Freaks or Norms: A Rhetorical Analysis of Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love
Freaks or Norms: A Rhetorical Analysis of Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love
In Katherine Dunn's Geek Love, the main characters are separated into two categories, the norms and the freaks. The narrative creates a world where all the freakish things are defined as normal and tells how all the characters can switch from one category to another. All these plots come out with Al’s one thought, “how the oddity of them was beautiful and how that oddity was contrived to give them value. [...] He realized that children could be designed" (9). Al intentionally manages to make his children freaks. Along with the story of the Binwskis’ family, the boundaries between “norms” and “freaks” are challenged and redefined.
The original transformation from norm to freak is the process of Al and Lil's creation of “oddity “by "beginning to experiemnt with illicit and prescription drugs, insecticides, and eventually radioisotopes" (7). They create freak Arturo, the aqua boy, Electra and Iphigenia, the beautiful conjointed twins; Olympia; and Fortunato ("Chick"), who appeared normal but was telekinetic. For Al and Lil themselves, they are not genetically or physically freaks, so they are able to give birth to normal healthy kids. However, they consciously begin to transform the kids into disabled freaks because the freakier the kids are, the more popular the show would be. These children are considered as the perfect kids in this scenario since they are actors in the carnival to fullfill the demands of the audience and bring the money in easier. This phenomenon in the carnival not only breaks the usual visual of the norms and freaks, but also secretly switches the idea of freaks and norms. Usually, the disabled kids are unwanted and abandoned. However, Chick, the one who is most close to normal is bullied, chastised, abused and berated by the whole family, especially by Arty. In the carnival, the relatively normal kid, chick, is the freak, but all the other freak kids are the norms. In
In Katherine Dunn's Geek Love, the main characters are separated into two categories, the norms and the freaks. The narrative creates a world where all the freakish things are defined as normal and tells how all the characters can switch from one category to another. All these plots come out with Al’s one thought, “how the oddity of them was beautiful and how that oddity was contrived to give them value. [...] He realized that children could be designed" (9). Al intentionally manages to make his children freaks. Along with the story of the Binwskis’ family, the boundaries between “norms” and “freaks” are challenged and redefined.
The original transformation from norm to freak is the process of Al and Lil's creation of “oddity “by "beginning to experiemnt with illicit and prescription drugs, insecticides, and eventually radioisotopes" (7). They create freak Arturo, the aqua boy, Electra and Iphigenia, the beautiful conjointed twins; Olympia; and Fortunato ("Chick"), who appeared normal but was telekinetic. For Al and Lil themselves, they are not genetically or physically freaks, so they are able to give birth to normal healthy kids. However, they consciously begin to transform the kids into disabled freaks because the freakier the kids are, the more popular the show would be. These children are considered as the perfect kids in this scenario since they are actors in the carnival to fullfill the demands of the audience and bring the money in easier. This phenomenon in the carnival not only breaks the usual visual of the norms and freaks, but also secretly switches the idea of freaks and norms. Usually, the disabled kids are unwanted and abandoned. However, Chick, the one who is most close to normal is bullied, chastised, abused and berated by the whole family, especially by Arty. In the carnival, the relatively normal kid, chick, is the freak, but all the other freak kids are the norms. In