Richard McCann’s (2005) short story My Mother’s Clothes provides insights to gender issues that evolve from the development of ones’ sense of community, family, friendship and self.
The story is part of McCann’s series of reflections regarding family, gender and homosexuality as personal memoirs. Gender roles and stereotypes are a basic element of any social orientation process. They can also be very pervasive, particularly as seen in the setting of the story as well McCann’s own personal background.Thus, his attachment to his mother, though a central figure in his life because of her personality and the absence of his father, became a source of conflict. This prompts the conflict between masculinity and femininity which was aggravated by his brother’s personal gender struggles. For McCann, the choices we make are motivated by our need to subscribe to a perceived correct image, behavior and roles.
There is a natural desire to belong and to conform as illustrated best, I believe, by the narrator’s recollection of, “knowing it 'wrong' for a son to wish to be like his mother" (p. 17). It also brings to realization the change in public opinion regarding the issue. However, what struck me most were not these changes but rather how a person evolves and is being molded by these society and the changes it is undertaking.
The story even independent of the collection of related stories by McCann provides a glimpse of how the struggle to belong can easily serve isolation. Though the story has become a popular part of many literary anthologies for gender issues because of its discussion of homosexuality, it should not be limited as such. McCann’s narrative illustrates the complexity of human relationships and how the effort to convince one’s self of an idea often supersedes the evaluation of what is truth.
