Hidden Narrator Gender ?

Mary Love said:

Obviously, the purpose of keeping the narrator’s gender secret would have to be somehow beneficial to the plot.

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Not necessarily. I think it would be important to the character, especially since it's a first person narrative. The question I would have is why does gender matter to your character? That's not to imply that gender isn't important, it certainly is for a lot of people. But why, specifically, does it matter to your character?

2nd: Would readers find this plot twist too unkind? Obviously, it would have to be handled delicately, probably allowing the reader to think the narrator was one gender without directly saying so, before making the switch, and there would have to be good reason for the secret.

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This implies that the character's gender is only hidden from the reader, not the other characters in the novel. If this is the case, I don't see how it impacts plot, only the reader's perception of your plot. The characters in the novel would act the same way towards your MC, because they would have known all along, right?

What I'm wondering about most is how you're going to handle the MC. Is your MC dealing with issue of transgenderism? Are you going to rely on stereotypes to establish gender?

Jeanette Winterson has done it. Written on the Body is the one I'm familiar with; she may have done other books the same way. It's a literary novel and she does it for Making A Point reasons, I think.

It's been done in at least one children's book: The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tyler by Gene Kemp. The character is known by the nickname "Tyke" throughout the book and it's told in first person. The reader assumes based on stereotypes alone that she's a boy because she's athletic and gets up to all kinds of mischievous antics. Tyke says how she hates her real name, and although she mentions hating her real name on various occasions, including resenting teachers using her real name, it's only revealed on the last page that her real name is Theodora.

Bone Dance by Emma Bull does this (and quite well; I like this book a lot). The narrator doesn't have a gender, because s/he was grown in a vat, so it is important to the story.

What was interesting is the first time I read the book, I assumed Sparrow was male and it totally worked. The second time I read it, even knowing the truth, my brain decided to think of Sparrow as being female, and that totally worked also. This mirrors what happens in the book, in that other characters realize they've been assuming Sparrow is either male or female, and then, in talking to someone else who knows Sparrow, begin to realize they don't actually know.

jjdebenedictis said:

Bone Dance by Emma Bull does this (and quite well; I like this book a lot). The narrator doesn't have a gender, because s/he was grown in a vat, so it is important to the story.

What was interesting is the first time I read the book, I assumed Sparrow was male and it totally worked. The second time I read it, even knowing the truth, my brain decided to think of Sparrow as being female, and that totally worked also. This mirrors what happens in the book, in that other characters realize they've been assuming Sparrow is either male or female, and then, in talking to someone else who knows Sparrow, begin to realize they don't actually know.

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Wow, that actually sounds kind of cool.

There is such a thing as a default character. For example, until told otherwise, most people will assume your mc is heterosexual. You could use this to your advantage by having a homosexual character instead. When mentioning the gender of the SO most people will assume the opposite for your mc.

As far as a default gender goes, for a first person narration I typically assume the mc is the same as the author. I could be alone on that, though.

I think it's all in the execution.

This is a bit different but I recall reading something awhile back where a young girl kept talking about her black sheep sister. At the end, we discover that there was no sister, it was her own dissociative disorder, brought about by the abuse she suffered. It was a real stunner. Too bad I can't remember the title now. Too bad I can't think of the title now. It worked because the MC herself believed it.

In comparison, I also recall reading a story where at the end, we're let know that the whole thing was written from the point of view of a little bird who was looking in from outside the window. I invested my time in reading it and ended up feeling like the butt of a dumb joke. I've also read stories where at the end, the joke's on us because the whole thing was a dream. The difference is those were obvious attempts on the writer's part to withhold info. and trick us. What was meant as a surprise ending was an annoying ending because the reader feels manipulated.

So, I'd say if it comes across like the MC is just being who they are and doesn't bother announcing or explaining themselves, that would be great. But if it comes across like the info. is being kept from the reader as a big surprise at the end when it's something basic that we expect to know about the MC right away, it feels like deliberate manipulation of the reader and is annoying.

In other words, I think it has to be honest from the POV of the MC, not designed to have a "punchline" that comes across like "Golly gee, intersex/gender fluid people exist!"

Leckie's Ancillary Justice doesn't exactly hide the gender of the POV character, but the character is an embodied fragment of a spaceship and isn't able to recognize gender very well. I guess that's how I'd put it. That matters because it reflects the general difficulties this character has existing in a human body.

Fruitbat said:

This is a bit different but I recall reading something awhile back where a young girl kept talking about her black sheep sister. At the end, we discover that there was no sister, it was her own dissociative disorder, brought about by the abuse she suffered. It was a real stunner. Too bad I can't remember the title now. Too bad I can't think of the title now. It worked because the MC herself believed it.

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If it was "perfect sister" instead of "black sheep sister" I'd say My Sweet Audrina by V. C. Andrews. And yes, that one is well done.

I've read three or four stories where the gender wasn't identified until well into the story, a couple of times at the very end. I've yet to see it done honestly, or for any reason other than trying to make a point about gender. If that's your thing, go for it, but in all but one of the stories I've read, the writer had to jump through a few dozen hoops to get it done, and it was obvious the writer was hiding the gender, and therefore easy to tell the gender by what the writer wasn't saying. In that one exception, the character was completely unrealistic, and when the gender was revealed, nothing rang true.

Anything can be done well, but it would take some great writing to make this work, and a potent reason other than trying to make a point about gender.

Can we have already forgotten Gene Kemp's adorable 1977 kid's book - "The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler?"

How time passes!

ETA:

neandermagnon said:

It's been done in at least one children's book: The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tyler by Gene Kemp.

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Oh - Neander, I missed your post. Thank heavens someone remembered! That book was lovely

mccardey said:

Can we have already forgotten Gene Kemp's adorable 1977 kid's book - "The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler?"

How time passes!

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I mentioned it upthread

It was one of my favourite books when I was a kid. The gender reveal wasn't a surprise to me because I knew in advance. We did a reading comprehension exercise on part of it in class when I was about 11, and one of the questions was "Do you think the main character is a boy or a girl? Why?" and my answer was along the lines of "I think he's a boy because no-one ever writes girls doing things like that, even though girls can do all those things and I'm a girl and I like all those things and wish writers would write girl characters like that." So one of the girls in my class who'd read the book showed me the last page to prove that this writer really did write girls like that - so naturally I read the whole book and enjoyed it immensely. And some others by the same writer (I liked one about Gowie Corby - forgot the whole title, I just remember the librarian searching for it under "Gary Corby" and telling me that no such book existed and I had to spell Gowie Corby for her ) The things we remember as kids

IMO the gender switch thing could've backfired in terms of the writer finding a loyal reader in me, because I might not have read the book at all if no-one told me that here, finally, was a book with a female protagonist that liked all the allegedly "boys" things just like me.

In Lee Child's Running Blind ( clicky ), the villain's POV is told in 2nd person. It's only at the very end we get to know who that villain is. I thought it was an odd choice at the time but it worked out well.

-cb