Performativity and Identity Constitution in Zadie Smith's NW

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Performativity and Identity Constitution in

Zadie Smith´s NW

Henri Vuotovesi 260282 Pro Gradu Thesis

English Language and Culture School of Humanities University of Eastern Finland May 2020

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ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO – UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND

Tiedekunta – Faculty

Filosofinen tiedekunta

Osasto – School

Humanistinen osasto

Tekijät – Author

Henri Mikael Vuotovesi

Työn nimi – Title

Performativity and Identity Constitution in Zadie Smith´s NW

Pääaine – Main subject Työn laji – Level Päivämäärä – Date

Sivumäärä – Number of pages

Englannin kieli ja kulttuuri Pro gradu -tutkielma X 27.5.2020 84 Sivuainetutkielma

Kandidaatin tutkielma Aineopintojen tutkielma Tiivistelmä – Abstract

Pro gradu-tutkielma käsittelee vuonna 2012 julkaistua Zadie Smithin romaania NW performanssitutkimuksen näkökökulmasta. Tutkielman tavoitteena on osoittaa, kuinka Smithin hahmot rakentavat identiteettinsä muille esitettyjen performanssien pohjalta.

Romaanin keskeinen teema on, että ihmiset rakentavat identiteettinsä teoille, jotka ovat hyväksyttäviä niiden yhteisöjen keskuudessa, joihin yksilöt kuuluvat. Romaanin

ydinteemoihin kuuluu myös maahanmuuttajan monikulttuurisen identiteetin mukautuminen ja rasismi. Tutkielma osoittaa ja analysoi, kuinka romaanin hahmot perustavat identiteettinsä muun muassa sukupuoleensa, yhteiskuntaluokkaansa ja etnisyyteensä liittyvien asenteiden ja tekojen pohjalle.

Tutkielmassa hyödynnetään monialaista performanssitutkimuksen kenttää. Työn alussa esitellään, kuinka identiteetin rakennus voidaan mieltää performatiivisena sekä tarkastellaan performanssitutkimuksen peruskäsitteitä ja taustoja. Myöhemmin

teoriaosuudessa esittellään filosofi Judith Butlerin teoria sukupuolen performatiivisuudesta ja tarkastellaan, kuinka Butlerin teoriaa sukupuoli-identiteetin performatiivisuudesta on sovellettu kirjallisuuden ja elokuvan tutkimuksessa.

Tutkielmassa osoitetaan, että romaanin hahmot perustavat identiteettinsä kulttuurin asettamien paineiden pakottamana. Työ osoittaa, että NW:n hahmojen identiteetit eivät ole esidiskursiivisia, vaan he perustuvat identiteettinsä sellaisten toimintamallien imitoimiselle, jotka ovat hyväksyttäviä yhteisöissä, joihin hahmot kuuluvat. Analyysin ensimmäinen osio osoittaa, kuinka päähenkilöt perustavat identiteettinsä maskuliinisuuteen ja feminiinisyyteen liittyviin sukupuolirooleihin. Toinen osio esittelee niitä tapoja, joilla yhteiskuntaluokka ja hahmojen etnisyys ja kansallisuus vaikuttaa heidän identiteettiinsä. Analyysin viimeinen osio käsittelee keinoja, kuinka romaani käyttää Lontoota tilana vaikuttimena päähenkilöiden performansseihin.

Tutkielman lopputulema on, että romaani parodioi käsitystä yksilön ainutkertaisesta identiteetistä ja esittää, että ihmisten persoonallisuuden rakennus perustuu enemminkin omaksuttuun identiteettiin, joka muuttuu kontekstista ja ympäristöstä riippuen.

Avainsanat – Keywords

Identiteetti, identiteettikriisi, omaksuttu identiteetti, performatiivisuus, Lontoo, Zadie Smith, NW, Judith Butler, performanssitutkimus

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ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO – UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND

Tiedekunta – Faculty

Philosophical Faculty

Osasto – School

School of Humanities

Tekijät – Author

Henri Mikael Vuotovesi

Työn nimi – Title

Performativity and Identity Constitution in Zadie Smith´s NW

Pääaine – Main subject Työn laji – Level Päivämäärä – Date

Sivumäärä – Number of pages

English Language and Culture

Pro gradu -tutkielma X 27.5.2020 84 Sivuainetutkielma

Kandidaatin tutkielma Aineopintojen tutkielma Tiivistelmä – Abstract

The MA thesis analyzes Zadie Smith´s novel NW (2012) from the perspective of

performance studies. The aim of this thesis is to show the ways in which NW´s characters constitute their identities on the basis of performances that are accepted among the communities they belong to. The central themes of the novel include multicultural

fragmented identities, racism and performativity in identity constitution. The thesis shows how sex/gender, social class, nationality, and ethnicity affect the characters´ performances, suggesting that their identities are performative rather than pre-discursive.

The study utilizes the multidisciplinary field of performance studies as its

methodology. The theory section starts by explaining how identity can be regarded as a performative entity. Furthermore, a brief background of the field and basic terminology are discussed in the first part of the theory section. Later, the theory section introduces Judith Butler´s theory on identity constitution. In short, Butler argues that both sex and gender are culturally created categories which govern people´s behavior. Additionally, the theory section introduces applications of Butler´s theory in the study of film and literature.

The thesis shows that the characters of the novel constitute their identities according to culturally normative behavior. Furthermore, it is shown that the characters do not possess

"authentic" identities; instead, they base their identity on such imitative behavioral models that are accepted among the communities they are members of. The first section of the analysis shows the ways the characters base their personal identities on categories such as femininity and masculinity. The second section of discussion analyses the means which the characters utilize to build their socio-economic and ethnic identities. Finally, the last section of the analysis examines how London as a space affects the performativity of the characters.

The conclusion of the thesis is that NW parodies the notion of an original, authentic identity and veers the reader into thinking that identities ought to be rather considered performative in nature rather than pre-discursive. Furthermore, the performative identity implicates that it is capable of changing and adapting according to the circumstances and the context of the individual.

Avainsanat – Keywords

Identity, identity crisis, performative identity, performativity, London, Zadie Smith, NW, Judith Butler, performance studies

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1. Introduction

1.1 Aims and Structure

Zadie Smith is an author known specifically for writing novels that discuss identities. Smith´s novels typically take place in multicultural London and the characters commonly have various different ethnicities. She sometimes ridicules the characters and utilizes obvious stereotypes whereas she also writes novels with a serious tone. Smith is especially known for her critical attitude towards stable and collective identities. She has articulated in interviews that coherent identities do not exist, instead, they tend to change over the time reflecting our environment (Armitstead). Such a philosophy is evident in Smith´s prose as well. In NW, Smith presents an abundance of characters with various ethnic backgrounds, this time with a focus on performative identities. What is peculiar about the novel is that each major character in the novel feels a need to act according to a pre-scripted social narrative which they feel an obligation to fit in to. Some of the characters resist the predestined social narrative by trying to consciously make individualistic decisions, whereas others conform to it.

