"'TO HE, I AM FOR EVVA TRUE'": KRAZY KAT'S INDETERMINATE GENDER by ELISABETH CROCKER Department of English, University of Virginia libby@virginia.edu _Postmodern Culture_ v.4 n.2 (January, 1994) pmc@unity.ncsu.edu Copyright (c) 1994 by Elisabeth Crocker, all rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair- use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that the editors are notified and no fee is charged for access. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any other medium, requires consent of the author and notification of the publisher, Oxford University Press. [1] Like the landscape of Coconino County where he lives, the character Krazy Kat's gender and race shift, sometimes at random, but more often as a result of his social situation. George Herriman couched his assertions about the socially constructed nature of categories like race and gender, in addition to categories like class, ethnicity, age, and occupation, so deeply in the sophisticated allegory of his comic strip, however, that few readers recognized them. Those who have written on Krazy Kat in the past have confined their comments to Herriman's drawing style and literary allusions, and to the more poignant but less puzzling aspects of the love relationship between Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse. [2] The situation of the characters remains unchanged over the course of the strip's run from 1913 to 1944: Ignatz Mouse hates Krazy Kat with a violent obsession that causes him to throw bricks at Krazy's head; Krazy loves Ignatz with a singleminded passion that causes him to interpret the projectiles as signs of Ignatz' love; Offissa Bull Pupp loves Krazy Kat and hates Ignatz Mouse, and uses his lawful authority--as well as his billy club--to protect Krazy from the bricks. Ignatz detests the "Kop," and Krazy does not return Bull Pupp's affection, but he does not resent the intervention in his relationship with Ignatz. Krazy seems to understand that others cannot see the brick as a token of affection, and he ignores even Ignatz' own protestations to the contrary, always utterly confident in his perception of the brick as a signifier of love. [3] The love-triangle plot has allowed critics to dismiss the problem of Krazy's largely indeterminate gender. In the introduction to a Krazy Kat collection assembled shortly after Herriman's death, e. e. cummings enumerated a number of tropes for Krazy to figure, including free will, democracy, and romance heroine (vii). Because Krazy is so often caught between the hero Bull Pupp and the villain Ignatz Mouse, and is fairly passive as the object of the Pupp's love and as the object of the Mouse's hatred, cummings gendered the Kat female. Nearly all critics and comics historians have since referred to Krazy as "she"; even novelist Jay Cantor, who used the _Krazy Kat_ cast and setting for a postmodern psychoanalytic novel of the same name, unequivocally identified the Kat as a Dora-like female. While cummings himself understood that it was Krazy's role in the romance-plot that was feminine, and not anything inherent in the character, others have since followed cummings' use of "she," relying upon his authority to avoid examining a complex issue. [4] When questioned about Krazy's sex, however, even Herriman would respond that he did not know, and the Kat did not seem sure either (Capra, 40). "I don't know if I should take a husband or a wife," Krazy complains in an October, 1915 daily. "Take care," Ignatz responds, hurling a brick. The narrator nearly always refers to Krazy as "he," resolving awkward, ambiguous, or gender-neutral moments to the pronoun "him," rather than to the pronoun "it." Most of Krazy's activity is not gender- specific, but in scenarios involving some complication of his normal relationship with Ignatz, Krazy adopts whichever gender role will restore the usual balance. Cases of disguise or mistaken identity in either Ignatz or Krazy, and of rivalry with a party outside of the Kat/Mouse /Pupp triangle, invariably produce gender-bending confusion in the strip. Sunday, April 15, 1923 This episode combines the classic chase scene with the love-triangle plot, further complicated by the intervention of an outside party, Pauline Pullet. Krazy's behavior here seems to be governed by his innocence and his absent-mindedness, but he actually performs complex maneuvers in order to maintain the most options within the social structures at hand -- love and the law. Panel 1 1. Even inanimate objects are dynamic in Herriman's work; this plant grows and changes slightly between this frame and the next, typical of the instability of all matter in Coconino County. 