Essay about Southern Culture in American Short Stories

In “Battle Royal” by Ralph Ellison and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner each author gives their own views and opinions of the south, but each story has different perspective of the southern conduct shown by literary elements. The point of view of each story is the same and they have similar attributes which aides in the main character’s development, but each story has a deeper connection to it. The setting of both stories is set in the deep southern region in between the 1930’s and 1940’s while slavery was still very popular, but it aides in the development of each character’s background and trials. Symbolism is used in each story to demonstrate how each protagonist is deeply connected to the south. Ellison and Faulkner both used each of these literary elements to tie the south to the protagonists.

“Nigger”, “Colored-folks”, “Dinge”, racial slurs used in the South in the 1900s-1960s. The disgusting souls who discriminated, judged, hated, and segregated blacks. “White men rule”. Women, their voices, barely able to say as much as a sentence. The blacks, their voices, unable to say as much as even a word, and the children, innocent and curious, saw nothing and said nothing. Harper Lee represented the horrendous acts and judgments of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird. Maycomb, Alabama, 1930s, a small town with a big story. Tom Robinson, discriminated and unequal, was seen as “just another nigger” in Maycomb. “Nigger”, “Chocolate”, “Colored”, racial slurs that began long ago, and are still used to this day. The White

      The South's history is sometimes described as charming and traditional, but it also has a dark side, and to say the least, is horrendous. "William Faulkner" author of "A Rose for Emily," was raised in the South, whereas "Ralph Ellison" the Arthur of "Battle Royal" was from Oklahoma and attended College in the South. Each Arthur has different views and writing styles, which impacts their frame of reference to the south. "A Rose for Emily" written by "William Faulkner" is about the Life and Death of an eccentric southern woman with a gothic twist. "Battle Royal" written by "Ralph Ellison" is about the struggles and obstacles that a young black man had

In society today, the discipline of anthropology has made a tremendous shift from the practices it employed years ago. Anthropologists of today have a very different focus from their predecessors, who would focus on relating problems of distant peoples to the Western world. In more modern times, their goal has become much more local, in focusing on human problems and issues within the societies they live.

However, she quickly began to realize that the racial-ideology espoused by white southerners was used as a means to oppress and subordinate the African American community. Although many blacks were content to accept discrimination, segregation, and disenfranchisement as the norm, Anne (from this moment on) refused to conform to her status as an “inferior.” Rather, she constantly questioned and criticized the treatment of African Americans, even as a young child. For example, she mentally chastised Raymond’s family for refusing to acknowledge her mother at church (pg. 61) and she refused to conform to Mrs. Burke unreasonable household rules (pg. 122). Ultimately, at this young age, Anne knew intuitively that the racial status quo in the south was morally wrong and unjust. In many ways, this awareness contributed to Anne’s tireless commitment to the cause of desegregation and racial equality later in

Based on the evidence supplied by author Kent Anderson Leslie, slaves in antebellum Georgia did not always live under the oppressive system of chattel labor. According to Leslie, the rules that applied to racial hierarchy were not strictly enforced, especially when it came to propertied and wealthy planters such as David Dickson who chose to raise his mixed-race daughter at home. Amanda Dickson’s experiences during Reconstruction demonstrate that she had much more freedom after slavery was abolished than may have been expected before the Civil War. Amanda Dickson’s experiences and those of her mother in particular do not fit the presumed mold of oppressed slave with no opportunity for a better life.

In Mary Norcott Bryan’s A Grandmothers Recollection of Dixie, the author included a quote which demonstrated the progressive nature of her family in terms of racial relations. The quote was a will from her grandfather which staggered out the release of his slaves. “I will that Owen and Lillie be made free the first court after January…the year 1847; then I most earnestly wish that all shall be free.”1 In this fashion Bryan attempts to distinguish herself and family above other whites. This reflects Bryan’s Antebellum upbringing which held more pronounced ideas of what it meant to be a white southerner from a

11). Due to his recent revelation to the reality of his identity, he encountered a series of plateaus during which he contemplated whether he should associate with the “colored” race or with the white race. He was now aware of his true identity: partially African-American and partially white. From this point onward, he endeavored to understand whether he is black or white. He did not know where he belonged in society. He contemplated his responsibility to his race versus his responsibility to himself. He tried to embrace life as a ““colored”” man at times, and other times he chose to pass as white. His life was full of contradictions and he could not decide which racial community to assimilate in. He eventually realized that his personal identity did not align with the pre-established racial boundaries.

