When I read this quote in Geek Love (stated by Oly about Chick) it really jumped out at me. I feel it sums up Oly’s character quite well. There is a constant “needing” in the novel. Arty’s ‘need’ to be the best performer in the family and bring in the most money. The Binewski parent’s ‘need’ to create the perfect freak/geek children. Chick’s ‘need’ to please and protect everyone around him. The list goes on and on. I'm going to focus on Oly’s ‘need’ to have people need her.
In our last class, we discussed the hierarchy within the Freaks. I think Oly’s obsession with being needed originates because of this hierarchy of differences and the fact that she is at the bottom rung of the hierarchy. She makes up for her low "freak" status by making sure she is useful to the Binewski family. The fact that she was not odd enough to be rewarded with her own carnival show really impacted Oly’s dynamic with her family. She is in a constant struggle with herself to prove her own worth. This is shown with her almost slave-like labor for Arty and her original dislike for Chick because he did not need her. Even in the story with Miranda and Crystal Lil, Oly’s need to be needed is expressed. Miranda needs Oly for money with rent and to win an art contest. Could this have been a motive for her agreement to pose for Miranda? Also, Crystal Lil needs Oly to watch over her by taking out the garbage and other such tasks. Oly was continually questioning her worth to the Binewski family. The fact that she was needed at times, even for the menial work, allowed Oly to believe she was climbing the Freak hierarchy.
Oly’s need to be needed puts her into a role of caretaker. This could be the cause of the children’s lack of a caretaker in their parents. The Binewski parents are more concerned and preoccupied with creating perfectly deformed children and building their carnival empire to be the mother and father their children need. They both take on the role of detached creators rather than loving father and mother. Yes, there are times when their parenting abilities come to the forefront, but it does not happen as often as it should. Both Al and Lily progressively, albeit unintentionally, distance themselves from their own children as the book develops. Clearly Oly's lack of originality in the "freak" department greatly contributed to her dependency on being needed. However, maybe her parents' action, or lack thereof, was a factor. Perhaps Oly’s need for more conventional parents helped construct her need for people needing her. Need need need!
Absolutely. The focus on Oly as caregiver is astute and perfectly foreshadows our discussion of disability theory coming up tomorrow. One aspect of disability studies is that there is this co-dependence fostered by representations of disabled characters - always a patient and a caregiver. The binary division can prove problematic, of course, but it presents critics and readers with an interesting discourse to consider when discussing the representation of disabled figures.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, isn't there something defining about the human need to need that perhaps underscores the humanity of "freaks" ?