2. Ignatz here begins his own narrative of the chase, told by he and Offissa Pupp in strikingly few words. The alternation of "He won't get me," "I will get him," and other variations of the same sentence to tell the story create a poetic sense of refrain, which attains perfect closure in panel 15. Panel 2 1. The "plant" now has a torchlike appearance, in keeping with the change from day to night. 2. Herriman's own narration, in addition to the dialogue of his characters, uses false derivations, malapropisms, and other "errors" to emphasize the arbitariness of the operations of language (as well as for comic effect). "That which made him fugit" is typical of Herriman's tone, a lilting parody of high literary style. 3. The setting has changed from day to night -- or at least from white background to black -- from the previous frame. In this particular episode, the dark background is associated with Offissa Pupp: when he makes his first appearance, when Ignatz escapes him most narrowly, and when Pupp finally apprehends the Mouse. Panel 3 1. The ownerless sombrero acknowledges the absent Mexican population; Coconino County is virtually haunted by indigenous and Hispanic culture. Herriman's work shows a consistent awareness of how the growth and success of the United States was predicated upon the destruction of pre-existing cultures within its borders. He was also interested, however, in the ways these cultures survive covertly within and without the American mainstream. 2. The background landscape undergoes physical transmutation without changing entirely from panel to panel. The walls become trees, the trees become mesas, all without narrative comment. The stone of the high desert, which in so much American lore symbolizes the rugged, indomitable frontier that succumbs only to the rugged, indomitable spirit of the pioneer, instead shifts from moment to moment between the living trees and nonliving rock, between the "natural" rock formations and the man-made walls. Panel 4 The wall is gone, but something resembling Herriman's rendition of a "tepee" has appeared. Panel 5 Again, it is dark when Offissa Pupp most nearly captures Ignatz. The landscape has undergone another transformation, with the trees in the background becoming a mesa for this panel only. Panel 6 The hat is the only object that has been stable in the last four panels; perhaps that is why Offissa Pupp does not look there for the dynamic Ignatz. Panel 7 There is something of Warner Brothers' "Speedy Gonzales" in this running mouse in a sombrero; Herriman's influence on cartoons and comics is still evident in contemporary work, such as "Ren and Stimpy." Panel 8 In this allusion to _Romeo and Juliet_, Krazy echoes the lament of Juliet, not of Romeo, putting himself in the feminine romantic position of Juliet and Ignatz in the masculine role of Romeo. Panel 9 Krazy's presence disrupts the repetitive narrative. Panel 10 The exclamation "Bless my pale blue eye" changes, for a character whose gender and race are often called into question, to "pale pink eye." Pink (as specifically opposed to blue) is a feminine color; it is also the color of albino eyes in cats. Panel 11 Krazy did not know the Spanish word for the "Mexikin derby," but the hat inspires a love song in Spanish. Panel 12 The consistent placement of all characters' names in quotation marks within dialogue is a signature feature of Herriman's style, as though the characters have other names, or are merely actors portraying the characters. Significantly, the word "brick" is nearly always in quotation marks as well; by designating "brick" the same way he designates "Krazy," "Ignatz," and the others, Herriman emphasizes the brick's agency in the storylines. The hat, in this episode, is a similar engine for the action, and is partially enclosed in quotation marks in panel 10. Panel 13 1. Pauline Pullet, the only unmarried female in Coconino County. Ignatz had an affair with her in a Sunday page in December of 1918, so Krazy has reason to perceive her as a potential rival for the affections of his "Romeo". 2. The hen addresses Krazy as "Mister," and although he has identified with Juliet and the feminine earlier in the strip, he here doffs his hat in a masculine gesture. This masculine gesture is specifically what causes Ignatz to be captured, ensuring that Krazy gets all of Pauline's flirtatious attention, and that Ignatz cannot give her any. The success of Krazy's actions in keeping the others from noticing the hen is emphasized by the line between Ignatz and Offissa Pupp as their eyes lock. Panel 14 Krazy is sure to continue his attentions to the hen -- "How regal! How queenly! How statuesque!" -- until Ignatz is safely out of the way. Panel 15 1. Even though he addressed Pauline as a man addresses a woman, Krazy still swears his love for the male Ignatz unequivocally. Krazy is "true" to Ignatz, as he