Throughout the summer, I have conducted a thorough survey of the southern gothic movement in an attempt to chart the oppression of minorities through these progressive works. As I previously mentioned during my last presentation, many writers commonly associated with the genre: William Faulkner, Erskine Caldwell, Tennessee Williams, Carson McCullers, Flannery O’Connor, and Eudora Welty are publishing the majority of these works from the late 1920’s to the mid 1950’s—well before many substantial civil rights movements. Whether intentional or not, these works represent the first time that a group of predominately white authors are exposing the extreme injustices that many minority groups—such as women, African Americans, and homosexuals—experienced in the south. To say that they were all writing to illuminate the backwards attitudes towards oppressed people would be a grave mistake on my part; however, collectively they were extremely progressive with their gritty, stark, and brutally honest portrayals of marginalized groups.
I would like to reiterate some of the defining characteristics of the southern gothic movement that I mentioned last time. Many times, when the term southern gothic is used, it evokes a variety of different misconceptions. However, at its core, southern gothic literature depicts the crumbling landscape of the post bellum south; it illustrates the horrifying realities of its inhabitants who have lost their way of life and are quickly subjected to change. Borrowing from its Gothic predecessor, the southern gothic movement is also characterized by a heightened sense of reality, grotesque characters, religious hypocrisy, gratuitous violence, and disturbed personalities. However, the southern gothic movement differs immensely from its predecessor in that it does not portray supernatural occurrences; instead, it utilizes the veiled Gothic tradition to explore different social issues that plagued the American South. The movement also represents an evolution in southern literature: southern gothic works did not perpetuate antebellum stereotypes like the “contented slave” or “demure southern belle”; instead they portrayed the truthful realities of minorities in the south.
Last time, I talked about the works of Erskine Caldwell, Richard Wright, and Tennessee Williams in regards to their portrayals of women, African Americans, and homosexuals, respectively. This time, I would like to talk about two female writers who are normally associated with the latter phase of the movement: Carson McCullers and Flannery O’Connor.
Carson McCullers’ fiction is extremely important to my research because throughout each of her works she provides an array of marginalized figures. Most notably, her first published novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, portrays not only oppressed women, African Americans, and homosexuals, but also expands the definition of “the oppressed” to include the disabled, poor whites, and anti-capitalists. Throughout all of McCullers' works, she investigates characters who are deemed freakish and grotesque; these characters do not belong to a larger social group because they are unconventional in their appearances, behaviors, and desires. Two of her most memorable female characters, Mick Kelly and Frankie Adams, represent young androgynous girls who exhibit atypical feminine mannerisms, an affinity for the camaraderie of males, and a strong sense of independence. In relation to other young southern girls, they are completely ostracized because of their unique attributes. Both of these characters are largely autobiographical of Carson McCullers, who, although married, was widely alleged to be bisexual. It is easier to argue that McCullers is writing to expose this oppression because, for her, it is highly personal. Evidence for this lies in her “we of me” theory. Due to her character’s internalized homophobia, they believe that society will never permit, nor allow, any openly expressed homoerotic feelings; therefore, they enter into platonic relationships with others, experiencing a highly spiritual love with these other characters, although the other they might not reciprocate the love. This concept also applies to all of the silenced characters in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter who find solace in the character of John Singer. It’s also important to note that McCullers was very liberal and open-minded; she embraced those who resided in margins, and would argue that grotesque appearances are merely superficial. On the other hand, she would also say that everyone is grotesque; “normal people” harbor their freakishness inwardly and illustrate it through their actions.
Flannery O’Connor’s represents another author who, through her fiction, draws attention to marginalized groups; however, O’Connor, as a conservative Catholic, possesses a completely different viewpoint than McCullers and most of the other writers of the southern gothic movement. Largely prevalent in O’Connor’s fiction is not only the oppression of women, but also the oppression of Christians or the morally upright. The abandoned female is an archetype that O’Connor most notably uses in the characters of Mrs. McIntyre in the short story “The Displaced Person” and Mrs. Cope in “A Circle in the Fire.” Also, the entrance of men into her plots often results in a disastrous and cataclysmic outcome; this is evident in the characters of Manly Pointer in “Good Country People” and Mr. Shiftlet in “The Life You Save May Be Your Own.” Throughout the short stories in the collection A Good Man is Hard to Find, O’Connor argues that men have certain options in their life that women simply do not. Women are left to be resilient in the face of adversity; whereas, men possess the mobility to escape. However, O’Connor sees modernity as the greatest problem facing the south. To her, modernization spells the downfall of a culture of god-fearing and morally decent people. O’Connor believes that progressive changes will lead people to follow secular pursuits. Her outlook is bleak and somewhat apocalyptic; however, it is also important to cite O’Connor’s devotion to Catholicism and her conservative roots. She identifies herself first and foremost as a Catholic, and modernity, to her, is the biggest threat to the future of religion.
Oppressive forces can range from the more naturalistic forces such as gender, sexual orientation, race, disability, and financial disposition to other realistic forces such as religious affiliation, political ideology, and even self-oppression. In southern gothic literature, I would maintain the argument that African Americans receive the most oppression as a minority group because of their legacy as marginalized people and because of their easily recognizable identity. Throughout the works, the white male majority maintains power and legitimacy by creating a distinct out-group. In regards to women and homosexuals, while their options in life are limited, they are not frequently targeted and subjected to the abuse that African Americans experienced. As long as they could endure the status quo, they were rarely subjected to extreme physical abuse. However, punishment and penalty for African Americans usually resulted in death, and their options were far slimmer compared to those of women and homosexuals. However, many of the later southern gothic writers also depicted the oppression of Jewish and European immigrants in the south, as illustrated in O’Connor’s “The Displaced Person." This minority group threatened white male control because they were educated, hardworking, and had the ability to pass: appear white. However, because of this , they fall into the same category as women and homosexuals because of their ability to assimilate and blend, compared with African Americans.
The latter part of the southern gothic movement expanded the definition of oppressed minorities, and exposed many startling realities that these groups experienced through the widely published and circulated novels.
No comments:
Post a Comment