Absolutely Normal Chaos

Secrecy around female sexuality is a key theme in the novel, and it affects both Mary Lou’s generation in 1990 and that of her parents, who would have likely come of age in the late 1960s. The novel’s attitude to female sexuality is encapsulated in the photograph of Aunt Radene “leaning against a tree […] dreaming about something wonderful because she has this little smile on her face,” while she looks askance at the camera and wears a “halter top and very short shorts and high heels. Her hair is long and curly” (64). Here, signifiers of nubility—abundant hair, high heels, and skimpy clothing—are counterbalanced with an idea of secrecy and self-possession. The little smile and indirect look that communicate Aunt Radene’s joy are kept secret from the viewer. In the full context of the novel, her joy may stem from a mixture of her knowledge of her power over men and the knowledge that she is pregnant with Carl Ray. Beneath this joy is the secret that Carl Ray is the product of a previous sexual relationship with Mr. Furtz. Her subsequent marriage to Uncle Carl Joe conceals the secret and with it the idea that Aunt Radene had more than one sexual partner, as was becoming more socially acceptable for women in the late 1960s. While Uncle Carl Joe does not mind the pregnancy and is content to raise Carl Ray as his own, some sense of sexual prudery and shame causes the couple to conceal the truth of Carl Ray’s paternity. Aunt Radene’s subsequent seclusion in West Virginia and her creation of a seven-child nuclear family further buries the fact of Carl Ray’s paternity and her past as a young woman.

After Aunt Radene, burdened with her lie, tells Carl Ray the truth, Carl Ray’s odyssey to find his biological father happens in complete secrecy, as Aunt Radene considers it to be “nobody’s business, at least not yet” (143). This mirrors the secrecy of the initial concealment of Carl Ray’s parentage and envelopes the mission with shame.

The conflicting messages around female sexuality affect the girls in Mary Lou’s generation too. While their society condones and even encourages the performance of sexual agency—seen in Beth Ann and Christy’s flirtatious advances or in Maggie’s wearing of a skimpy dress to the party—the girls are still taught to control and contain their sexual feelings. While Sam seeks to prevent Maggie from staying out too late with her boyfriend and losing her virginity, Mary Lou’s impulse to kiss her playmate earns her the shaming, if euphemistic, label of “wild girl,” and her mother warns her that “kissing is something you have to be careful about” (25). Here, Mary Lou realizes that her sexual behavior stands to be judged by outsiders and that she must conform to their expectations. This is an idea that remains with her as she begins her relationship with Alex. She immediately wonders how others may judge what they do together.

While the West Virginia Finneys hide the truth of Aunt Radene’s sexual past, their daughters are more openly sexually adventurous. Mary Lou learns that a cousin who is the same age as her is far more experienced with boys, while other girls in their circle are getting engaged or pregnant without anyone thinking it is a big deal. While Mary Lou is self-conscious of being thought babyish, she concludes “what’s the hurry???” (141). Rather than copy the sexually precocious West Virginians, she sees the benefits of taking a more gradual path through sexuality (141). This attitude is reinforced when she reads the sex manual her cousins give her but considers it more appropriate for her 17-year-old sister. Here, Creech puts forth the nuanced message that while sexual shame is undesirable, delaying sex in order to emotionally mature and have other life experiences can be beneficial.

There is a greater climate of sexual openness by the end of the novel, when Aunt Radene’s secret is revealed and accepted by all. In the wake of Mr. Furtz’s death, the fact that “there’s a little more of Charlie left in the world now that he’s gone” is welcome (178). Additionally, when Carl Ray has his accident, the pretense of contained nuclear families gives way, as both his biological and adopted fathers’ families rally together to support each other and accommodate his recovery. Here, as in the story of Mary Lou’s coming-of-age, romantic turbulence is subordinated to the common good. The idea of families coming to terms with women’s sexual pasts and the resulting pregnancies reoccurs in Creech’s later book Walk Two Moons (1995). As with Absolutely Normal Chaos, the sudden appearance of an illegitimate stranger is transformational and provokes the displacement of a defunct family dynamic.