Symbolic Capital in Hari Kunzru’s Deus Ex Machina
Symbolic Capital in Deus Ex Machina
In Hari Kunzru’s short story “Deus Ex Machina” (2005), critical attention often gravitates towards the narrator (a “Guardian Angel”), overlooking a subject more revealing from a cultural perspective: Christina. While the supernatural narrator frames the story, it is Christina’s journey that reflects the devastating pressure of the contemporary world. This essay argues that her actions are best understood not as romantic failures, but rather as the result of an unconscious and persistent pursuit of symbolic capital.
As the title of this study suggests, Christina is unable to value herself or others unless they possess the “prestige” recognized by society. To analyze her behavior, this paper uses the theories of Pierre Bourdieu, who defines symbolic capital, alongside Susan Bordo’s idea of the “docile body” and Judith Butler. The main thesis is that Christina internalizes the idea of symbolic capital to the point where she loses her agency, for example, choosing the empty status of a “published author” over her own happiness and accepting beauty standards that blur her own self-image.
Romantic Choices and Bourdieu’s Theory
First of all, Christina’s romantic decisions are not driven by genuine love, but by a transactional need for what Pierre Bourdieu terms symbolic capital. Before analyzing her relationships, it is crucial to define this concept using Bourdieu’s own words:
“Symbolic capital, that is to say, capital—in whatever form—insofar as it is represented, i.e., apprehended symbolically, in a relationship of knowledge or, more precisely, of misrecognition and recognition” (Bourdieu 1986, 255).
In the story, Christina maintains a relationship with Robert that offers her a false sense of happiness; the narrator reveals that Robert is unfaithful and not a suitable match for her. However, she overlooks these facts because she is captivated by his status. As Kunzru notes, “Christina thought Robert was amazing” primarily because “he was a published poet who had won an award” (Kunzru 2005, 12). This blindness is best explained by Bourdieu’s theory of misrecognition. He argues that cultural capital is:
“…predisposed to function as symbolic capital, i.e., to be unrecognized as capital and recognized as legitimate competence, as authority exerting an effect of (mis)recognition” (Bourdieu 1986, 245).
Christina “misrecognizes” Robert’s awards and published status as “legitimate competence” or superior human quality. Consequently, she cannot perceive value in anyone lacking these signs of authority. This leads her to reject Hervé, the writer in Paris who could have been her “Great Love,” simply because he is “shy and unpublished” (Kunzru 2005, 12). Without the “legitimate competence” that publication grants, Hervé is invisible to her logic of accumulation.
The Docile Body and Physical Appearance
This desperate search for capital extends beyond her romantic choices and influences her relationship with her own body as well. Christina applies the same logic to her physical appearance, viewing it not as a vessel for living, but as a form of capital that she does not possess. The narrator describes her as “extraordinarily, achingly beautiful,” yet reveals that “secretly she believes she is plain” (Kunzru 2005, 9). The reason for this distorted self-perception is that she possesses “an unfashionable body, fuller and more womanly than is sanctioned by the style leaders” (Kunzru 2005, 9). To understand this phenomenon, it is necessary to apply Susan Bordo’s concept of the docile body. Bordo defines this term as a body:
“…whose forces and energies are habituated to external regulation, subjection, transformation, ‘improvement'” (Bordo 1993, 165).
Christina has internalized the “external regulation” of the beauty canons to such an extent that she becomes her own judge. Even though she is objectively attractive, she suffers from what Bordo explains as “the conviction of lack, of insufficiency” (Bordo 1993, 166). Because her body does not match the strict “regulatory frame” of the beauty standards, she perceives herself as worthless. Her beauty is real, but because it is not recognized by the “style leaders of her particular place and period,” it does not give her any symbolic profit, causing her constant insecurities.
Gender Norms and the Loss of Agency
Connected with the previous idea, we could state that Christina’s tragedy is that she is crushed by the strict norms that define who is allowed to be considered a valuable woman. She feels her life is unlivable because her body does not conform to the rigid ideal demanded by her society. To analyze this, it is essential to use Judith Butler’s concept of gender norms. Butler explains that gender is maintained within a:
“…highly rigid regulatory frame that congeal[s] over time to produce the appearance of substance, of a natural sort of being” (Butler 1990, 33).
Christina is trapped within this “rigid regulatory frame.” Because her physical reality—her “fuller and more womanly” body—deviates from the aesthetic norm, the system denies her symbolic capital. In this context, beauty is not just a trait but a requirement for social intelligibility; if she does not fit the “frame,” she feels she does not exist properly. As she fails to embody the “how a woman must be” mandated by the “style leaders” (Kunzru 2005, 9), she experiences a profound loss of agency. Her attempted suicide, therefore, is the desperate act of a subject who feels invalid within her own society.
Conclusion: The Cost of Social Validation
In conclusion, through the character of Christina in Hari Kunzru’s “Deus Ex Machina,” we observe how the human subject internalizes the pursuit of symbolic capital, often obstructing the path to genuine happiness. This subconscious quest acts as a blindfold, preventing individuals from perceiving the value of what they actually possess. As this essay has demonstrated using the frameworks of Bourdieu, Bordo, and Butler, Christina’s choices are not free; they are conditioned by a “misrecognition” that prioritizes institutional prestige over well-being. Whether through her rejection of a potential “Great Love” or her struggle against her own “docile body,” she illustrates how the thirst for social validation blinds us. Ultimately, she remains trapped, proving that the accumulation of status often comes at the cost of one’s ability to live an authentic, fulfilling life.
Works Cited
- Bordo, Susan. 1993. “The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity.” In Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body.
- Bourdieu, Pierre. 1986. “The Forms of Capital.” In Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education.
- Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity.
- Kunzru, Hari. 2005. Noise.