Perfect Peace

Content Warning: This section discusses forced transition and gender dysphoria, discrimination and violence toward transgender people, sexual assault, and suicide.

As Paul’s identity undergoes several dramatic shifts, the author uses key physical objects to create powerful connections to socially programmed perceptions of masculinity and femininity, and chief among these are the narrative’s repeated references to dresses. Because he is raised as a young woman in the South, Paul is expected to spend time with other girls and to enjoy dressing up, and consequently, he comes to enjoy the concept of looking “pretty,” a term that is heavily associated with femininity and womanhood. This inclination remains with Paul even after he and the rest of the family discover the truth about Emma Jean’s deception. Thus, he continues to hold onto the concept of looking “pretty” and grieves the fact that the word will no longer be associated with him. As Paul, he is forced to “dress like a boy” and is no longer treated gently by his brothers; just as his dresses have been stripped away from him, so too has his former identity as the only daughter in the Peace family. This jarring shift in Paul’s treatment highlights society’s overly rigid views of gender and its propensity to create polarized expectations of only two genders. While Paul was Perfect, he would play with dolls and play “house” with the other young women in his community, acting out the role of a wife and completing “wifely” duties like cooking and cleaning. His doll, Olivia, also serves as a visual representation of his feminine identity as a young child, and his decision to burn the doll at the end of the novel symbolizes his determination to put a decisive end to that stage of his life.