A central theme in NW concerns the clash between an individual´s expected and concealed, hidden identity. In this context hiding an identity means that the characters are not able to voice their anxiety over the expectations they face. The concerns are not revealed to public but instead the characters in the novel prefer to keep up appearances. Each major character in the novel has a secret they wish to keep from other people. If this secret would come public, it would conflict with the public image each of the main characters in the novel tries to maintain. Similarly to Smith´s earlier novel, White Teeth, the characters try to deal with their cultural heritage and have different approaches to what they are expected to be like.

Whereas the tone of White Teeth is humorous, in NW the tone is somewhat opposite. In the

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former novel the author ridicules the characters by creating almost hyperbolic stereotypes and by putting them in humorous situations. Beukema argues that Smith uses humor as a device to discuss culturally conflicting themes in regard to identity politics (Beukema 2). While some of the characters in NW have stereotypical qualities, the overall atmosphere in NW is quite grim.

The expectations caused by race, upbringing, education, social class, and religion all cause pain to the characters, and Smith depicts in the novel the characters´ other self and their struggle against these expectations.

Paproth comments that Smith´s strategy to include hyperbolic characters in White Teeth is created from a postmodernist perspective, rejecting absolutes and questioning categories such as cultural heritage, history, religion, and language (10). Such categories take in the context of the novel the form of clashing notions such as Western and Oriental identities, internal and external history, and religious and secular world views (9). Paproth argues that the conclusion of “White Teeth is the inevitable failure of the fundamental truths that the characters pursue and the systems of order and control that underlie them” (10). In the same manner, NW shows clashes of Britishness vs foreign, and individualism in opposition to collectivism.

What is significant about the novel is that acting and keeping up appearances do not only limit to the characters that are present in the novel. Instead, it can be argued that also the city of London itself functions as a stage for the performances conducted by its inhabitants and is in a crucial role in setting power dynamics between the characters. As a London novel, NW often introduces names of actual locations and attractions. The reason for utilizing actual locations as a setting for the novel is to illustrate to the reader the type of surroundings the characters live in. This is particularly important because NW not only discusses and compares the characters´ gendered identity but also compares their socioeconomic status with one another. Economic disparity in London is known to be vast in comparison to other cities in the UK (Stone). Some areas in specific are associated with low average income rates (Stone).

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Poverty and financial inequality in turn are known to be factors for high crime rates (The Economist). Smith presents North-Western areas of London such as Kilburn and Wembley in an unpleasant tone whereas central areas like Mayfair, Piccadilly Circus and Hyde Park represent socio-economic power. Therefore, it is crucial to the reader to understand in what type of surroundings the events take place in. As the plot of the novel progresses, it becomes evident to the reader that the North-Western part of London is not considered pleasant among the characters.

Another interesting detail about the setting and milieu of NW is that in addition to utilizing actual locations the author also utilizes completely fictional places as a setting for some of the events. The fictionality of the milieu somewhat extends to even the name of the novel. In addition to a district in London, North-West, NW can also be understood as an acronym of

“nowhere” (Pirker). Space acts as a crucial factor in NW, and it seems that Smith makes some of the locations ambiguous. This is related to the performative aspect of the novel since the main characters can be said to be on a quest for an authentic identity. It could be the case that by obscuring some of the locations, Smith makes a parallel to the identity struggle the characters face. For example, the neighborhood where the characters live in their childhood, Caldwell, is a completely fictional location. It also seems that each of the characters who used to live in Caldwell struggles with their identity and, therefore Pirker´s suggested acronym for NW gains its meaning. I will discuss the meaning of space later in more detail in the discussion section.

In fact, from the perspective of the identity theorist Judith Butler, all identities can be viewed as performative. Because all identities are carved according to a socio-cultural script, it is inevitable that cultural norms shape an individual´s identity, regardless of whether they conform to the norms or not. Therefore, it can be said that there is no authentic personality since it stems from the culture and environment a person lives in (Butler, Gender Trouble xxii-xxiv).

The aim of this thesis is to show that Smith´s NW suggest that all identities are performative

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and that individuals have little power to constitute their identity as it is largely affected by culture and their habitat. NW shows the rigidness of the British class system and points out the challenges of class crossing (Wang 385). The narrative of NW reveals that the major characters are subjects to “occupational exclusion and economic exploitation”, illustrating the obstacles of self-invention in modern British society (Wang 385).

I will examine in this study how the characters in the novel view their assumed social roles, the way they conform to the rules they are bound by, and how they resist them. To be more precise, I will examine how the characters in the novel build their identities through repeated acts performed to the general public. In addition, I will examine the meaning of space and how space affects the characters´ performance of identity, and vice versa. To make my argument clearer, I will apply Judith Butler´s theory of so-called performative acts in identity and gender constitution and I will also relate that to what theorists such as Schechner, Bendix and Alizade have argued about relationship between performativity and ethnicity for instance.

The second chapter of the study focuses on defining the theoretical framework for this study. The chapter introduces what performativity of identity means and explains the significance of performances for identity constitution. Furthermore, I discuss in it how Judith Butler and other critics question assumptions that individuals have the power to build original identities. Butler claims that at its core identities are always based on repetitive acts and due to pressure that stems from our surroundings people end up copying fragments of previously performed acts. Thus, it can be assumed that authentic identities do not exist, rather, individuals adapt to their surroundings and base their behavior on learnt models.

The discussion section of the study focuses on analyzing how the main characters in NW build their identity performances and how different categories such as motherhood, nationality and socio-economic status are restricting factors which regulate how individuals are expected

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to perform. I will also point out how femininity and masculinity are attributes which govern the characters´ behavior. Lastly, I discuss how Smith utilizes space as one of the ruling factors for building an identity. To be more specific, I will analyze how space regulates the characters´

socio-economic power. The thesis will close with a concluding chapter.

1.2 Previous Research on Smith´s novels

Smith is a well-known author whose novels have been researched extensively by literary critics.

Previous research regarding her literature examines themes such as multicultural identity and identity politics in general (see e.g Ali and Ibrahim; Beukema) and the involvement of social class as well as time and space in literature (see the works by Driscoll and Pirker). Her characters are often second or third generation immigrants who identify themselves with more than one nationality. In addition, her novels often take place in London.

