Perfect Peace

Content Warning: This section discusses forced transition and gender dysphoria, discrimination and violence toward transgender people, domestic violence, child abuse, anti-gay bias and discrimination, and suicide.

The masculine series of pronouns will be used in this section of the guide to discuss both Paul and Perfect, as the protagonist most closely identifies with these pronouns at the end of the novel. From the very beginning, Perfect Peace closely examines gender and sexuality, both of which are commonly misrepresented by society as being part of an immovable binary. Through the characters of Paul, Mister, and Johnny Ray, the author challenges such limited expectations of gender expression and sexuality and studies the impact that these expectations have on reinforcing detrimental social norms.

Paul’s journey and character development express the fluidity of gender and gender expression, as well as how the wider social understanding of these two concepts can negatively impact those who do not fit into traditional gender expectations. Despite being assigned male at birth, Paul is raised as Perfect, a young girl who identifies with being a young woman. However, after Perfect is forced to become Paul, a young man whose sex is expected to match his gender expression, he feels extreme dysphoria—a feeling categorized by unease and anxiety—about the gender-related expectations placed upon him. He ruminates on why he is suddenly expected to identify with the term “boy,” and he wonders what traits define him as a boy. When his brothers and father are made aware of his physical traits, “they immediately beg[i]n constructing for him a new masculine Self. It [i]s as if the penis were the male identifier, the main thing, the only thing that ma[kes] a boy a boy” (134). Suddenly, Paul is forced to reconcile with the fact that he has a gender identity that does not align with the fact that he was assigned male at birth. Paul’s thoughts on his brothers’ determination to construct him “a new masculine Self” show the extremes to which such externally imposed social expectations can be harmful and disruptive (134).

As Paul grows older, he encounters harsher standards for his gender expression. The author purposefully juxtaposes Perfect’s early experiences with Paul’s later life in order to highlight the extremes with which society defines genders and their associated roles. During his time as Perfect, Paul is expected to learn how to become a wife who cooks, cleans, and remains subservient to her husband. However, as Paul is suddenly thrown into a new masculine identity, he is expected to carry himself with a more aggressive demeanor. He is forced to work on the farm and be more assertive toward those who show aggression toward him. When Paul is unable to live up to these new social expectations that his community immediately places on him after he transitions, he experiences several acts of violence from both his family and his peers. These acts of violence show the drastic harm that such arbitrary social norms can cause when they are forced upon an individual. However, as Paul overcomes these countless obstacles, his father begins to realize that his own understanding of gender may be inaccurate. Gus learns that Paul is strong, and upon seeing his strength, he begins to think of Paul in a new light and accepts him for who he is. As the narrative states,

He didn’t care what people said anymore. Paul was his son, and if he was a little effeminate, then, hell, that’s simply what he was. […] Now Gus liked him. He didn’t know what would become of the boy, but he felt sure that, from now on, Paul could take care of himself (214-15).

The author also brings the question of sexuality into the conversation through his characterization of Mister and Johnny Ray and their relationship. Both Mister and Johnny Ray are highly praised for their masculinity and for being “perfect gentlemen”; they both advocate for their community and are well liked. It isn’t revealed until the end of the novel that Mister and Johnny Ray are in a romantic relationship, which surprises Paul. Mister and Johnny Ray’s relationship demonstrates that sexuality cannot be discerned by looking only at how someone looks or carries themselves.