Author2Author: Charlie Anders & Tennessee Jones, pt. 3

Having probed the humor of Charlie's novel, our attention turns to the character development in Tennessee's short stories...

Charlie Anders: You and I, as transpeople, have had to reinvent ourselves to make our way in the world. A lot of the characters in Deliver Me from Nowhere seem unable to reinvent themselves. They don't believe in any future other than the lives their parents lived. I can only think of two characters in your who successfully reinvent themselves: the sister in "Mansion on the Hill" who gentrifies herself, and Caleb Wilson, the transman in "My Father's House" who first becomes a college professor and then moves with his lover into an isolated farmhouse. Why is the sister portrayed negatively while Caleb is portrayed positively? And why are these two characters able to reinvent themselves when nobody else can?

Tennessee Jones: The sister (who as an adult marries into wealth and denies not only her working class background, but also her family) is portrayed negatively because she doesn't necessarily reinvent herself. Rather, she capitulates to social pressures to feel ashamed about the employment and circumstances of her family. She denies her history without making peace with it, and cuts off contact with her family because she is unable to deal with her feelings regarding them. I don't think it's fair to always criticize people who "move beyond" the circumstances they were born to as betrayers, but in the case of this sister, it's apt. She traded in a relationship to her past and family for a new house and a clean slate, without any critical analysis of the value of any of these things.

The thing that separates the character of the sister and Caleb is self-criticism. Caleb is almost painfully aware of his surroundings, his conditions, and his desires. He tries with everything in him to confront the painful things both within himself and contained in his history. One of the big moments of transformation, or reinvention, in the story is when he goes home to his father after transitioning, is beaten up, and finally understands he has crossed a threshold that he cannot go back over. And, from that moment he moves on to shape the rest of his life.

Many of the characters in the book try to change their circumstances and fail, and much of the book is about how people deal with failure without being able to imagine new possibilities for themselves. It's unfortunate, but I believe this is indicative of the reality most people experience. Most of us live our lives pretty quietly, battling our shortcomings and fears, sometimes finding the strength to go after our dreams and desires, but more often lacking even the understanding of what those things are. Often following a strong desire, whether it's for writing or building cabinets, allows people to transcend their circumstances, to move beyond what might have been expected of them.