The Theme Of Gender In Isaac Cameron Hill

“I’d been with people in the five years since transitioning, but one night stands left me with some kernel of sadness. This person simply did not care that I had a penis.” (Keller 132). In Ammi Keller’s Isaac Cameron Hill, the topic of gender is intertwined with the story of two individuals, a transgender woman and a transgender man. It documents the chance encounters throughout their life that result in them both becoming large parts of each other’s lives. The story is told from the point of view of an unnamed transgender woman who is describing the life of a transgender man named Isaac Cameron Hill, while also offering reflections into her own life as a result. The work spans from Isaac’s childhood to his approach towards the middle age

Placing a “he” in predominantly “she” scenarios and vice versa allows the reader to grasp the lack of equality and understanding that are pervasive in society. For example, the story goes from Isaac avoiding bullying because of his perceived gender to Isaac expressing concerns about facing violence for being transgender. Isaac states in the story, “I am angry because if they want to kill us they can.” This makes it evident that Isaac outwardly appears to be a man and exists outside of the societal role that others have built for him. As a result, he has gone from avoiding violence because of his gender identity to now possibly being a victim to crimes based solely upon it. The use of the pronouns shows how societal treatment changes as gender expression changes: why does society see a problem with the physical harassment of girls? Why, once these girls grow up and go their own path and choose their own identity, is physical violence tolerated more at that point? It is these mentions of changing perception as gender expression changes that allow the piece to also speak on the traditional expectations of society. In this case, society is mostly composed of cisgender people, people who identify with the gender given to them at birth, and they are forcing a strict

Through the use of these rhetorical devices, Keller is able to subtly show the difficulties of not only being a transgender person but she also highlights the difficulties of being a nonbinary person who openly defies gender roles. Throughout the piece, people became more enlightened as time passes for the characters, however society still expects the characters to solely exist as a person who is only using the appearance and behavioral traits of one gender. In the story, people never progressed to a point where they allowed for transgender people to exist as more than their gender identity. The passage ends on the sentence “The hands of the clock above the fireplace drew themselves over its oiled face.” Keller is raising the question of how long must transgender individuals wait to be allowed to express themselves freely instead of trying to please society. Over the fifty years that the passage took place, the attitudes of society may have changed to transgender people, but the narrator and Isaac’s symbolic love was not opportune because society still could not approve of the symbolic mixing of femininity and masculinity and the abandonment of gender roles. Keller confronts these issues in order to bring the reader’s attention to the hardships that transgender individuals face within