Glenda Gilmore, in her essay “Forging Interracial Links in the Jim Crow South,” attempts to tackle the charged concepts of feminism and race relations during the infamous Jim Crow era. Her analysis focuses on both the life and character of a black woman named Charlotte Hawkins Brown, a highly influential member of the community of Greensboro, North Carolina. Brown defied the odds given her gender and race and rose to a prominent place in society through carefully calculated interracial relations. Gilmore argues that in rising above what was expected of her as a black woman, Brown was forced to diminish her own struggles as a black woman, and act to placate

As Moody grew up in the South, in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, she began to understand segregation on a larger context. Her work experiences tell us a lot about racial segregation and inequality. As work offered women new opportunities outside the house, it was different for African American women. They would work in trades least affected by mechanism, like domestic services, such as maids for white families. Moody and her mother both worked to help support the family and worked domestic service jobs. After Linda Mae moves away, Moody had to work somewhere to help support the family, so she worked for Mrs. Burke, even though she was very racist. Moody explains the reason she stuck with it and worked for Mrs. Burke, “I had to help secure that plate of beans” (Moody 116). Moody and African Americans a like, were working for more than just making

Sitting on the bus, an African American woman was viciously barked at by the white bus driver to give up her seat to a white man. The woman was Rosa Parks and this event sparked the beginning of the first large-scale demonstration against segregation in the U.S and labeled her as the “first lady of civil rights.” For years, Parks and people of color were seen as detestable in the eyes of white Americans. They were forced to work dehumanizing jobs and follow rigid social predestinations. Women, in particular, carried these fates with them long after this era as they were seen as inferior to men; women were given limited rights and were expected to comply to the stereotypical duties. It would thus be apparent that they would wish to be liberated from such dehumanizing work. Such an opportunity came during the Harlem Renaissance when these downtrodden females were ultimately given a voice. African American writers, such as Georgia Douglas Johnson, emerged and finally had the power to exploit their years of pain in an attempt at reform. Georgia Douglas Johnson wrote about oppression in her poems “Common Dust,” “Black Woman,” and “The Heart of a Woman” to expose society’s unjust treatment of African American women and inspire change.

A college in Mississippi wanted to work with the movement, NAACP: The National Association for the Advanced of Colored People. Anne Moody, the one telling the memoir, along with other classmates, Memphis and Pearlena, decided to go to a sit in, or go to lunch on the “white people side” till they get served food. When they entered the restaurant, they separated and made small purchases so it didn’t look suspicious. At a certain time, they were to meet and sit on the “white’ side, wanting only to be served lunch.

Professor Carolyn Ellis’ ethnographic short story, The Other Side of The Fence: Seeing Black and White in a Small Southern Town, lacks accurate ethnographic analysis of the black community and contains various fictional details that misleadingly support preexisting, prejudice stereotypes about black families. Such misinformation resulted from Ellis’ short story being exclusively based on the one interaction that she had with her fellow male, African American schoolmate, Jesse. Furthermore, the text singularly recounts the “exhilaration [she] experienced in the mystery and adventure of [her] experience,” creating a general, incomplete, and biased perception about blacks in Luray, Virginia.

Updike and Walkers short stories are culturally different but universal in the understanding of an American family and their heritage. Updike’s “Separating” you see an upper class white family dealing with separation and potential divorce of a marriage from infidelity. The husband is struggling to make the choice to leave his marriage and family behind for another woman. The husband and wife are trying to figure out a way to break the news to their children. Whereas in Alice Walker’s short story, about a low income African American family that have separation among deep rooted heritage and culture. Between family members a conflict grows from an opinion on some old quilts. Symbolic metaphors are richly placed in both

Anthropology is the social sciences discipline that looks to understand humanity. In this discipline there are subdivisions such as cultural anthropology and primatology, and the beauty of anthropology is that you can more than you think, link some of your life event to some anthropological context.