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.

Stereotypical South

by Rachel Keown

Dirty trucks, dirty babies, slow talking people, mobile homes, dogs barking, dirt roads, and small run down towns are images that may come to mind whenever someone mentions the South. Janice Daugharty, a southern author, writes about many of these southern settings. Daugharty was born in 1944 and raised in Echols County, right outside of Valdosta, Georgia. She spent most of her life in Echols County and became a farm wife and a stay-at-home mother before becoming a proclaimed southern writer. Daugharty, being from a rural background, took the observations she had made over the years and began writing novels. Daugharty took many of these observations from parents and children and Blacks and Whites and wrote about them. She began attending Valdosta State University, which at the time was known as Valdosta State College, around the age of thirty-eight. She then went through about a ten-year journey of rejections as she wrote over nineteen novels and dozens of short stories. Joyce Carol Oates began noticing some of Daugharty’s work and published some of her writings in the Ontario Press, after which Daugharty began her journey of being a southern writer by breaking through with her collection of short stories entitled Going Through the Change, and her first novel, Dark of the Moon. Daugharty later published many more novels, some of which include Necessary Lies (1995), Paw Paw Patch (1996), Earl in the Yellow Shirt (1997), Whistle (1998), and Like a Sister in 1999 (Biography n. pag.). Daugharty is currently working on a new collection of stories entitled Something Safe, Something Free (Daugharty “Question?” n. pag). Daugharty, as well as writing new material, serves as the “writer in residence” at Valdosta State University, in Valdosta, Georgia, where she is currently living.

Living in the South, growing up in the South, and writing about the South can have some disadvantages. One disadvantage lies in the fact that the South is traditionally stereotyped as having people who are dumb and ignorant, trashy and poor, and mostly stubborn rednecks who drive dirty pickup trucks and hunt. Daugharty herself says that she does typically write about “poor white trash” that are uneducated. Daugharty now claims that she is trying to show the educated side of the South in new and upcoming novels. She also says that she always writes her novels in a “how-to” fashion, (Daugharty “Special Presentation”) in order that people who read her books will learn a lesson from every novel they read. As hard as southern writers try to show the positive side of the South, Hollywood tends to show the stereotypical side. A good example of this lies in the movie “Sweet Home Alabama.” The movie made its debut in October of 2002. The storyline is about a young woman who visits her home town of Greenville, Alabama in order to divorce her redneck husband so she can marry her new fiancé from New York. The movie, according to USA Today article “The Decline of Southern Civilization,” is “a mindless movie that cruises on a simple stereotype” (n. pag.). Another classic example of the South in the media is an old show entitled “The Beverly Hillbillies,” which showcased a family who became rich by finding oil and then moved to the suburbs of California. A southern family in a sophisticated place turned out to be a real comedy. Today, network producers of CBS want to recreate “The Beverly Hillbillies,” by making it a reality television show that moves a “poor Appalachian family to Beverly Hills” (n. pag.). In discussing reality television shows, one can see that television series seem to cast only the most boneheaded rednecks they can find, for comedy’s sake (n. pag.). One can also take notice that out of the thirty-four new television series; only one is set below the Mason-Dixon Line. Can the reality of the South really survive in literature such as Daugharty’s novels, or will the stereotypes of Hollywood take over? Is there even a difference in what Daugharty writes and what Hollywood perceives the South to be? I have found that Daugharty and the producers of Hollywood do, in fact, have some southern aspects in common, but other aspects of the real south differ dramatically.

