Monday, October 12, 2009
Ignatius's Support of the Gay Community
We talk a lot about the possibilities of Ignatius's sexuality in our class discussions and it is previously mentioned in this blog but no one has ventured into his new support of the gay community, so I am going to share my feelings. I think that it is extremely interesting that Ignatius is lending his rare support to this minority group. In his journal entry in Chapter 11, he starts out his discussion of his new interest with a blatant statement of his superiority of Dorian Greene as he says he only talked to Dorian for a few minutes until he "established most easily [his] moral superiority over this degenerate" (269) which is very typical of Ignatius to have this perception of himself. Ignatius goes into a discussion of how the country will be run under the gay party, and through this description he plays up a lot of the gay stereotypes which makes me think that he is not gay because then he would be using this opportunity to reject the stereotypes and provide better insight into the gay lifestyle. So if he is not gay, why would he blatantly support this party when he rarely supports anything in modern times? Some may say that the author's supposed homosexuality might have something to do with it but I think there are some other explanations as well. One explanation is Ignatius's desire for power which drove him to embrace this opportunity to lead a minority group to supposed world dominance. Also, Ignatius is always trying to impress Myrna so he sees this political plan as a perfect chance to 'one up' her. On another note, I really like how Ignatius seems to be really heartfelt in his sympathy for the gay community, and he explains how their rise to power will be "a part of a global movement toward opportunity, justice and equality for all," (270) which is very un-selfish of him and pretty uncharacteristic. Even though we see a glimpse of his hidden charitable nature, I believe he is actually being selfish in wanting to lead this movement because he just wants to have power, and I do not believe that he has any certain ties to the gay community besides seeing their obvious minority status and wishing to swoop in and lead these people, just like he did with the factory workers. What do you guys think about Ignatius's support of the gay community, do you think it has anything to do with his sexuality?
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I find this thread interesting, but I have a difficult time viewing Ignatius's "compassion" as genuine. Rather, I think that Ignatius takes advantage of the relative powerlessness of these disenfranchised groups as pawns in his battle against Myrna. Since he excludes himself from any legitimate position of influence within mainstream society, he adopts these causes (less because of a genuine desire to help, more to "confound the minx"). Your thoughts?
ReplyDeleteI see Tyler's point that he has compassion, yet I agree with Mr. Hastings that his compassion is most likely stemming from an opportunity to "confound the minx" and he also likes dealing with the minority groups because they give him power, which is something that he rarely possesses. Tyler mentioned his understanding and approval of the African American state and I agree that is something to take into consideration with his supposed support of the gay community. After reading chapter 12 for homework the other night, I think Ignatius does actually have compassion for this gay community because he seems genuinely hurt when they reject him and his ideas. I understand that you can argue his hurt feelings as all in hopes of gaining power against Myrna but I agree with Tyler that he was actually hoping to be included in this minority group. Mr. Hastings brings up the point that he excludes himself from any legitimate position of influence within mainstream society, and I think he only does this because he has been rejected by mainstream society for so long so he has to resort to gaining power in minority groups. If Ignatius was accepted by mainstream society, he would gladly take a position of influence and power. Even though it is obvious he is looking to gain power over minority groups to show Myrna that he actually has influence over some groups, I agree with Tyler that he shows compassion because he really seems to care when they reject him and his ideas in Chapter 12.
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