Maria Sanchez-Carrillo
The words “sissy” and “runt” are often used to describe and label queer folk, especially men, based on traditional customs of what is considered to be masculine. Men who demonstrate traits such as femininity, feebleness, and drivelessness might be referred to as runts with sissy qualities or vice versa. A fair amount of queer coming-of-age literature involves a young character that is settled in a hierarchy within their social circle in most cases without their consent or knowledge. Such hierarchical social relations forces these roles onto the queer protagonists. The novels On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong and We the Animals by Justin Torres showcase compelling characters with runt and sissy qualities that shape their identities, family dynamics, and their growth as queer characters. The themes in Vuong’s and Torres’ novels give insight into runt and sissy characters in queer literature, explaining the damage and exclusion they face within familial communities and society as they grapple to come to terms with their identities. Although the characters deal with negative aspects of these classifications, it is important to note that there are times that Little Dog and the unnamed protagonist from We the Animals are empowered by their femininity and vulnerability in ways that claim and redefine the word “runt” and “sissy”.
The character Little Dog from Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is settled as the story’s “sissy” character who lacks the behavior that society has decided is fit for men. His nickname in and of itself gives the readers an indication that Little Dog is the runt of the story, although he is given this name out of endearment. Little Dog recognizes that his name comes from an origin in Lan’s village:
Often the smallest or weakest of the flock, as I was, is named after the most despicable things: demon, ghost child, pig snout, monkey-born, buffalo head, bastard—little dog being the more tender one. Because evil spirits, roaming the land for healthy, beautiful children, would hear the name of something hideous and ghastly being called in for supper and pass over the house, sparing the child. To love something then, is to name it after something so worthless it might be left untouched— and alive. (Vuong 18)
Through accepting Little Dog as his name, he reclaims the name as his identity despite it sounding diminutive. He acknowledges the name is a more tender option than his given name, leaving space for self-acceptance. The name Little Dog contributes to his role as runt, as he was given this name because he was the smallest member of his matriarchal household.
The dehumanization Little Dog experiences as he grows up affects his mental state and makes him vulnerable and sensitive to the people around him who did not experience similar things, for example, coming from Vietnam and facing a language barrier. Little Dog lived through systematic racism, often in school where kids discriminated against him based on how he looked and talked. Vuong notes how the kids “had already mastered the dialect of damaged American fathers” (Vuong 24). The bullying scene on the bus is an example of Little Dog unknowingly performing as the runt. By being in a state of weakness he became a target to bullies who refer to him as a “bitch” and belittle him because of his difficulty speaking unaccented English.
In Marlon B Ross’ article “Will the Sissy be Triumphant?” he writes, “Sissiness haunts every sphere of vaunted masculine empowerment as a cautionary figure of the failure to win, which is assumed to result from a failure of manly drive”, Ross explains how being viewed as weak results in a lack of aspiration with an outcome of fear of failure to be manly (#). Vuong applies this concept when writing Little Dog’s mother who treats him as the runt of the litter, many times getting frustrated with him when he expresses emotions. Little Dog is then put under the “runt” category when his mother interrogates him and says, “what kind of boy would let them do that?” (Vuong 26) when Little Dog tried to tell her about the bullying that happened on the school bus. This is evidence that she questions his masculinity and ostracizes him, often hitting him to try to get an answer from him on why he is such a wuss. She wants him to be stronger and readers may take that information as a mother trying to help their kid out by toughening them out. She makes a point to give Little Dog milk every day to make him stronger and Little Dog states, “I’d drink it down, gulping, making sure you could see, both of us hoping the whiteness vanishing into me would make more of a yellow boy,” which could indicate his grappling with his heritage as a “yellow boy,” a derogatory term to describe someone asian (Vuong 27). In the narrative present, however, Little Dog wanting and seeking validation through his heritage is an empowered move as he is accepting his identity as a person of color in a predominantly white society.