Stereotyping comes in two forms. One form is stereotyping the people. When authors, such as Daugharty, and Hollywood begin to stereotype the South, the first thing they do is make the characters uneducated. In Companions of Southern Literature, the editors Joseph Flora, Lucinda Mackethan, and Todd Taylor say “If southern literature that treats the life of the learned mind has any characterizing themes, they are the pitfalls of intellectualism and the difficulty of being an intellectual in the south” (375). In Daugharty’s short story “Going Through the Change,” the character Kurl comes across as an illiterate man. Kurl is an old war veteran who picks up a hitchhiker and takes him home to his wife. Once the three of them get up the next morning they all head off into the woods to breed the two mating dogs. Daugharty never comes out and says that Kurl is uneducated, but as the story progresses, the reader begins to get the impression that maybe Kurl is not well educated. Daugharty describes the surroundings of the house Kurl and Hulda live in as a “tangle of bare bushy plum trees and … a pile of charred cans and blasted glass” (“Going” 68). Daugharty then goes on to describe the backyard as “overgrown stubbles of wintering beggarweeds and more brown broomsage and brush, another big red cur trails the length of a clothesline that sings with fevered grating of meta on wire and the constant husky peal of the dog’s barking” (68). With all the description in the story, one can only assume that Kurl and Hulda must be uneducated, otherwise why would they live in such an unkempt place? Daugharty also uses southern language within the story to help readers understand the southern vernacular. So, is the South really poor and uneducated? Hollywood seems to think so. In the movie “Sweet Home Alabama,” the character Jake plays the ex-husband who is trying to win back the love of his ex-wife. The director places Jake in a situation that makes him come across as stupid. One way, and one of the most common, is when Hollywood spices up the southern language and Jake says “leaving, you done it, you should recognize the gesture” (Sweet Home Alabama n. pag.). Then Jake says, talking to Melanie, the ex-wife, “Just because I talk slow don’t mean I’m stupid” (Sweet Home Alabama n. pag.). The uneducated stereotype is driven in when Jake, talking about the divorce contract, says “I’m just a simple country boy. There are words in there I can’t even pronounce. You might be taking me to the cleaners for all I know” (Sweet Home Alabama n. pag.). Even though Hollywood played up the uneducated stereotype, not only in Jake, but many others, I do have to commend the director because in the end, Jake is proven to be smarter than what comes across. Jake owns his own glass business and is making quite a living for himself. Hollywood showed that people from the South actually can be successful. Another typical stereotype comes when people think of others in the South as always toting a baby around on their hip. Daugharty exemplifies this characteristic in her novel Like a Sister. The story is about a young girl, Sister, who is left to take care of her younger brothers and younger sister when their mom begins to date a man who owns a café. Daugharty says “the baby is Sister’s, from her mother, Marnie, to lug on her hip up and down the lane and along the highway leading into Cornerville” (3). The first part of the novel was set in 1956. Daugharty is explaining how it was back then, whereas in Sweet Home Alabama, which was set in 2002, the director casts a character, Lurlynn, who carries her baby around everywhere she goes. Lurlynn claims she has three children at home, and the one with her is only there because she is still breastfeeding. Lurlynn is seen with the baby on her hip every time she is on the screen except once when she is dancing at the fair (Sweet Home Alabama n. pag.). I feel that Hollywood went a little overboard when they had Lurlynn bring the baby into the bar with her. The bar is no place for a baby to go regardless of the breastfeeding. Hollywood also put out the idea that people in the South go to the local bar and play pool all night long and get drunk. Even though some people do, Hollywood made it seem like it was a family ordeal, however, most of the time the bars are not full of friends and family, but rather men and women who are alone or are looking for a date and a good time. The third stereotype that is perceived as being a southern person is the stay at home mom or wife. The woman stays at home and cooks, cleans, and takes care of the children. Most of the time the woman will be described as having the best jam or best apple pie in the county, mainly because they sit around at home and having nothing better to do than to cook. Daugharty shows no exception to this rule when she characterizes Hulda, in “Going Through the Change,” as a wife who cooks dinner for her husband, along with breakfast the next morning. Mrs. Smooter, Melanie’s mother, in the movie Sweet Home Alabama, is also characterized as being a stay at home wife and mother

The second form of stereotyping lies in the southern lifestyle. Most people think of Southerners as riding down the road in their old, beat up pick-up truck. Daugharty sometimes puts her characters in trucks. One example is Kurl who picks up Junior on the side of the road in a truck, and takes the truck out when he goes to breed the dogs. Daugharty never mentions any other vehicle, which makes me tend to believe that the truck was Kurl’s only vehicle. In Sweet Home Alabama, when Melanie’s car is held for a couple days by the police, she drives into town in her Dad’s old, pick up truck. The director not only has Mr. Smooter owning a truck, but so does Jake and Jake’s mom. Driving around in a truck is always made out to be the norm of the southern people. The second lifestyle that tends to be stereotyped is how people in the South still live in small, rural towns. People do not want to think of the south as evolving into a urban area. Daugharty’s novel, Like a Sister, is partly set in 1956 and most the action takes place within the small town limits. In the novel Daugharty says, “On Sundays Sister goes to the Baptist church, north side of the café, same as she goes to traveling tent shows in summer on the vacant lot south side of the café. Same as she goes to school functions in fall and winter, at the old brick schoolhouse in the southeast section of Cornerville, a town she pictures as quartered by the crossing of Highways 129 and 94” ( 8) Daugharty provides a detailed picture of the town so that the readers can picture themselves inside that old town. There is a café which is one of the focal points in the story since that is where Marnie works, and Sade, her boyfriend, owns. The town has a library, but it is located inside the courthouse (8). In the movie Sweet Home Alabama, the director wanted to keep the same feeling that Daugharty had and made the movie in a small town setting where everyone knew everyone else. The bank did not have a drive thru or an Automatic Telling Machine, because “you lose personal contact with the customers” (Sweet Home Alabama n. pag.). Also in the movie was a festival, or fair. The festivities lasted all day long and ended at night with everyone dancing in the town’s square (Sweet Home Alabama n. pag.). I feel Hollywood may be right regarding the small towns that still exist. For example, Hahira, Georgia still holds the annual “Honey Bee Festival,” where everyone can shop for crafts, watch the parade, and grill out, all in the middle of town.

