Gender Roles and their Innate Instability in Oblivion
BY: Nicole Pfalz and Emma Jones
Emphasizing the manner in which mediated memory aids in piecing together historical memory and the story of his father’s life and political involvement, Héctor Abad Faciolince presents his testimonial account linearly, conceptually, and most significantly, emotionally in his memoir Oblivion. In selecting his father, Héctor Abad Gómez, as a particular victim of the Colombian armed conflict in this targeted testimony, Héctor Abad Faciolince is able to emphasize the all too prominent emotional effect this account has on the narrator. Additionally, this memoir describes the ways in which sentiments are expressed in a multitude of ways, creating at times confused gender roles. This is especially relevant to the armed conflict in Colombia because the patriarchal culture and strict gender roles associated with this culture have often been used to justify gendered violence.
The sharing of both masculine and feminine gender roles in Oblivion (2013) is emphasized through the father, Héctor Abad Gómez, communicating significantly through physical affection, and sobbing through difficult times, whereas his mother demonstrates a firm hand and an element of steadiness and unwavering confidence. Said unstable and confused gender roles are brought to light primarily through his father and mother, but additional characters such as his sisters, Alberto Aguirre, and leaders of the church (nuns and priests alike) also represent the adoption of contrasting gender stereotypes. While there exists overlap between the cliched gender roles expressed by the author’s parents, there are also some instances in which neither figure demonstrates a stigmatization. The roles of physical punishment or aggression, being competitive, being strong and physically fit, and being a caregiver appear to lack presence within either the mother or father of Héctor Abad Faciolince; however, these characteristics were fulfilled by the machismo-centered paternal grandfather and the maternal-in-nature nuns, perhaps demonstrating the reasoning as to why his parents did not adopt these stereotypes as aspects of their own being. Héctor Abad Faciolince notes within Oblivion that he loved his father as many love their mother: this is represented through this visualization as his father holds significantly more feminine characteristics than his mother, thus giving him a more maternal appearance. Differently, his mother expresses more masculine attributes than feminine, perhaps indicating why there exists more of a connection to his father.
Many of the characters in the memoir Oblivion act in ways significantly related to traditional gender roles. When these actions are classified as upholding or subverting traditional gender roles, as visualized above, several trends become clear. Most characters act in ways that conform to traditional gender roles, while only a few characters undermine these gender roles. However, the characters that subvert gender roles tend to do so multiple times throughout the memoir. Interestingly, three of the characters with the most interactions with gender roles (Héctor Abad Gómez, Héctor Abad Faciolince, and the narration) show a clear pattern of conflict between the subversion and the upholding of traditional gender roles. Only Cecilia Faciolince regularly and exclusively undermines these gender roles.
