Research Paper Using the Works of Janice Daugharty

Students in two 1102 classes taught by VSU Instructor Roy Pace during spring 2004 semester read one or more books or short stories by Janice Daugharty and developed an argument for a research paper based on the question: Has the immigration of people from the North and other places and the impact of influences like television begun to threaten southern culture and southern literature? Daugharty's works were used as primary sources. Secondary sources included discussions of southern culture, statistical materials showing changes in the demographics of the South, and observations of impacts on southern literature.

If Only They Understood

by Lindsay Crosby

Literature is a diverse field. It consists of thousands of different genres, from popular genres such as legal fiction and political satire to more obscure genres, such as western romance. One of the most under-appreciated and unacclaimed genres is that of southern, or regional, fiction. This sensational genre first came to prominence with the works of Edgar Allen Poe, arguably the South’s greatest 19^th century writer. Dr. Clyde Wilson, author and professor at the University of South Carolina, argues that Poe despised “New Englanders” and their influences on American culture (Wilson n. pag,). Some of Poe’s works, most notably “Boston and the Bostonians” and “The Literati of New York City,” show the “true nature” of Northerners (Wilson n. pag,). After Reconstruction, William Faulkner became the most recognized Southern writer with works such as The Reivers and Intruder in the Dust (Wilson n. pag,). Readers reveled in wonderful stories of life in the South, all the while immersed in Faulkner’s innovative writing style. However, in the early 20^th century, Hollywood productions began to paint misleading images of the South and its customs. Gone With the Wind, the classic first work from Margaret Mitchell, while legendary, is almost embarrassing for a Southerner to watch today. The movie presents the notion that, during the times of slavery, that slaves were content to be in bondage and happy as the childlike subject of the master. The slaves are docile and happy, and they treasure their bond with their master. The white men running the plantations were drunk on power and engaged in massive self-delusion. These plantation owners believed that their system of domestic slavery was the most morally correct, as well as the most economical way to run a society. In Gone With the Wind, the South is seen only through the eyes of these rich landowners, with the slaves and poor whites kept off-screen. As the American Film Institute has named the film as the fourth-best American feature ever, Gone With the Wind has shaped the “image” of the South for Northerners, regrettably in a negative way.

Janice Daugharty is trying her best to change that. With novels such as Whistle, the story of a black man who finds the body of his white boss’s wife and his subsequent panicked attempt to hide all the evidence, Daugharty paints a vivid, yet realistic picture of how life really is in the South. She has written numerous books and short stories, describing the goings-on of Cornersville, Georgia. To native residents of the South, these stories talk about places and situations intimately familiar, using native dialects that are familiar and comfortable. However, someone new to the South would have trouble understanding why “Going Through the Change,” a short story about a young man picked up while hitchhiking to Florida by Kurl, a war veteran, and the adventures the young man has with Kurl and Kurl’s wife Hulda, is so significant. The main characteristic of Southern literature is its “anectedotal approach,” using stories about situations and places to present both the “good and the bad, not just the bad” of Southern culture, a requirement that Daugharty feels is important (Daugharty n.pag). Another distinguishing feature, perhaps the most important, is the dialects. People who have recently immigrated to the South are not familiar enough with the places, situations, and dialects in Daugharty’s works to fully understand and appreciate Southern literature.

The South contains a great variety of rich locales about which to write. Many stories have been written about hiking through the mountains of Tennessee, steamboat rides down the Mississippi and adventures on the beaches of Florida. However, most of Daugharty’s stories take place in Swanoochee County, Georgia, a fictional county that was Daugharty’s “first character [she] ever created” (Writer’s Digest 32). Daugharty created Swanoochee County in the image of Echols County, where she currently resides. The town of Statenville, named after her family, became the fictional town of Cornersville (Writer’s Digest 32). Using Statenville as her primary setting presents a sharp contrast to the Georgia city that most Northerners are accustomed to seeing: Atlanta. The city of Atlanta is the most popular destination for Northerners moving into the South, with over 25,000 new residents in the last ten years (“Echols County QuickFacts…” n. pag,). With only 3,000 people and nothing of interest to outsiders, Statenville is well away from the centers of industry and population in the South. Nevertheless, it is here that Daugharty has found the inspiration for her stories. Daugharty has said that she writes about Echols County because Statenville is where she lives and this is what she sees everyday (Gehorsam n. pag,). Daugharty notices the rich settings and sees the wealth of potential literature in Echols County, which was carved from portions of Lowndes and Clinch counties 146 years ago (“Welcome” n. pag,).

For the short story, “Going Through the Change,” Daugharty uses a scene that is rich with detail: an isolated, run-down house just “apiece” across the Florida-Georgia line, near the “Little River” (Daugharty, “Going Through,” 68). This locale is not one that is familiar to many non-Southerners, but everyone from the South has undoubtedly encountered this before and experienced it firsthand. An “old hunting lodge” with a “swayed chimney and a runner of soot down the boards” is where they live, complete with piles of “charred [beer] cans and blasted glass” (Daugharty, “Going Through,” 68). Riding up in Kurl’s battered truck, Kurl and Junior are greeted by Kurl’s “he-dog”, which is chained to keep him separate from Hulda’s “she-dog” (Daugharty, “Going Through,” 68). Despite the fact that this conforms to the “white-trash” stereotype, it is still unfamiliar to most people and difficult for them to relate. Most people from the North have not been in a place like this and seen this for themselves; subsequently, they have no frame of reference.