Does the stereotype really fit the mold of the south? In some cases it does and others it does not. I feel that the stereotype about being uneducated has been stretched a little bit by Hollywood. Some people in the South are uneducated, but so are some people in the North, West, and East. The South is also not so rural anymore. Businesses have moved down to the South from all over the world, and have taken over the farm lands and woodlands. Walmart is a good example of a big business moving. When a Walmart comes into a town, the small town’s square with all the little shops begin shutting down because everything that one may need is located at the Walmart. Sweet Home Alabama gave the example of the banks not wanting to loose personal contact with the customers. Now, the banks in the South are like most other banks that exist in that they have Automatic Telling Machines, and are even giving out the ever so popular check cards so people do not have to write checks every time they need to. The banks also contain drive thrus so people can still talk to someone inside the bank, but it is done through speakers and plastic tubes, and done from inside the car. Even though the South is rapidly evolving from small and dependent into big and independent, there are still a few small southern towns that remain. Daugharty writes about those few small towns that have not been swallowed up by what society feels is a normal way of life. Small southern towns want to remain just that a small southern town. Daugharty bases her writing on what she sees and knows is true, Hollywood bases their writings on what they want to believe is true (“Question” n. pag.). Buddy Jewell has a song out right now entitled “Sweet Southern Comfort.” The lyrics remind people of the sweetness of the South and what the South should stand for. The first verse of the song says, “A misty sunrise in my hometown, rows of cotton ‘bout knee high. Mrs. Baker down a dirt road still got clothes out on the line. Irwin Nickels, there with Judsley, playin’ chequers at the gin. When I dream about the southland, this is where it all begins” (Jewell n. pag.). I love this verse because it gives a very vivid picture about the south and what it was like to grow up there. The song gives the examples of cotton rows, dirt roads, clothes outside on a line, and much more; but the best part of the song, and the perfect example of each southern state lies in the chorus. The chorus says, “From Carolina down to Georgia, Smell the Jasmine and Magnolia. Sleepy sweet home Alabama, roll tide toll. Muddy waters, Mississippi, blessed grace land whispers to me. Carry on, carry on: sweet southern comfort, carry on.” (Jewell n. pag.). The second time the chorus is sang it says this, “In Carolina or in Georgia, open arms are waitin’ for you. Louisiana, Yellow Rose of San Antone. Arkansas, Mississippi, old man river whispers to me: carry on, carry on: sweet southern comfort, carry on” (Jewell n. pag.). The South is a place where people come to relax, but all that is changing as more and more people migrate to the South. More people means that more houses and businesses must move as well so everybody can be accommodated. More roads must be built and more airports and public transportations must be made available.

Janice Daugharty has been able to take the growing South and write about towns that have not had to change due to the influx of people. Does Daugharty portray an accurate account of the South? I feel she does for what used to be the South, and what is still the South in a few small places. Unfortunately, the South has changed, but I do believe those small towns will remain forever. I do, however, feel the writings of Daugharty portray the South in great detail and much eloquence. The detail put in the writing is so vivid the reader feels that he or she is smelling the flowers and feeling the breeze as if he or she was standing right in the middle of the town being described. Daugharty wraps the reader in description and makes her point through her words.

Does the southern stereotype give a real image of the South? Maybe the stereotype does, and maybe it does not. I guess it depends on who is asked. Will the stereotypes for the South change? No one really knows, but if the South continues to change the way it is changing now, everybody in the United States will be the same. There will be no heavy accents, or different lifestyles. I love the South and I wish it would not change. I hope that Buddy Jewell’s song would ring out on radio stations all over the world to get the message across that the South needs to “Carry on, carry on: Sweet Southern Comfort: Carry on” (Buddy Jewell Lyrics n. pag.).

Works Cited

“Biography.” 5 April 2004 <http”books.valdosta.edu/arch/Finding-aids/MS-22.html>.

“Buddy Jewell-Sweet Southern Comfort Lyrics.” 3 April 2004, http://www.anysonglyrics.com/lyrics/b/buddyjewell/Sweet%20Southern%20Comfort%l yrics.htm.

Companions of Southern Literature (Need Bibliography Page.)

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

---. Like A Sister. New York: Perennial, 2000

---. “Question?” E-mail to Rachel Keown. 6 April 2004.

---. [Special Presentation]. Valdosta, Georgia. 31 March 2004.

“The Decline of Southern Civilization.” USA Today 2 October 2002 http://www.usatoday.com /life/columnist/popcandy/2002-10-02-candy.htm>.

Flora, Joseph M, Lucinda H. Mackethan, and Todd Taylor, eds. The Companion to Southern Literature: Themes, Genres, Places, People, Movements, and Motifs.Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002.

Sweet Home Alabama. Dir. Andy Tennant. Perf. Reese Witherspoon and Josh Lucas. 2002. DVD. Touchstone Pictures, 2002.