A defining quality of Smith´s prose is the inclusion of a myriad of caricatures and an abundance of details such as pop culture icons and self-referential signs. She is a postmodernist author and tends to include in her novels a variety of techniques such as stream-of- consciousness narrative, vignettes, text blocks shaped as images, and a self-reflexive narrator.

Smith´s style of writing has been criticized in an article by Wood as belonging to a genre called hysterical realism, a genre that is seemingly close to realism. However, Wood claims that Smith´s writing “exhaust[s] and overwork[s]” qualities of realism literature. Furthermore, he asserts that Smith´s preference to include excessive subplots and details is amusing but it mitigates her novels of credibility when it comes to realism.

Martin discusses how postmodernist literary works depict time periods, and the concept of present that Smith´s White Teeth in particular encapsulates. What becomes evident are

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especially the modern period´s obsession with capitalism and consumerism by overly cataloguing categories such as brands, celebrities, and pop culture references (31). White Teeth´s narrative is organized by decades, ranging from 1970s to 00s. The narration offers an abundance of cultural signs of each time period in question to contextualize the events. The pop-cultural references are mentioned in the narrative in a humorous manner. According to Theodore, Smith´s strategy to purposefully simplify time periods to decades and an

“accumulation of period detail” (35) accomplishes in satirizing the simplified way of thinking regarding periodization through means of obsolete matters such as brands and pop culture references (32-37).

According to Zapata, Smith´s first novel White Teeth focuses on the second and third generation immigrants´ experiences in a multicultural society of London. However, rather than seen as celebratory, multiculturalism is depicted as “problematic and burdensome” when the immigrants aim at preserving their original identities as they are learning to live in the host culture (87). Quoting Head, Zapata agrees that White Teeth comments on the successfulness and issues of multiculturalism and the immigrants´ integration to British society (87). Smith´s prose often involves characters who are immigrants or children of immigrants and her work aims at bringing into question the difficulty of restricting collective identities. Essentially, Smith invites the reader to reflect on what is Englishness or Britishness. Despite being born and bred English, her characters are often depicted to encounter racism in many forms.

Terentowicz-Fotyga has argued that Smith´s second novel The Autograph Man deals especially with identity politics and utilizes space and the metaphor of autographs to question what is real and authentic (59). The novel focuses on a Jewish-Chinese Londoner who is obsessed with movie stars and makes his living by obtaining and reselling autographs. The protagonist of the novel has to consider how to fit in the practice of his religion in a secular society. According to Terentowicz-Fotyga, the novel also ponders how pop culture affects our

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everyday life: Smith utilizes metafictional strategies and pop culture clichés to show the effects entertainment industry has on people´s perceived reality (59). In other words, The Autograph Man invites the reader to consider what is authentic and comments on modern society´s obsession to celebrities and entertainment industry in a satirical way.

Similarly to Smith´s other novels, NW deals with identity politics. As is the case with most of the author´s novels, NW´s characters are middle-class Londoners who hail from immigrant descent. Wang has argued that NW deals largely with the immobilities of British class system, revealing that the class system is maintained inter alia through means of economic discrimination (385). This thesis expands on Wang´s assertation, arguing that NW suggests that all collective identities, ranging from social class to national identities, are performative and re- iterative rather than pre-discursive in nature.

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2. Theoretical Framework

Notions as socioeconomic class, ethnicity or gender are characteristics by which individuals typically describe their identity. Each of these categories is often performed in ways that are socially acceptable to each respective group. Thus, the categories by which human beings define themselves can be considered normative or even oppressive, since the categories include rules that define what is proper behavior to a given ethnicity, gender or other defining feature.

In this section I discuss the theoretical framework of this study. I will firstly discuss what performance studies as a field analyzes and introduce how all human behavior can be regarded as a constant, ongoing performance. For the purposes of this section I refer to critics such as Schechner, Bendix, and others.

In the second part of the chapter, Judith Butler´s theory on performativity in identity constitution are introduced and elaborated on. Since she was one of the first critics to discuss how gendered identity performances in specific are constituted, her theory is integral to this thesis. I will introduce her approach after a more general explanation of the relationship between identity development and performativity is underlined. The second section will conclude with a short conclusion of the theoretical framework.

2.1. Performativity and Identity

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Performing is a central theme in Smith´s NW and therefore it is imperative to look at what performance studies as a field examines. The term performance is typically associated with drama, but it can also be used to refer to everyday life behavior. To summarize, performance studies is a multidisciplinary field which combines knowledge gathered from sociological and anthropological points of view. The primary focus in the field is to analyze actions of humans as performances or as repeated and rehearsed acts.

Scholars in the field view human life as a multitude of rehearsed rituals which “[…]

involves years of training and practice, of learning appropriate culturally specific bits of behavior, of adjusting and performing one´s life roles in relation to social and personal circumstances” (Schechner 28-29). In other words, performance studies examines how individuals constitute their behavior out of so-called restored behaviors, which is behavior that has been rehearsed before. These rehearsed performances are consequently practiced in various different contexts.

As more scholars have recognized that human behavior consists of practiced performances, performance studies as a field has consequently become increasingly prominent in recent years. Some scholars even argue that potentially all human activity can be looked at as a performance since our life consists of behavior regulated by social rules which are applied according to the specific situation an individual is in (Carlson 4-5). The performances humans base their behavior on are called “restored behaviors”, and they may vary in length. Sometimes they can be long sessions of which a good example is a wedding ceremony. Wedding ceremonies include speech acts, which are declarations, statements and requests that aim at altering or affecting a hearer´s behavior. A good example of a speech act is a priest blessing a wedding pair: “I pronounce you husband and wife”. The announcement in question the priest makes affects the couple´s actions.

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On the other hand, a performance could also be a brief moment such as interacting with a cashier at a grocery store checkout or waving goodbye (Schechner 34). The combining factor in both examples is that people are expected to act according to pre-script norms in both contexts. In the context of NW, acting to a pre-script norm can be extended to even bigger standards such as attitudes and general behavior of a character. As Butler points out, all behavior is in one way or another acting according to some pre-existing standard (Gender Trouble 179).

Restored behaviors are in Richard Schechner´s opinion what essentially governs human behavior. In other words, all human behavior can be interpreted as acting formerly behaved acts and combining those formerly behaved actions together (35). However, each act an individual performs is still unique despite that performing is at its core restoration of behavior. This is enabled because performers have an ability to choose how they want to act in the context they are in. In other words, performers have a script available for them, and it is up to the performers to decide how they apply the script in practice, meaning that the script can be both conformed to or resisted (Schechner 35).

