Pronoun problems

[Lioness]

I'm writing an essay for English, a lot of which concentrates on characterisation and the role of certain characters.

I'm a little unsure how to refer to one of the characters - a transsexual. She is, in the first half of the novel, still living mostly as a male. However, in the second half, she is well and truly female.

Would she be better referred to as a 'he' or 'she', when discussed in the essay? I dislike using s/he, because it just looks awkward.

I think I would prefer to use she, because, well, she's female, in both her mind and the reader's. However, it may create confusion in the essay, and look like a careless typo on my part, if I write things such as "When she was male" or similar.

 

[The Judge]

How is the character referred to in the novel itself? That is, is she "she" when she is living as a man? If so, surely you should follow that. Otherwise, since it's an essay, and therefore a formal piece of writing, can't you have a footnote or end note, or even just a comment before you start? eg "In this essay X will be referred to as "she" throughout, even during the time she has male physical form."

 

[Lioness]

She's a he for the first part of the novel, then not mentioned for a while, then a she for the last bit.

I think my examination board disapproves of footnotes...we've been strongly discouraged to use them.

 

[Lioness]

Also unsure whether I should refer to her by her male or female name...At the moment, I've been using Melesio/Mimi, however that's a bit clunky. At the same time, I don't want to entirely separate the characters.

 

[HareBrain]

I don't think there's going to be an ideal solution, but when you say this:

However, it may create confusion in the essay, and look like a careless typo on my part, if I write things such as "When she was male" or similar.

is that any different from saying "when the Queen was a schoolgirl"? Most people would accept that phrasing, even though she wasn't queen when she was at school.

However, I accept that it might be different, because the Queen's default position in time is the present day, whereas when you talk about a fictional character they exist equally at all time periods of the story, and it's probably not right to give greater weight to who they are at the end.

Hmm. Maybe write about a different book?

 

[Arthur_Connelly]

I've seen invented pronouns used when referring to a transsexual person. "When I saw Rey yesterday, ze wasn't wearing hir coat." But since these haven't really entered into standard usage, I'd say to go with the way you've been using.

edit:
In the sense of referring to her as a she when in the present and a he in the past, I mean. S/he is awkward and perhaps offensive.

"When he was in high school, Bob played football."

"When she was called Bob, Alice played high school football."

Found an APA guide. Might or might not be helpful.
http://supp.apa.org/style/pubman-ch03.12.pdf

 

[Lioness]

I also shy away from using ze and hir...they sound vaguely...other-languagey.

I'll have a look at the style guide...in the meantime, I'll talk to my English teacher. She should know.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

This is more complex than it even at first appears.

There seems to be the potential for legal issues in relation to it.

The research I have done by entering:-

"How to address a transsexual" in google

Throws up a whole load of references.

In general it seems that, if, for some reason, you are aware of the situation you should ask how the individual wishes to be addressed. Presumably this would also include references to the past. Although, in the UK, it may be an offence to reveal a persons previous gender in certain circumstances.

However more legal minds may know better.

 

[Lioness]

This is in analysis of a book involving a fictional character, so there most probably aren't legal issues involved.

I'm aware that transsexuals prefer to be addressed in a form that suits their current gender. However, the problem is that if I need to refer to her when she was a man, and I use her male name or 'he', the teacher/exam marker may think that I'm referring to two different characters.

We've been told definitely not to use footnotes, and I think an explanation that she's transsexual might clutter the essay a bit.

I've got a meeting with my teacher tomorrow, so I'll double check with her then.

 

[Culhwch]

Go with what the teacher says.

In my opinion, the Judge's suggestion of a prefacing statement seems the most elegant way to solve the problem.

 

[goldhawk]

What you need is a scene of the "great reveal" where he proudly proclaims he is now a she. Before this scene you would refer to her as a male; after, as female.

 

[mygoditsraining]

I'd just pop an explanatory statement in at the start.

"In the work being discussed, the main character undegoes a male-to-female gender realignment. As the character more readily associates with a female identity, references to her will use feminine pronouns throughout."

Nice and simple, no-one has to puzzle it out, and when they read "odd" statements like "when she was a boy" they can instantly deduce what you mean.

 

[Peter Graham]

Hi Lioness,

Never forget that writing is about communication - so you should use whichever pronoun best conveys the message and/or the characterisation which you wish to convey.

If your character believes herself to be female and presents herself that way to the world, then she is a she. I could change my name to David Beckham today, without any legal formality. I see no reason why the narrative voice of the book should not accept the character's choice of gender at face value - unless, of course, you are using the narrator as a quasi-character (a la Henry Fielding) and the narrator has different views which you wish to build into the dramatic tension.

I don't like these tawdry little words like "hir" or whatever. They are clumsy, virtually meaningless (in a deep sense) and just draw undue attention to a matter which, whilst important, is perhaps not the be all and end all of the book. They say more about the person using them than about the person referred to - rarely a good thing. And, of course, the character would probably never refer to herself in those terms.

Readers won't get confused - HB makes an excellent point with his Queen example. Provided you write the charater well, you can trust the reader to keep up.

Regards,

David