusion to my soul. And in a very sudden manner, the atmosphere of confusion and fun disappeared. I broke free from the embrace and went to Ingrid. Ingrid and I talked for some time. She is a very nice friend, a very fine companion. She is like a sibling that is connected to my heart.
Suddenly, I remembered the verse in the Gospel of Mark again: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself. ” I mumbled a small apology for Marjane. RATIONALE I made a rewriting of the section 7 in Persepolis 2, entitled “Hide and Seek”, modified to put the point of view of Enrique, Marjane’s boyfriend, as the main vantage point. The modification is to make Enrique’s act more reasonable and justifiable. It also wishes to show how social constructs affect those who do not conform to it. Other than this, it also tries to show how all people are affected by the social issues that may appear rather irrelevant.
Basically, the part is entitled “Hide and Seek” because of the scene that Marjane was left alone in the bed by Enrique. Marjane then seeks for Enrique, expecting with deep jealousy that he is in the arms of Ingrid. However, she was faced with greater disappointment as Enrique revealed that he is in fact a homosexual. The theme I wanted to touch in this recreation is how the people that exist outside the social constructs (like homosexuals) often face marginalization and succumb to playing “Hide and Seek” with the society.
The gendered society is a panoptical eye that sees and persecutes everything that deviates from the boxes that it imposes. Those who are deviant are then forced to ‘hide’, like what Enrique did. He was forced to hide his homosexuality through his relationship with Marjane (Of course, asking if the act is deliberate or not is beside the point). I used the image of the Trojan horse in the Iliad as a symbol of a foreigner or an intruder that wanted to conquer Enrique’s being. Marjane is in love with Enrique, and in this sense, she wanted to be part of Enrique’s being.
However, Enrique felt a weird feeling, a feeling that Marjane’ intrusion to her life is not that comfortable or natural. Enrique’s being is therefore a fortified Troy—he is a natural homosexual who cannot be forced to accommodate heterosexual feelings other than friendship. However, Enrique cannot define what the difference between deep friendship and love is. This contributed to the atmosphere of confusion that enveloped the party and his thought while he is holding Marjane’s hands. I incorporated a passage in the Gospel of Matthew (Matt 22:39) and played it around.
The passage “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” may sound simple enough, as it is often used as a passage that commands the necessity of social love. However, it was distorted in the context of Enrique’s situation, as it appeared in its ambiguous sense. “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” can mean loving oneself in the place of others. In other words, Enrique loved his female ‘neighbor’ (either Marjane or Ingrid) as he loved himself. He is therefore treating himself not a male who makes contact with females, but as a female who does a homosocial interaction with female.
Going further the point, Enrique is therefore not feeling a sexual (or the common definition of heterosexual) love for Marjane or even Ingrid. What he feels is only a deep friendship. The verse from Mark 12: 30 were also included as it emanates a certain undertone of how Enrique is certainly conforming to certain Christian beliefs which generally is against gays. Of course, friendships have personal limitations, which is why Enrique felt a sense of imprisonment with Marjane’s embrace.
Marjane’s love is very confining and personal, and this forces Enrique to deface his true, homosexual identity. Enrique, in turn, doesn’t want this to happen, so he went to Ingrid or any other person (it really doesn’t matter) to avoid Marjane’e embrace. This is connected to the subsequent revelation of Enrique regarding his homosexuality in the original version of the story. What I am trying to say is that the limits and the social constructs of the society often lead many to the disappointment and even pain. For instance, Marjane was hurt because of Enrique’s revelation.
Enrique, on the other hand, was forced (in the sociological sense) by the society to make this deed. Hence, it is not Enrique who is responsible but the social limits that are enforced. Nonetheless, this will appear as a challenge to today’s youth. The presence of homosexuality, and so is the existence of hermaphrodites, poverty, and inequality, is a social fact that I bet is very apparent today. However, there are still many people that choose not to challenge the reigning “metanarratives” that limit out visions and mindsets, leaving us stunted and often misinformed.
Consequently, those who are subject to persecution of the societal constructs are given two options: to both uphold their identities and face the consequences or to deny themselves, their identities and conform to the laid constructs. It is often a misconception that indifference to the issues will not affect those who are conformed to the constructs. However, the section 7 “Hide and Seek” showed us even those who are not gays or deviants can be affected by the social limitations. Marjane, for instance, became a tool for hiding Enrique’s homosexuality and in this sense she was victimized.
This is of course not limited only to the gender issues but also to other issues. Hence, the issue of limiting social constructs is not only an issue of a certain group of people but also for the general humanity References Homer. The Iliad (online version). http://classics. mit. edu/Homer/iliad. html. Web. Accessed on May 8, 2010 Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. Pantheon Books. USA, 2003. Print. ________. The Study Bible. English Standard Version. Good News, 2008. Print. .
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