I am not sure where to begin commenting on "The Quilt" and Liu. After reading the other responses, it became apparent to me that I am also the product of a strictly heterocentric upbringing and community. I have found it difficult to remove myself from the reading, seeing past the biases I possess. "The Quilt" explores the biases of such a community, or perhaps even a world. Liu describes those suffering from AIDS and persecution as "a fallen choir" "patterns of grief" "patches of color" who are fading. He works to inform the reader of the growth of the epidemic, which is now "covering the earth's four corners". To me, Liu is informing the reader that to be what one may call "homophobic" is cruel and brings death, a death of understanding, as well as a marginalized group of individuals.
The patchwork of the quilt shows these lives as patchy and held together by a simple thread, yet they are all working together (as he works to save these victims as a nurse) to find a cure for the disease, as well as the heterocentrism apparent in society. Minoritizing views, or helping others understand gay and lesbian experience and their minority state, are shared in this piece. We see that they are a marginalized group, not receiving the help they need, and the acceptance as well. It was also interesting to read that the government was not willing to help with AIDS research until the disease threatened heterosexual people as well as homosexuals. (p.331). Liu writes "...but we will go on loving, embracing our own grief..." This particular criticism has helped me view this group in a slightly different way, as a marginalized group of people with different backgrounds and beliefs who do not particularly "fit in" to a patriarchal society, or "the social norm".
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
{I just wrote a well thought-out response and lost it all, so I'll try to remember some of what I wrote}
ReplyDeleteI also had a difficult time trying to read Liu's poems without the biases I learned from an early age. I still feel a sorrow for the pain these people feel, but is it pity? If so, how would I stop from pitying them? If I really try to read Liu's poems from an LGBT view, I am met with question after question to make sense of a different world. Why is this pain and suffering thought to be of lesser importance because those who feel it love someone of the same gender? Why are their voices getting lost and blending together as a "fallen choir"? Why is it only "nurses who know the cost"? Why are these human beings looked down upon?
Ultimately, I revert back to the bias of social constructionism. Questions from this side of thought shout to be heard. "Did these people who are suffering not bring it upon themselves? What about the influence they have on my rights?" I KNOW that these thoughts are cruel and each word is dripping with hatred and bias. Yet how do we balance these conflicting views? How do we change what has so long been thought of as normalcy? How do we truly understand the LGBT view when it provokes so many questions?