Like Little Dog, the main speaker from Torres’ novel We the Animals is depicted as the runt of his family and is essentially assigned the role by his family members. The main speaker of the story recalls his youth and describes events that lead up to his position as the sissy brother. The nameless character in We the Animals is often recognized as “soft” and “small.” Providing support for this statement, Ross states in his article that the term “gay” has become a word used to distinguish kids who are fragile and soft:
When kids say “that’s so gay,” they meant it as a cute, innocuous way of indicating their hip understanding of sexuality, even as they continued to ascribe stereotypical gender characteristics and conduct long associated with sissiness: softness, effeminance, cowardice, histrionic speech and emotionality, campness, and triviality. (Ross 2024)
Incorporating Ross’ suggestion on how the term gay has adapted a relation to being effeminate, the protagonist rejects conformity and embraces his femininity even if it’s just for a few moments when he states, “I pretended I was a mer-boy prince and it was my job to try and catch all the men in barrels and save them from their deaths, but I cupped my hands and reached up, they always slipped through. When they disappeared over the edge, I danced a special underwater dance” (Torres 100). Oftentimes queer people are scrutinized under a prejudiced lens; if they are queer it must mean they are feminine and want to be like girls, however, the protagonist of We the Animals uses this act of art to escape his reality for a few moments. This scene can be explained through an excerpt from Jose Munoz’s Cruising Utopia, he explains that “Queerness is a structuring and educated mode of desiring that allows us to see and feel beyond the quagmire of the present” (Munoz 1). Here, Munoz suggests that queerness offers a new way of being and living. The protagonist of Torres’ novel is expressing his individuality and vulnerability because no one is around to see him, yet he expresses escapism of reality and freedom at the same time.
Analyzing the scene where the protagonist dances in front of a projected film, the readers get a sense of empowerment as the protagonist shows no feelings of shamefulness. In the academic journal “Sissy that Walk” by Orlando Woods, he quotes Alvilez:
One should find power in what makes you susceptible to criticism. One must surrender to the assumed weakness and redefine it. This musical call to surrender is about refusing acquiesce to the social command of denying feminine expressivity for male-embodied individuals. One should sissy that walk or surrender to the sissy as a source of creativity and self-definition. (Woods 495)
Woods and Alvilez refer to the term and phrase “sissy that walk” as a confident boost in one’s self-esteem to beat the system and not succumb to the social pressure of gender performance. The speaker from We the Animals does not get a traditional happy ending but instead from what the reader can analyze, the protagonist gets put into an asylum. Regardless of this, Torres concludes the novel on an open end, with the protagonist reflecting: “I sleep with other animals in cages and in dens, down rabbit holes, on tufts of hay. They adorn me, these animals—lay me down, paw me, own me—crown me prince of their rank jungles” (Torres 95). There is a surprising and hopeful undertone to the way the speaker describes his time at the “zoo”. Similarly, Little Dog has an unconventional ending as the reader can interpret situations that can make Little Dog’s life successful such as studying in New York. Even though the queer characters in the novels don’t get traditional happy endings, it is clear that they are, at times, defiantly embodying the qualities of the runt, rejecting the notions of society’s version of sissy and reclaiming it by sissying that walk.
The term “runt” used as an expression for characters in Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and Justin Torres’ We the Animals explores themes such as individuality, masculinity and femininity, and social dominance while also investigating the idea of empowerment.The nameless character in Torres’ novel seeks freedom, validation, and acknowledgment of identity. By withstanding his brothers’ and fathers’ comments about masculinity or lack of, the protagonist of We the Animals develops resilience to societal norms and heteronormativity. Little Dog in Vuong’s novel seeks out normality; with a dysfunctional family and exploration of his sexual orientation, he finds it harder to live the social norms that society wants people to live. Both Vuong and Torres dive into complex subjects of identity, embracing femininity, and sissy and runt qualities, when it comes to the entanglement of queer people within unstable families. “Runt” and “sissy” though not stated clearly, is a term that is stereotypically depicted as a quality that shapes Little Dog and the protagonist of Torres’ story. The authors paint a strong picture of being a “runt” or “sissy” in contemporary queer literature that provokes readers to think about the notion of queer experiences. Through the evaluation, one can see that the “runt” of Vuong and Torres’ novel struggle to find a place in society where they are accepted and have the freedom to live their lives. Regarding Ross’ statement about the evolution of the term gay and sissy, one wonders if the term will evolve into something positive that they can use and claim as their own in the future.
Works Cited
Woods, Orlando. “‘Sissy That Walk’: The Queer Kinaesthetics of Mobility-through-Difference.” Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, vol. 37, no. 4, Aug. 2023, pp. 494–506. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2023.2253384.
Ross, Marlon B. “Will the Sissy Be Triumphant?” NOTCHES, 20 Jan. 2024, notchesblog.com/2024/01/30/will-the-sissy-be-triumphant/.
Torres, Justin. We the Animals. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018.
Vuong, Ocean. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel. Penguin Books, 2021.
Munoz, Jose. Excerpts from Cruising Utopia. NYU, 2009