Schechner makes a distinction between everyday and staged performances in his work Performance Studies by creating the categories of “make belief” and “make-believe”

performances (42). He explains that the performances of everyday life which for instance include gender roles, professional and academic positions as well as ethnic roles are essentially

“make belief” performances and they also “create the very social realities they enact” (42).

Because there are rarely any original ways in which to act for instance in job interviews, tracking an origin of a “make belief” or a real life performance can be difficult to do. Therefore,

“make belief” performances are elusive in the sense that they tend to hide their origin.

Moreover, performances in everyday life are distinct from “make believe”, which Schechner describes as performances in a staged environment (42-43). The distinctive feature between the

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two categories is clear: the latter consists of acts where performers know what is staged and what is not and vice versa. Performativity in the context of everyday life is the category which develops “made up” social realities and is integral to the constitution of an identity (51). In other words, Schechner states that people unconsciously utilize restored behaviors to regulate their behavior in everyday life. These performances are not only restricted to lingual expression, as, for example, body language and etiquette rules are strictly regulated depending on the circumstances and culture (51).

The characters in NW alter their behavior according to their surroundings, thus they perform “make belief” performances. Zadie Smith suggests in her novel that there are no authentic identities. Smith´s work can be interpreted as a response to the 21^st-century social media trend where people want to highlight their individuality and the desirable qualities of identity on the web. Thus, the representation of self in social media can be interpreted as performative since people tend to highlight merely the positive elements of their life to the public. However, Smith´s work invites the reader to think that especially the modern human bases their action largely on what is acceptable but also heavily vulnerable to for instance targeted marketing and peer pressure. NW satirizes modern people´s tendency to keep up appearances, and the promotion of individuality is ridiculed. However, ironically people are not sovereign at all when it comes to decision making – in reality most people tend to show only the socially admirable parts of their life, which is also what occurs in the novel.

Although “make believe” or staged performances are known to be different from reality, they too can influence reality by actively breaking stereotypes, which in turn can influence real life performances. Carlson notes that performances of categories such as gender and ethnicity can be active events or even “playful explorations” (5). Here he refers to staged performances (or any other performances with a public watching it) where the actors can try various roles or even break stereotypes. Therefore, such events can be used to either defy power or express it

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by breaking seemingly fixed norms. A good example of aesthetic events which break normative rules is theater performances. Mueller and Hofmann point out that for “centuries theatrical performances have deconstructed the seemingly fixed identity categories of sex/gender and race/ethnicity” (2). For instance, Shakespeare´s plays are known for characters which break contemporary gender and ethnicity/race stereotypes. A good illustration of this is his play Twelfth Night or What You Will. The name of the play refers to a festivity in medieval and Tudor England when socioeconomic roles would be flipped for one night. During the festival a pea was hidden inside a pie and the person who found it would become the king or the queen for one night. Similarly, in the play gender and socioeconomic roles are inverted. To summarize, Shakespeare´s play explores alternative ways of expressing gender and socioeconomic roles by reversing them. Interestingly, Smith refers to the Shakespeare´s play in question in the narrative of NW when the characters are at a costume party (NW 256).

Some contemporary cultural critics such as Mueller and Hofmann argue that due to increased migration and globalization, modern people are even able to intentionally try out and choose what aspects of a political stance or an ethnicity they are willing to practice and also what kind of negative connotations related to their ethnicity they are willing to erase (5). Here negative connotations mean distancing themselves from certain stigmas regarding ethnicities.

This type of interpretation regarding identity constitution emphasizes the individual´s role as an active agent who consciously chooses and builds their own identity out of the material available. Careful decisions regarding identity constitution become apparent in NW, and they are particularly evident with a character who even decides to change her name to hide connections to her low-income religious family. For instance, in this case the character in question wants to remove a stigma indicating that she is from a poor background by intentionally hiding her relations to family.

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Due to the fact that some ethnicities are associated with positive traits, Regina Bendix comments that post-ethnic cosmopolitanism has caused identity to be a part of capitalist market, arguing that market capitalism has turned ethnicity and therefore in part identity into a product:

she asserts that a modern consumer can nowadays shop for an identity and build an identity out of cultural fragments as they please (Mueller and Hofmann 6) As an example Müller and Hofmann mention, quoting Bendix, that a modern consumer can purposefully decide to eat whatever ethnic diet they please and thus build a whole new cultural profile for themselves (6).

Bendix asserts that the increase of tourism has arguably led to simplification and even reinvention of certain cultures, making the cultures easily enjoyable for tourists for financial gain (Bendix 19-20). However, Bendix notes that such reinvention ought not be labeled as inauthentic, as it is natural for cultures to develop (Bendix 19).

2.2. Judith Butler´s Theory on Identity and Performance

The topic of this study is strongly rooted in Judith Butler´s theories on performativity in identity constitution since she is one of the first scholars to analyze the issue. Butler is primarily known as a feminist critic who has contributed prominently to the development of contemporary feminist criticism.

Judith Butler argues that an identity is constituted through repeated acts that are typical to the category an individual belongs to. She bases her theory on performativity and performance on the findings of J.L Austin and S.J. Tambiah, who are well-known social anthropologists (Mueller and Hofmann 1). Austin is especially known for his speech act theory, whereas Tambiah discusses that “performance of culturally and ethnically constitutive rituals”

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are integral in building cultural identity (Mueller and Hofmann 3). Theorists who examine performativity and performance in identity constitution argue that the repetition of acts is in fact actively deliberate, not unconscious behavior. Butler herself claims that performativity is

“contingent rather than deliberate” (Mueller and Hoffman 1). However, the question of how conscious these performance acts are is a controversial topic in the field and leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

In her breakthrough study Gender Trouble, Butler criticizes the traditionally made distinction between “natural” sex and gender. The latter is often thought of as a cultural interpretation of sex. However, Butler argues that there is no natural sex, meaning that it too is produced by culture (Gender Trouble 10). She later added the performative aspect to her arguments on identity constitution.

Butler argues that gender is not a stable unit but in fact an entity which constantly evolves depending on the environment and culture an individual lives in (Gender Trouble 12-13). In other words, she argues that a gendered identity cannot be developed without the influence of a surrounding culture and without an adaptation to the culture. In her work Butler mainly focuses on inspecting relationship between a gendered identity and performativity. However, gendered identity is merely one of the performative aspects of identity constitution in my study.

