Susan Visvanathan's Androgyny

Susan Visvanathan states, “Androgyny means overcoming the cultural parameters defining a man or a woman, and raising the issue of common humanity. Work then is defined in terms of ability and interest, and the distinctions between men’s work and women’s work would at once be devalued. Androgyny, then is about fearlessness, and role choices which are not biologically defined”(Visvanathan 3015). This idea of androgyny that is highlighted by Visvanathan discusses this idea of a “common humanity” and the combination of gender roles between males and females. This idea of equality is important to explore because it really defines the relationship between a men and women, and how that affects their lives. In a traditional society and a traditional

Delaney, as opposed to Cándido, is perfectly content to allow Kyra to be the head of the family, while he himself plays the more caring and nurturing role. This nurturing role is easily evident within the plot of the story. It is more traditional for a woman to be completely submissive to her husband, and not speak out against his beliefs; yet, this is not represented within Kyra and Delany’s relationship. Delany plays the traditional female role, complying to all of Kyra’s requests. When Kyra is adamant about the wall being built around their community even though Delaney is firmly against it. He decides to not voice these opinions and instead wonders, “…why shouldn’t he defy Kyra and Jack and stand up for what he believed in?” (Boyle 227). He keeps his opinions to himself and changes his mindset in order to respect and please his wife. Additionally, there is a significant swap in assertiveness regarding sexuality in their relationship. Kyra is the one to initiate any physical show of emotion. In contrast, Delaney would love to have another child while Kyra does not have time in her busy schedule to have another mouth to feed (Boyle 225). All of these examples show that both Delaney and Kyra are very accepting of and content with this change in the traditional gender role. This acts as a foil to Cándido and América’s relationship. This is seen in how Delaney and Kyra really have not redefined the traditional gender role, but rather just swapped roles. This swap allows for the typical gender roles to be different for the spouses, however the traditional gender roles are still present. Boyle’s exposure of these roles in the swap highlights how the partnership between Cándidio and América allowed them to redefine their traditional gender