“It seems that due to the peculiarities of the event horizon we could watch history pass and never become history ourselves. We could be trapped eternally observing with no-one to tell. Perhaps that’s where God is, then God will understand the conditions of infidelity” (Winterson, 52).
Although this passage considers the seemingly personal aftermath of a relationship, it in fact speaks to the tension between heteronormativity and the queer identity. To watch history pass without ever being a part of it implies a certain marginalization of the “we” speaker. Specifically, the “we” voice appears to encompass the queer identity – ostracized by a sense of secrecy and loneliness: “with no-one to tell” (52). The silencing implied in being “trapped…observing” may in fact reflect the “shaming effects of isolation” that Michael Warner (1991) argues are foundational in the process of repressing sex as an action as well as queerness. In other words, to be imprisoned in a passive, almost victimized state recalls the subordination and demonization of all types of queer (above and beyond our much-loved, but ironically trite LGBT acronym). Similarly to Warner’s conceptualization of a heteronormative power (Warner, 1999), “God” in this passage appears to symbolize the institutionalized normalcy that the narrator feels often at odds with. Nevertheless, acceptance or at the least understanding from “God” seems on some level important to the speaker; there is a sense that the narrator is determined to show “God” the basis of infidelity. In fact, as argued by Warner, infidelity itself is queer, suggesting a series of ‘queer layers’ if you will, through which the narrator identifies with queer (non-gendered, committing adultery, having multiple partners). We are, through this passage, prompted to consider the way that identity, as well as distinct behaviors are stigmatized as queer, and how this suppression has made Winterson pity the deviant as simply a bystander who is eternally powerless in the face of time and its straight white male leader (“God”).