In other words, in addition to observing how the characters build their gendered identities, I will also show how other categories, for example socioeconomic status or ethnicity, are performed in NW. Due to the fact that Butler was one of the first scholars to study identity constitution as performance, I discuss the novel mainly from the Butlerian point of view.

One of the most central themes in NW concerns expectations towards an individual and conforming to those ideals. The novel´s two most central characters are both females in their mid-thirties who have one feature in common: they are expected to act according to a

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predestined script, which means that their family and relatives assume them to marry and have children. In other words, they are expected to follow a hetero-normative script written for them.

It is shown in the narrative that this causes anxiety among the two characters. As they specifically suffer from expectations caused by their gender, it is beneficial to see what Butler says about the matter.

Butler discusses in Gender Trouble her views of 1980s and 1990s feminism. Most importantly, she criticizes the often-made distinction between naturally given “sex” and culturally interpreted “gender”. Although she agrees that humans have physiological differences, she argues that sex too is a socially constructed term (Gender Trouble 12).

Basically, Butler problematizes sex as a naturally given unit by questioning why sex is considered in binary terms in the first place, since people with both masculine and feminine traits are born. Butler claims that the medical field is the agent which has categorized people into males and females based on their genitalia and points out that the medical field is not a natural fact but a socially conceived construct (Bodies That Matter xiv). Similarly, the feminine and masculine traits that are associated with genitalia are socially constructed. To summarize, according to Butler nature does not categorize humans into dual sexes, but society does. Those who are born with both feminine and masculine traits are perceived as abnormalities because they lack intelligible sex in terms of cultural continuum.

Societies encourage individuals to perform in ways that are acceptable to each societal group. For instance, in Middle Eastern cultures women are expected to perform in a vastly different manner in comparison to their Western counterparts. The former are traditionally expected to cover their hair, whereas the cultural norms regarding clothing among Western females are laxer. These norms are reinforced by constant repetition. The performativity of identity can be expanded to other categories than gendered identity as well. The issue is discussed later in this thesis.

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Another issue with the definition of sex is historical agency and, more importantly, the question of when exactly it was established that there are two sexes (Butler, Gender Trouble 11). More specifically, she questions the assumption that there are exactly two sexes and additionally, the deciding factors for them. Because sex is a challenging term to narrow into two categories, Butler comes to the conclusion that sex and gender are both culturally created terms: “If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps this construct called as ´sex´ is as culturally constructed as ´gender´[…]” (Butler, Gender Trouble 10). What she means by this is that one should stop thinking sex as a pre-discursive term but instead understand it as a similarly constructed term as gender. Therefore, the binary sexes are in Butler´s opinion not a natural fact. On the contrary, Butler argues that sex too as a term is an artificial category created by society. Female and male identity performances are reinforced through repetitive actions which institutionalize and normalize certain behavior that is only associated with proper sex.

Sex and gender can both be considered as culturally determined categories since gendered identities are created through gender socialization (Mikkola). Mikkola points out that parents begin to assimilate their children into a certain gendered identity starting from birth. For instance, when parents are asked to describe their baby “they have done so using gender- stereotypic language: boys are described as strong, alert and coordinated and girls as tiny, soft and delicate” (Mikkola). Therefore, it can be argued that gender and other identities are causally created and what we consider feminine and masculine traits are in fact taught to children starting from their birth (Haslanger, “Ontology” 98). According to Haslanger, being classified as a female or a male plays factor in how an individual is viewed and treated from birth and thus one´s sex is in causal relation with an individual´s gendered identity (Haslanger, Resisting Reality 123). Such growth into gender roles is essentially what Simone de Beauvoir refers to in her famous argument “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” (301). In other words, people do not innately have feminine or masculine traits. According to Butler and other

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theorists, they are socialized to those roles by their surroundings, as was pointed out in the above example discussing parents´ descriptions on their newly born children.

According to Butler, identities are not internally coherent. She states that identities become intelligible through socially instituted norms and regulations (Gender Trouble 23). It is difficult to determine to what extent an identity is personal and unaffected by the external environment. Moreover, it is challenging to establish to what degree the constitution of a personality is conscious and a result of personal free will. Butler seems to think that the construction of an identity is not at all logical or analytic, and it is done out of necessity in order to avoid being shunned by the society. Intelligible personalities are the kind of gendered identities which conform to the so-called pre-discursive ideals on binary genders (Gender Trouble 23). That is for instance, those classified as males are attracted to females and vice versa. On the other hand, those who fail to conform to those ideals are viewed as outcasts. Thus, accepted norms and customs shape the way identities are performed in various scenarios.

It is important to note that Butler´s theory on performativity of identity can be expanded to other categories than sex/gender identity. Butler´s discovery was that being categorized as a male or female leads to an inevitable progression of performative identity constitution.

However, it can be argued that many other categories also influence an individual´s performance of identity. For instance, being born to a religious family can arguably shape one´s identity. Therefore, Sherlock, citing Butler criticizes the idea that individuals are autonomous subjects who constitute their own identity (35). Individuals belong to an abundance of subgroups where we unconsciously shape our identity in order to be accepted. Such categories that can influence our behavior include for instance nationality, ethnicity, religion, profession and wealth as well as hobbies. Schechner calls the recitation of accepted cultural signs and speech acts and adjusting to certain norms as “restored behaviors” (28-29).

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Sherlock, quoting Derrida, argues that speech acts and other cultural signs are essential for identity performance (36). First and foremost, these acts must be repeatable or citable in various situational contexts to become culturally meaningful (36). According to Sherlock, every acceptable identity performance repeats the normatively accepted cultural signs and speech acts, for instance dress codes and etiquette regarding social interaction in various scenarios (36).

Thus, from the Butlerian point of view identity constitution can be viewed as a deterministic process as individuals have little power to act as truly sovereign and autonomous subjects.

Butler claims, largely inspired by Beauvoir, that acquiring a gendered identity, for instance woman´s identity, is a never-ending process which “cannot rightfully be said to originate or end. As an ongoing discursive practice, it is open to intervention and resignification” (Gender Trouble 43). Therefore, a body can be understood as a platform to display historical or cultural situations. Furthermore, Butler claims that there is no interior essence which determines the identity of a person, rather, individuals follow the conventions they are surrounded by (Gender Trouble 173). Gendered identity is merely “a compelling illusion, an object of belief” (“Performative Acts and Gender Constitution” 2). Therefore, the intelligible genders, or normalized gender identities that “[…] always and exclusively mean the matrix of the ´masculine´ or the ´feminine´”[…] (Undoing Gender 42), are a mere repetition of socially accepted acts which contribute to establishing seemingly natural heterosexual conventions in many cultures. Butler points out that thinking of gender only as a binary matrix between masculine and feminine is unproductive way of thinking and only promotes to current hegemony of the binary form of sex (Undoing Gender 42).