asserts, in spite of the fact that he betrayed Ignatz to the Pupp, for he has restored the order upon which all of them rely. By keeping Offissa Pupp occupied with chasing Ignatz, Krazy keeps the Pupp's unwanted attentions at bay; more importantly, by letting Offissa Pupp discipline Ignatz, Krazy can retain both his love for Ignatz and his dignity. If Offissa Pupp did not challenge Ignatz' behavior, Krazy might have to acknowledge it himself, which would interfere with his love for Ignatz. Panel 16 Krazy often sings this hymn when he is "heppy," and it serves frequently as a coda, as it does here, after order is restored. --------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, July 14, 1918 Roles in love play do not define the only parameters of gender construction in _Krazy Kat_. Krazy is a black cat only in general, just as he is generally male. When the Kat's fur changes color, however, his gender categorically changes with it. Krazy, upon emerging bleached white from Madame Kamouflage beauty parlor, ceases not only to be male but ceases even to be a Kat in the dazzled eyes of the Mouse. Ignatz cannot recognize Krazy when Krazy is white, because whiteness in itself is for Ignatz an appropriate object of erotic desire, which then in turn must be feminine. Panel 1 Herriman here uses a common lament of the time to intoduce the action of of the day's strip. He also alludes to _Romeo and Juliet_, as he does in the April, 1923 strip. Panel 2 1. Mrs. Kolin Kelly, wife of the brick-seller who provides Ignatz with his missiles. 2.Ignatz uses diminutive epithets to describe Mrs. Kelly, though she is by far the larger of the two. Ignatz has shown anxiety about his height in other epsiodes, and the impact of his small stature on the power dynamic between he and Krazy is significant. Panel 3 1. Krazy announces his intention to look like the "Queen of Sheba," a woman. 2. Ignatz, startled by Krazy's entry into the feminine space of the beauty parlor, exclaims "Look _what's_ going in that beauty parlor," rather than who. With his choice of pronoun, Ignatz objectifies the Kat, like he objectifies the other women who go into "Madame Kamouflage," and expresses his momentary confusion about Krazy's gender. Panel 4 1. This crossed circle, resembling a medicine wheel, often accompanies a twist of fate or the work of the gods in _Krazy Kat_. 2. When Krazy is out of sight, Ignatz resolves the ambiguity in favor of his usual perception of the Kat: "Wait til _he_ comes out," he threatens. Panel 5 Waiting -- wistfully, watchfully, and vigilantly. Panel 6 The brick falls by the wayside when Ignatz' libido kicks in. Panel 7 Ignatz specifically refers to "that 'Kat'" as "him," at the same time that he calls bleached-Krazy a "blonde." He clearly delineates his own behavior strictly as either violent or erotic. Panel 8 1. Ignatz addresses Krazy as "Snow Maiden," explicitly female. 2. The balcony conjures up images of the scene in _Romeo and Juliet_, referring back to the opening panel as well. In this panel, Romeo is certainly not sure of his Juliet. Panel 9 1. The sky has gone from white to black, reflecting Krazy's real and perceived color changes, and indicating that it is a dark day for Ignatz when the object of his desire is revealed to be a black cat. 2. Krazy, inexplicably, identifies himself before the date he has desired for so long can occur. He seems unable to tolerate the hypocrisy of Ignatz' courting behavior, preferring the sincere brick. Panel 10 1. The shame Ignatz feels at his attraction to Krazy makes it all the more imperative that he throw the brick at him. 2. Krazy Kat is charmed, as though he has encountered the Don Juan of legend, but he pronounces the name like that of Byron's satirical figure. ------------------------------------------------------------------- About this project This _Krazy Kat_ hypermedia project began as a ToolBook application compiled for a graduate course in computing and literary study, taught by Hoyt Duggan and Peter Baker. John Price-Wilkin encouraged me to seek platform- independence when expanding it into a dissertation, of which this article is a part. When the dissertation is finished, with the direction of Eric Lott and John Unsworth, and the technical support of the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, it will be published on the World Wide Web. Works Cited Capra, Frank. _The Name Above the Title: An Autobiography_. New York: MacMillan Co., 1971. cummings, e.e. Introduction. _Krazy Kat by George Herriman_. By George Herriman. New York: H. Holt & Co., 1946. Herriman, George. Sunday pages July 14, 1918, and April 15, 1923, from _George Herriman's Krazy & Ignatz_, vols. 1-9, Bill Blackbeard, editor. Forestville, California: Eclipse Books/Turtle Island Foundation, 1989.