Fat Ham

This section continues to explore the performance of gender roles. For example, Larry performs masculinity by appearing in a full Marine uniform. Rev insists that being a serviceman makes Larry manly and that Larry’s bravery and willingness to carry out violence as a soldier are admirable. Rabby also applauds the Marines as an honorable and viable career path for Larry. She obtains much of her self-worth by living vicariously through her children, feeling that their success reflects well on her.

Both Pap and Rev disapprove of what they regard as Juicy’s defiance of traditional gender traits and of his being gay. Pap’s destruction of Juicy’s Barbie when Juicy was a child suggests how angry it made him to see Juicy not performing conventional masculinity. Pap demands that Juicy model his identity after himself. Tedra, however, accepts Juicy. This makes her a complex character. On the one hand, she doesn’t protect Juicy, such as when allowing Rev to use Juicy’s tuition money to remodel the bathroom. On the other, her gifting of the doll indicates her support and desire to nurture the person Juicy is. Their conversation about his sexuality initially fills Juicy with fear, but Tedra responds in a way that suggests that she has always been aware that Juicy is gay, and that one’s sexuality is not something to become upset by. The bond between Juicy and Tedra is a strong one. Tedra’s love is the key element that prevents Juicy from carrying out Pap’s order to kill Rev.

Other characters manifest traditional gender roles in extreme ways. Tedra is overt in flirting with Rev, suggesting that she uses her physical beauty to attract his attention and appease him. Her performance during karaoke is suggestive, indicating that she is accustomed to obtaining power through her sexuality and traditionally feminine traits. In a similar vein, Rev boasts of his manly traits, such as bragging about riding a mechanical bull and his talents as a barbecue chef. He is egocentric and carries an air of entitlement, especially where attractive women are concerned. Rabby is intolerant of those who don’t conform to traditional gender roles. She is oblivious to the fact that both of her children are gay. For example, she speaks of her hopes for Larry to marry someone like the minister’s daughter and expresses astonishment at Opal’s refusal to wear a dress.

These chapters examine Establishing a Queer Identity. Larry appears in uniform because he wants to impress Juicy. Juicy, however, feels the uniform is a ridiculous choice for a barbecue and can sense Larry’s discomfort in wearing it. Larry is nervous and awkward when alone with Juicy in a way that suggests sexual attraction on Larry’s part. Opal, unlike Juicy or Larry, is direct about her sexuality. However, she is unable to stand up to her mother’s demands. Though she vocalizes her disdain for dresses, she wears one anyway to please Rabby.

Juicy’s manipulation of the charades game mimics Hamlet’s hiring of actors to perform a play for Claudius and Gertrude. Hamlet’s plan involves having the actors act out a scene in which poison is poured into a king’s ear, killing him—this is how his father’s ghost explains that his brother, Claudius, killed him. Hamlet gauges Claudius’s guilt by his reaction to viewing the scene. When Juicy recites Hamlet’s soliloquy, it aligns Juicy with Hamlet and reinforces how Juicy is academically inclined in a way that his family finds odd. Like Claudius, Rev reacts to his nephew’s manipulation in a manner that suggests his guilt, storming off after the reference to a preacher killing a cook. In Shakespeare’s play, this moment serves as the climax, as it provides the proof Hamlet requires to act on his father’s instructions. Hamlet’s downfall follows when he further delays acting on this knowledge. Similarly, Rev’s storming off creates tension, raising questions about how Rev will behave toward Juicy and whether Juicy will take action to end Rev’s life.