Southern Women Writers
Southern Women Writers
Southern Women writers have unique and interesting perspective on life, and it is a good time to look at the contributions of two very important Southern writers.
One thing they have in common is the use of "grotesque humor," which is a sort of mixture of horror and fun. It's akin to the sort of humor we find in the movie Fargo. We are horrified by the killer getting rid of a body using a wood chipper, but we laugh that this same killer is chided for his bad behavior by the very pregnant sheriff, one with a North Dakota dialect that we enjoy, "you betcha." Welty uses deformities, such as that of the petrified man, but makes them funny through the eyes of the beauty shop ladies, who are so fascinated by them. (These freak shows were once popular all across the country. A caravan or a couple of trucks would pull into town with a bearded lady, a two-headed chicken, a giant, maybe, and folks would pay good money to look at these bizarre beings.) Obviously, we still like looking at freaks, or else Jerry Springer would not have been able to make a living. A side note: in case you didn't know or have forgotten, about fifty years ago nearly all Southern women, rich or poor, black or white, went to a beauty shop to get their hair done (set) once a week or at least as often as possible. Many had standing appointments, so they developed close friendships with the other women they saw once a week (Steel Magnolias). So that setting was perfect for a story about some gossipy young women; note also that one of them doesn't want anyone to talk about her pregnancy--women were much more secretive about that also back then.
Welty is famous for her keen observation of life in general and Southern life in particular. She shows us some of the best of the South--the compassion, love, and life joy. Her characters usually have deep family ties, such as Phoenix Jackson and her grandson ("A Worn Path)" and the family in "Death of a Traveling Salesman." Her stories, though often replete with classical allusions and rich dialogue and images, don't attempt to make a point, other than to show us these great characters and tell us these great stories.
O'Connor, however, had an agenda. She was a serious Roman Catholic living in the middle of the protestant Bible belt. She thought that nothing was more important than our awareness of who we are in relation to God, so she shows a number of characters in her stories who face life and death choices; these characters are nearly always given, in her words, "a moment of grace." That's the opportunity to come face to face with a crisis that makes them come face to face with themselves. In other words, God gives them the opportunity to see the reality of their errors in attitudes (usually): unfortunately, sometimes they are only able to see their errors at the moment of their death ("Greenleaf" and "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"). Some readers have criticized O'Connor for this violence, suggesting that God wouldn't do that to someone. But O'Connor disagreed with that notion; she wrote an essay in response that explained that life is hard, but it's worth some pain or even death to stay out of hell. She believed that God would do whatever was necessary to get our attention, even if that meant putting us in a situation that could kill us. So look for this moment of grace in her stories; in "Good Country People," Hulga doesn't have a near death experience, but she has a very upsetting one with the Bible salesman (isn't he a great character!).
Which brings us back to the grotesque humor thing. You remember the glass eye that the Bible salesman admitted he stole once? Guess who had that glass eye first? I'm linking a very short Mark Twain story, which I believe is the beginnings of the grotesque in Southern writing. Look for the glass eye and see if it isn't in a humorous context.
http://www.pbs.org/marktwain/learnmore/writings_story.html Links to an external site.