Similar to the inability of Northerners to relate to some of the peculiar locales in Daugharty’s stories, many Northerners are also unable to identify with many of the situations in Daugharty’s work. Many Northerners underestimate the intricate relationship between whites and blacks. The problem with non-native readers taking in Daugharty’s work for the first time is the Southern stereotypes prevalent in popular culture, particularly in Hollywood. All too often, Hollywood conveys one of two stereotypes: The uneducated, unsophisticated, black-hating “redneck” or the rich, white, "stupid," black-hating plantation owner (Kelly n. pag,). Exacerbating the situation are Southern artists such as Jeff Foxworthy, who makes his living telling “You Might Be a Redneck…” jokes that make fun of “rednecks,” even though he “are one” (“Blue Collar” n. pag,).

A popular stereotype with people from the North is that blacks and whites have never gotten along. The beginning of Daugharty’s Whistle follows this stereotype: when Roper finds the body of his white boss’s wife, he panics. Thinking he will be blamed for her death, he hides her body in a well. This situation could very well happen today. The plot of Whistle was developed when Daugharty saw a black worker leave a field and wonder what would happen if the worker were to find himself in this situation (Gehorsam n. pag,). However, defying prevalent thought, things get better for Roper. Urged on by his mother, Roper convinces the inhabitants of “the quarters” to band together and restores the dignity of the community by cleaning up the quarters. This would surprise many people who are new to the South because in the past, social tension between whites and blacks has been higher in the South than anywhere in the nation. However, where else in the nation have blacks and whites lived side-by-side, working and playing together for so long? The South has a rich tradition of cooperation and friendship between whites and blacks, a tradition echoed in Daugharty’s work. This delicate mix of animosity and acceptance is what makes Daugharty’s novels so racially charged. In Whistle, Roper’s boss, Math Taylor, never suspects Roper in the death of Mrs. Taylor. He trusts Roper completely, evidenced by the fact that he even gave Roper a truck to drive to town in. The sheriff, however, does not know Roper and suspects him immediately (Daugharty, “Whistle”, 39).

Similarly, the plot of Paw-Paw Patch tells of a white beautician who almost loses her entire business because of a rumor that passes that she is half black (Gehorsam n.pag). Daugharty says that she wishes that she could “let go” of [the subject of] racial prejudice, but “that is what [she] sees” (Gehorsam n.pag). Her novels, by extension, often focus on the “hapless victims” (Gehorsam n.pag). With only 60% of Echols County’s inhabitants making it through high school, 9% graduating college, and 29% of the county below the poverty line, it is obvious why many of Daugharty’s stories focus on those on the bottom end of the economic ladder (“Echols County QuickFacts…” n. pag,). Because of the widespread condition of poverty, educational conditions in Echols County are not at the same standard as the rest of Georgia, creating other problems such as incorrect language and grammar.

Perhaps the most difficult and alien feature of Southern literature is the dialect. It is, according to Daugharty, the “most distinguishing feature” of Southern literature, but also the most overlooked and under appreciated (Daugharty n.pag). Northern immigrants particularly struggle with this facet of Southern culture, solely because they have never been exposed to Southern dialect. Unlike most regional dialects, which are characterized by changing the pronunciations of words, Southern dialect is distinguished by the creation of new words, a device that Daugharty uses frequently. “Huh-uh” means yes, “uh-huh” means no, and trucks are seen “sluing” around curves (Daugharty, “Change,” 66). People get “holt” of things and give them to babies when they are “borned” (Daugharty, “Change,” 67). This dialect would be hard enough to understand in small doses, but Southern dialect is an important part of Daugharty’s work, and she uses it often. Partly because of her use of unique dialect, critics laude her stories as a “fascinating monument” to the isolation of the South (Gehorsam n.pag).

Southern literature is fighting an uphill battle against immigration. With the population of Georgia having increased 26.4% over the last ten years, double the national average, new citizens are coming to Georgia in ever-increasing numbers. Despite this dramatic influx of Northerners, it is vital for Southern literature to survive. The South is unique in the nation because it has had an experience unlike any other: defeat in a war, military occupation, and “poverty running counter to the ‘American Dream’” (Cullick n. pag,). Southern literature, by reflecting this unique experience, opens us up not to think outside the box, but to developing a whole new idea of what this box might be.

Works Cited

Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie. Dir. CB Harding. Perf. Jeff Foxworthy, Bill

Engvall, Ron White, and Larry the Cable Guy. 2002. DVD. Warner Brothers.

Cullick, Jonathan, Dr. “Literature of the American South.” 2003. Northern Kentucky

University. 25 April 2004 <http://www.nku.edu/~cullickj/Students/ENG363.html>

Daugharty, Janice. Going Through the Change. New York: Ontario Review, 1994.

---. Whistle. New York: Harper Perennial, 1998.

---. “Write Where You Know.” Writer’s Digest. 77.5 (May 1997): 32-34. Valdosta State

University Archives, Odum Library, Valdosta State University.

---. Question & Answer session. Valdosta State University. 2 April 2004.

Gehorsam, Jan. “The Good, Bad and Ugly Get Equal Time in Daugharty’s Tales.”

Valdosta State University Archives, Odum Library, Valdosta State University.

Kelly, Jason. “The Image Makeover”. PopPolitics. 2001. 25 April 2004

<http://www.poppolitics.com/articles/2001-12-21-south.shtml>

Echols County QuickFacts from the U.S. Census Bureau . Unites States Census

Bureau. 13 Mar. 2004 <http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/13/13101.html>.

Welcome to Echols County, Georgia. 15 September 2003. RootsWeb. 25 April 2004

< http://www.rootsweb.com/~gaechols/echhist.html>

Wilson, Clyde, Dr. The South and Southern History. 9 July 2001. LewRockwell.com. 25

April 2004 < http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/wilson5.html>