Essay On The Descent Of Alette By Alice Notley

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Throughout Alice Notley’s The Descent of Alette, Notley uses the character’s bodies as a way to create an identity. The use of disempowerment creates a path to form unification between a man and a woman; push away gender division. By breaking the binary structure that is within society, Notley shines light on maintaining identity and bodies. In other words, Notley expresses that sex is distinct from gender; Alette acts as a link to represent that sex is a costume.
Notley has Alette defend her sex. Alette travels in different caves and has to enforce her identity as a woman. Alette encounters a naked man in this room that is made up of all flesh. The man expresses, “ ‘I wonder’ ‘what it’s like’ ‘not’ ‘to have a sex’ ” (Notley 57). In this …show more content…

The symbolism with the snake signifies the notion of androgyny. The snake is sexless, as it is unsure what to make of the snake as it talks: “ ‘in a high-pitched’ ‘but sexless, amusing voice’ ” (Notley 76). Notley uses the depiction of gender by having the snake have a higher pitched voice, which is associated with women, but then back tracks with this feminine characteristic by stating that the snake is sexless. With the snake being sexless, Notley expresses how she breaks gender division. The snake highlights the hierarchy of gender that is placed on society, rather than binary of sex. Notley even pushes the hierarchy of gender on the snake by signifying it to the story of Adam and Eve. The snake refers to itself as Eve; therefore, referring the need to have a sex in society to have a form of identity. Even with Notley expressing the high-pitched voice and the snake being sexless, any creature in society will need to align with a form of sex to distinguish its identity. Even seen earlier in the novel, Alette associates the sex of the snake to be female: “ ‘which I took to be a female-’ ‘she wore’ ‘a gold fillet’ ‘the shape of’ ‘delicate grasses’ ‘& tiny flowers-“ (Notley 52). Based off this reaction, Alette assumes that the sex of the snake must be female due to her gender expression of wearing flowers, which are associated as a feminine trait. Notley later allows the snake to come forward by

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