Despite arguments against dual form of sex, Butler presents a specific reason for why both gender and sex are considered as binary, the reason being that cultures consider these binaries as a natural pre-discursive kinship system. Cultures encourage heterosexual marriage as a natural kinship relation because it guarantees the reproduction of new population.

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Therefore, it can be said that the so-called natural sexual interest to an opposing sex/gender is merely “[…] an unnatural conjunction of cultural constructs in the service of reproductive interests” (Performative 7). It seems that cultures not only encourage heterosexual contract as a natural kinship structure. Butler also points out that cultures produce many taboos to regulate and control to guarantee that an individual´s sexuality is properly channeled (Performative 7).

Simon Watney gives an example of how heteronormative standards are maintained in practice. He argues in Policing Desire: Pornography; AIDS and the Media that society has utilized the HIV virus to stigmatize repressed minority groups such as gay population, drug users and blacks. He remarks that it is a common medical fact that “every epidemic proceeds from an initially vulnerable community” (8). However, the emergence of AIDS within these groups is not typically considered as accidental. On the contrary, it is perceived as “a symbolic extension of some imagined inner essence of being, manifesting itself as a disease” (8). Watney finds it specifically interesting that whereas freshly emerged epidemies are typically discussed in terms of their “origin, its modes of transmission, its recognizable signs, its range of infection and the possibility of cure and preventative vaccination,” the discussion regarding AIDS typically revolves around the minorities in which the disease is prevalent in (22-23). The notion that the repressed communities might lack the necessary knowledge on safe sexual activity is ignored, and AIDS is utilized to denounce non-hegemonic communities as contagious and unsanitary.

Since acting one´s gendered identity can be compared to a theater performance, it is important to note that a performance is not an individualist deed. On the contrary, these acts ought to be rather considered as a shared experience within a community. Although individuals to some extent make their own acts, they nevertheless follow an already accepted set of guidelines on how to do one´s identity. The socially accepted norms that are acted are in fact already existing and the people who act the roles figuratively speaking arrive to the scene once

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they have rehearsed the script (Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution” 8). Thus, gender is a performance that is reinforced through repetition and an illusion which requires actors to make it reality (Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution” 9).

2.3. Concept of Drag and Performative Identity

Butler introduces in Gender Trouble a concept called “drag” which is important for this study and for the feminist field more generally. She claims that body is a physical entity which gains its meaning from the performances one acts (Gender Trouble 10-13). All cultures are known to have varying perceptions on masculinity and femininity so it can be argued that there are no

“natural” sexes if it is the culture and repeated performances that create a sex. Instead, sex and culturally constituted gender can be argued to be the same. Cultures give the body its meanings which are sanctioned by taboos and heteronormativity. Thus, if there is no interior essence involved with the body, and it bears no ontological meaning aside from the performative acts that “constitute its reality” (Butler, Gender Trouble 173). Lloyd suggests that “[b]y setting out boundaries and markers around specific identities gender, understood in oppositional and substantial terms, becomes another (literal and figurative) mode of containment” (196). In other words, certain bodily markers are given cultural meanings that people perform.

Butler argues that drag queens reveal how performing gender works (Gender Trouble 174-175). A gender identity is at its core a socially constructed heteronormative role, and its purpose is to make male and female identities “coherent” for the purposes of reproductivity in terms of cultural continuity (Gender Trouble 173). However, by choosing their clothes and

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mannerism according to an idea of an “authentic” female identity, drag queens can perform a gender by choice, thus pointing out that gender identity is in fact an illusion instead of a hereditary fact. People typically categorize whether a person is a female or a male according to their clothing or physique, but if both categories can be altered it raises a question of whether these categories are illusionary instead of naturalized knowledge (Gender Trouble xxiii).

Drag imitates performances that are associated with femininity and parodies the notion that knowledge of gender is derived from outer categories such as clothes or physique. Primary gender identities are thought to consist of either feminine or masculine acts such as wearing a skirt, putting on lipstick or growing a beard. Moya Lloyd, citing Butler, argues that drag queens succeed in pointing out that there is no original gender identity if anatomically “male” actors are successful in changing their gender by choice and after the performance carry on with the identity they want to show (198, 201). Drag plays with the anatomical sex of the performer and the performed gender. When the drag performers create a coherent image of the performed gender, they succeed in showing the imitative nature of “original” gender (Butler, Gender Trouble 175).

Because Butler´s work is especially useful in analyzing identity, nationality, and social categories, it is often applied in analysis of the film and literature. Dahlman utilizes Butler´s theory on performativity of identity in an analysis of a movie The Crying Game directed by Neil Jordan. The film deals with an Irish Republican Army volunteer who captures and is given orders to execute a British army soldier. After many events, the IRA volunteer befriends the prisoner and later becomes romantically involved with the soldier´s girlfriend. As the plot progresses and the two develop a romantic affair, the physically feminine girlfriend is revealed to have male genitalia. At that moment the viewer and the IRA volunteer feel “[…] betrayal in the on-screen collapse of gender certainty” (Dahlman 123). Using Butler´s theory, Dahlman argues that the film presents a crisis of heterosexuality and masculinity as well as ultra-

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nationalism since the masculine IRA volunteer falls in love with a presumable English woman who however lacks some of the signifiers of female body (130-132). Fergus´s, the IRA volunteer´s, identity is in crisis after the revelation and is deconstructed:

[…] a discussion of what constitutes of heterosexual relationship, would fail an analysis of this film because it would not adequately translate the performative possibilities of gender categories to an ethical position from which Fergus can recognize another of his constructed and problematic identities as a volunteer.

[…] Dil´s body fails to sustain Fergus´s expectations that identity is biologically certain or to resolve the meaning of his “homoerotic” nightmares of Jody. Instead, the penis precipitates a gender crisis of masculinity that is, for Fergus, complicit in his hesitant Irish national and heterosexual identity. (Dahlman 128)

Dahlman argues that Fergus´s nationalistic and masculine Irish identity is deconstructed through many events during the film. Developing a friendship with a British prisoner of war and being attracted to a seemingly female person make Fergus in due course question his own identity and the performativity of it (Dahlman 129-130). As a result, Fergus´s contact with the hostile British army soldier humanizes the opposition of the war. The film manages in “call[ing]

into question the ethics of oppositional politics and its attendant identity categories” and points out that “Fergus´s masculine, Irish nationalist and even Catholic identities are contingent to one another” (Dahlman 129).

