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98 Intimating the Sacred disturbance that vexes his illusion of masculinity — but only briefly because he takes comfort in the knowledge that he “was too young to die so easily” (105). While the narrator can take psychological refuge in his youth and general health to reinforce his illusion, such recourse is not available to Ibrahim. His conversion has not only compromised his social standing, but has thereafter placed his masculinity under perpetual siege as well.90 The narrator first intimates Ibrahim’s divided loyalties when he notices that the latter frequently uses the Chinese language to communicate . The narrator attributes this to Ibrahim’s profession “as a wayside medicine [seller]” (95), and is duly impressed because the ability to master languages indicates self-control. Yet, typical of Lee’s irony, language in Ibrahim’s case is a sign of his fractured identity, yielding an individual who subsists precariously between faiths and ethnic identities. Although he is able to traverse linguistic barriers, this places him nowhere except in the heterotopic space of the hospital (he has been a patient for some time already). Another example of his divided loyalties, and this time directly related to his sense of masculinity , is his glorification of Chinese heroes as epitomes of ideal maleness. At one point in the narrative, when Kuppu (another patient) is in agony, the narrator overhears Ibrahim consoling him with the story of General Kuan Yung-Chang, whose exemplary courage and stoicism in the face of excruciating physical suffering should, in Ibrahim’s view, be emulated by all who call themselves men (96–97). It is clear from this that Ibrahim continues to look to his ethnic past for identity references, focusing particularly on individuals with ideal masculine qualities. Nevertheless, he is at the same time fully aware that he cannot claim this heritage anymore, which places his own masculinity in permanent trace. In converting to Islam, he is no longer “Chinese”, but he cannot attain “Malay” status either. The presence of the “heavily-muscled” Malay fisherman across from him would serve as a forceful reminder of his compromised religious, ethnic and indirectly, masculine, status. Ambiguity towards body and masculinity is prominently highlighted in the episode when Ibrahim’s wife comes to visit him. Throughout her stay, Ibrahim’s Malay neighbour performs several obscene gestures pointedly targeted at Ibrahim and his wife, but their significance will only be understood when we learn, at the end of the Irony and the Sacred in Lee Kok Liang’s Fiction 99 narrative, that it was this Malay woman who compelled Ibrahim’s conversion. Indeed, this episode carefully contrasts Ibrahim and the fisherman in order to emphasize their differentiated masculinities and level of comfort with their bodies. It is obvious that while the fisherman ’s masculinity is augmented, Ibrahim’s is subdued: My Malay neighbor was watching them. He raised his sarong now and then fanning himself between the legs. Once the woman turned to stare back at him but he still kept his gaze. Ibrahim did not seem to notice that he had been subjected to any scrutiny. But the woman ran her palms on her sleeves and then tightened her knuckles nervously… . The woman bent down to whisper to Ibrahim and I could not help seeing how hard Ibrahim had stared at my neighbor. Instead of feeling embarrassed, my Malay neighbor smiled and pulled his ear-lobes with both hands and then fanned himself more vigorously between his legs. The situation had become tense. With a quick movement my Malay neighbor flung up both arms and I thought he was about to make a gesture but instead he cracked his knuckles and laughed, noticing the anxiety in my eyes. Ibrahim had been trying to get out from his bed but his woman pushed him down gently. She poured out a cold drink and gave it to Ibrahim who drank it meekly. They then turned their faces away, talking softly. My Malay neighbor rolled a rokok [cigarette] and smoked, lying on his side facing me. He seemed to be deep in his thoughts, but once when he noticed that I was observing him, he drew in the smoke and blew a plume across, smiling. (99–100) I quote at length because there are several insights I want to derive from this passage. I begin with a comment on the choice of descriptors throughout. This scene foreshadows the narrative’s metonymic linking of race, religion and masculinity because much of what is observed by the...

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