To sum up the most crucial findings of this chapter, performance studies as a field examines all human action as performances. Humans constitute their behavior arguably on previously learnt models, which are called restored behaviors. The ways to perform an individual´s identity are heavily sanctioned by stigmas as well as social taboos. Furthermore, the possibility of being shunned by community reinforces behavior that is normative and

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desirable. Consequently, individuals adjust their conduct according to their environment – different contexts require appropriate behavior; a good example being comparing expected behavior in professional settings in comparison to private life.

A distinction between conscious and indeliberate performances can be made. Although they are different from everyday life performances, performances in staged environments can alter reality due to their ability to break taboos and discuss stigmatized themes. On the other hand, performances in everyday life create “made up” social realities and are crucial to the development of an identity (Schechner 51). Acting and adjusting one´s personal behavior in relation to the environment inevitably shapes an identity.

Butler is a feminist critic who has examined identity as a performance from a more specific point of view, her focus being primarily on inspecting gendered identity. She asserts that physiologically categorized “sex” and culturally viewed “gender” are in fact both culturally developed terms. Furthermore, she claims that humans have given culturally loaded significance to genitalia, meaning that people are expected to perform according to certain gender roles. For example, if one is born as a female, they are expected to dress and act in a feminine way and be attracted to men. The same applies to men, respectively.

Gender socialization means that from the moment an individual is born, they are subjected to perform according to their physiological build. A good illustration is children´s toys – boys are expected to play aggressively, to like sports, cars, and other matters associated with masculinity. On the contrary, girls are raised to motherhood from an early age and are expected to like matters associated with femininity such as dolls and make-up. Commercials direct such items to boys and girls respectively, which is clear evidence of the fact that humans begin to perform a gender identity from an early age. Thus, if a physiological build largely determines an individual´s identity, it can be argued that neither sex nor gender is a natural fact.

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Butler´s theory on performativity of identity can be expanded to other categories than gender identity. For example, people are known to be raised to certain identities depending on their culture, their parents´ socio-economic status or their religion. Butler´s claim is that all identities are to some degree performative as everyone is subjected to act according to a normative script laid for them.

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3. Discussion

In this chapter I will examine the ways in which the novel´s central characters, Leah Hanwell, Keisha/Natalie Blake, and Felix Cooper, as well as a few of its minor characters, perform their identities in multicultural London. Displays of socioeconomic and ethnic/racial sides of identity become particularly apparent in NW, and it is evident that those identities are not coherent. On the contrary, the identities of the characters are often contradictory, meaning that they can change and evolve depending on the circumstances. It even seems that the characters in NW are aware that they are faking their public image and my aim is to point out these occurrences and discuss them.

The first section shows how the characters of the novel perform their personal identities.

To be more specific, I will show how the characters constitute their performances regarding maternity and gender roles. The discussion starts by analyzing Leah Hanwell´s performances and continues by investigating Keisha/Natalie Blake´s relationship towards her expected norms related to personal identity. In addition, when it is applicable, I discuss briefly their husband´s performances regarding parenthood and masculinity.

The second section of my discussion focuses on the performances of social class and ethnicity. The discussion starts by analyzing Leah´s struggles with her identity crisis. Her crisis concerns mainly her poor economic status in comparison to her friend Keisha/Natalie.

Secondly, I show the ways in which Keisha/Natalie suffers from racial discrimination as well from patronizing attitudes in both professional and private life and how she attempts to dissociate herself from the stereotypes she faces. By distancing herself from the stereotypes she is associated with, she creates various make belief acts to be looked at closely in section 3.2.2.

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Thirdly, the analysis moves on to Felix Cooper´s character. His struggle involves primarily racial and socio-economic prejudices. Interestingly, while both Keisha/Natalie and Felix are both colored second-generation immigrants, the latter faces more crude treatment due to his inability to dissociate himself from his background. Finally, I discuss how Nathan Bogle expresses his identity. Nathan represents the epitome of total outcasts in British society and curiously, Smith does not provide him his own chapter in the novel in the way the other characters mentioned above. Instead, he is Othered even at a meta-narrational level and is mainly discussed from other characters´ perspectives. In other words, being an outcast he is seen as a threat by the other characters of the novel and is not given a proper moment to explain his frustration until the very end of the novel when Keisha/Natalie´s performance falls apart.

After showing the ways how NW´s characters perform, I will analyze the ways in which space functions as a factor for their interactions. Since NW is a London novel with class as one of its themes, it is imperative to analyze how space represents the characters´ social power in relation to one another. Since space acts as one of the invisible borders in the novel, I will show the various ways they are brought into attention. As a post-modernist author, Zadie Smith utilizes various techniques such as obscuring known locations and utilizing a self-reflexive narrator to invite the reader to think that although London is becoming increasingly egalitarian as a society, the rigidness of class hierarchy is still very much prevalent in today´s world.

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3.1. Personal Identity; Performances of Motherhood, Femininity and Masculinity

Section 3.1.1. contains an analysis of Leah Hanwell´s performances of obligatory maternity and femininity and additionally, a brief analysis of her husband´s citational practices of masculine traits when it is applicable. After this the analysis moves on to Keisha/Natalie Blakes performances of maternity and feminine behavior.

3.1.1. Leah Hanwell: Motherhood and Femininity

Leah Hanwell, one of the three main characters in NW, was born to a lower middle-class Irish family and she lived her childhood in the multicultural, fictional district of London called Caldwell. Judging by the narrative, Caldwell is located somewhere near Kilburn and Willesden.

Unlike many of her friends such as the other female protagonist Keisha/Natalie, Leah does not really want to advance in life. Quite the contrary, she seems to be afraid of change and is many times revealed to be afraid of growing old. Leah manages to graduate with a university degree that proves out to be pointless. She is stuck in a dead-end job where she is over-qualified. It seems that she does not have the courage to pursue a more ambitious career path since her current job provides a steady income. It is implied in the narrative that she is afraid of not being able to pay back her student loan, perhaps being the reason Leah decides to stay at her position.

She later marries an immigrant of Algerian descent and leads a seemingly happy life.

However, she feels that she is pressured into having children and she also feels that she is stuck in an unfulfilling job despite her higher education. In other words, Leah as well as many other

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characters in NW, is suffering from midlife crisis and from the expectations set by cultural norms demanding particular performances.

Smith is known to have publicly criticized in interviews the 21^st century tendency to do what others do, largely as a byproduct of internet and social media:

The story [The Lazy River] mines her [Zadie Smith´s] occupation with the way we live:

“Down below, the Lazy River runs, a neon blue, crazy blue, a Facebook blue.” She doesn’t like where we’re being propelled. “The lessons of the 20th century are when someone tells you it’s inevitable, it’s ideology. If they tell you it’s natural that a nine- year-old should have an iPad and a phone, they have to, everybody has one – the moment you hear that, you are in the realm of ideology. I’m really just trying to remind myself of that minute by minute […].” (Wichtel)

Smith´s views expressed in her interviews are also evident in her writing. Fragmented performances and the impact of peer pressure on identity constitution are shown to be the way of life for her characters in NW, as well as in her other works such as White Teeth and The Autograph Man.

The first part of the novel, “Visitation”, focuses on Leah Hanwell and it depicts her midlife crisis. It seems that her crisis revolves mostly around her upcoming motherhood, but her issues are also strongly related to her social class and more specifically, her envy for her friend Natalie´s affluent and socially prestigious status. It is often implied in Leah´s narrative that she feels uncomfortable in her friend´s presence; from Leah´s point of view Natalie acts condescendingly towards her. Zapata also points out that one of Leah´s crises is centered around her “unresolved sexuality” (87). There are some minor hints in the narrative suggesting that Leah was pressured into heterosexual marriage and she cannot express her sexuality the way she wants to.

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The novel starts when Leah Hanwell is alone at home and she has just realized that her pregnancy test result is positive. She soon begins a performance act of a good mother which is contradictory as she is shown pondering in the opening chapter whether she should have an abortion. When Leah has seen the result, a ragged-looking woman arrives on her door asking for her help. The woman introduces herself as Shar and begs for a small amount of money so she could take a taxi to a hospital to see her allegedly sick mother. However, later the woman turns out to be an impostor and she just wants to rip Leah off. Leah invites her in, and she is revealed to be secretly self-satisfied when the woman expresses her gratitude, perhaps being the reason to take the role of a model citizen. Additionally, maternity and femininity are traditionally associated with empathy, which is perhaps Leah´s motivation to act in the manner she does:

Leah is only the good stranger who opened the door and did not close it again. Shar repeats: you are so good, you are so good – until the thread of pleasure that runs through that phrase (of course for Leah there is little pleasure) is broken.” (NW 7)

The narrator´s tone describing Leah´s behavior comes across as sarcastic when Leah´s inner thoughts are juxtaposed to her actions. Bauman claims that identity and language work conjointly to make a performance, and identity “[…] is the situated outcome of a rhetorical and interpretive process in which interactants make situationally motivated selections from socially constituted repertoires of identificational and affiliational resources (Bauman 1).” Such selections are used to control one´s own public image as seen in the outer world. As is seen in the extract above, Leah acts in what she sees as a noble way to display a positive public image regardless of her actual thoughts.

When Leah invites the woman inside her home, she begins to perform an everyday performance, or as Schechner calls it, a “make belief” performance and adopts the role of a

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"model” citizen – perhaps trying to conform to a stereotypical idea of a good mother as she has just learnt she is pregnant. Leah asks the unexpected visitor to have tea with her, but the narrator ironically remarks that Leah never drinks tea, revealing her pretentious behavior. Finally, as the fraud visitor Shar leaves, Leah greets her with “something she has never said in her life: God bless you” (NW 16). This is further evidence of Leah´s everyday performance act since she is acting according to a type of worldview she sees is expected of mothers, that is, empathy towards others. Interestingly, Leah tells Shar about her pregnancy, but Leah is shown to act brooding when Shar comforts her and begins to talk about Leah´s soon-to-come baby. It is revealed later that Leah has had two earlier abortions and she is considering whether she should have a third one.

Leah´s main identity struggle deals with motherhood and with her reluctancy to become a mother, as she associates motherhood with aging and death. She is revealed to being pressured into motherhood by her mother, husband, and co-workers, which evidently causes anxiety in Leah. Peculiarly, on the outside Leah appears to conform to the heterosexual contract laid out for her, that is, to have offspring and to be a good mother since she never tells anyone about her anxiety. This demonstrates how NW largely deals with secrets and the theme of keeping up with appearances, and Leah´s secret has a great deal to do with fears of aging and motherhood.

Leah´s confusion is a byproduct of the way women are brought up to become mothers in almost all societies from an early age (Alizade 1). Alizade lists “preoccupation with the child, availability to the child, self-sacrifice to the child” as traits of being a good mother in universally all cultures (1). By having an abortion, Leah breaks those ideals. Alizade argues that stereotypical values of good motherhood are passed on from generation to generation to guarantee the continuation of societies, while images of “maternal monsters” such as witches, child-eaters, and evil mothers-in-law sanction as warning signs to girls, embodying undesirable

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qualities in mothers (2). To be more specific, those qualities include attributes such as selfishness and individuality as well as a general lack of interest in committing to a family.

Maternal instinct is not an innate attribute in women (Alizade 3). On the contrary, the desire to have offspring is developed by “[…] both open and disguised [means], they are of religious, societal and family origin (3). For instance, one glance at the girls´ toy section reveals that girls are expected to play with dolls and practise motherhood from an early age.

Conversely, boys are traditionally marketed toys which are related to aggressiveness, strength and courage. Good examples of such toys are muscular action figures, dummy guns and toy cars. As Mikkola states, gender socialization begins at an early age, and being classified as a boy or a girl is shown to drastically affect the way children are raised by their parents.

According to Zapata, Leah´s repressed and arguably unresolved sexuality might be one of her secrets too (87). In the first section of the novel where Leah looks at her life in retrospect she is hinted to have repressed lesbian desires. However, as she ages, her identity is subjected to something that Zapata describes as “heteronormative colonialization in terms of sexuality and gender” (Zapata 88). Number 37 is a recurring unit in NW and interestingly, the number often seems to be in connection to Leah´s repressed sexuality and her approval of heterosexual norms as the acceptable ones. On the first occasion when the number 37 appears, Leah looks back at her former lesbian relationship with a girl who used to be keen on number 37. Looking back at the affair Leah notes broodingly: “She was once a true love of mine. Now that girl is married, too” (NW 46). The reference gives a hint to the reader that Leah´s former love interest suffered a similar faith as Leah did; she was eventually marginalized according to a pre-script norm.

The second time the reference to the figure 37 appears in the narrative, Leah is shown, once more, to act in accordance to the heterosexual script. She has decided to have an abortion

Performativity and Identity Constitution in Zadie Smith's NW