High
School Literary Criticism Papers
Valdosta State University
instructors, VSU Archivist Deborah Davis, and Janice Daugharty
collaborated with high school English teachers at Valdosta High School, Lowndes
High School, Echols County High School, and Clinch County High School to
instruct high school students for three days about engaging in the writing process, conducting literary
and historical research on primary sources, regional identity themes, Southern
authors, the writer's role as an observer, and writing literary criticism.
Students
were prepared for the project activities by reading a Janice Daugharty's short story "Shorn Glory" and by reviewing
a CD handout created by the project developers containing primary and secondary
sources and literary criticism related to Daugharty's
short story.
On day one of this project
activity, Deborah Davis presented a tabletop exhibit and a multi-media show on Daugharty, and discussed the VSU archive collection of
Janice Daugharty, and her writings including various
drafts of her works. She also demonstrated how the archive collection can be
used as a primary resource in studying a piece of literature.
On day two instructors, Daugharty, and students,
discussed Daugharty's short stories, the writing
process, and sense of place as it related the
stories.
On day three instructors taught students about how to use historical and
literary research; and instructed students about how to incorporate what they
learned about sense of place into their critical essays.
As part of this project activity, approximately 100 high school juniors and
seniors submitted literary criticism papers for evaluation and nine were chosen
for this journal. The nine students whose essays were chosen presented their
papers at the Janice Daugharty Festival, a regional
writing conference, held on
Redemption
in Shorn Glory
by Mark Purser
Religious fundamentalism has traditionally been the primary influence of life in the South. Religion’s oppressive standards have resulted in stifling, rather than encouraging, life from reaching its full, unknown potential. Many, such as Clifford and Gloriann, sense this tension and secretly struggle for freedom.
In Shorn Glory, Clifford and Gloriann find redemption and freedom once they loose the reins of religion from themselves. Daugharty uses subtle symbolism to illustrate the existence of the tension that Clifford and Gloriann sense.
Daugharty herself said, “If your settings are merely backgrounds for your stories, you’ve left out a potential character.” In Shorn Glory, small details in the setting and especially the sun, which symbolizes a light of enlightenment and truth, play active roles in the transformation of the characters.
The sun is “leveled overhead” in the first line of the story indicating a time of decision and anticipation; it hangs in a balance and could fall in any direction. As Clifford and the girls interact, the sun follows the point of action: when Clifford requests a drink of water, the bucket reflects a “white ball of sun;” the “sun played on the mica-flecked water” as Gloriann retrieved the bucket from the well; “excited prisms of light glanced from the scissors” when Gloriann fetched them from the house; the second time Gloriann brings water from the well for Clifford, it is “sun-shot.”
Daugharty cleverly implies a connection that develops between Clifford and Gloriann. As Clifford sits against the chinaberry tree, he looks up and “enjoy[s] the green leaves woven with blue sky.” These colors parallel the girls’ blue eyes and Clifford’s green. In the original draft of Shorn Glory only the color of the girls’ eyes is included, and the leaves are simply described as “settling.”
Clifford suggests a haircutting to the girls because it seems ridiculous to have such inconvenient hair with the blazing heat. Gloriann gazes “out at the throb of sun on sand” as she contemplates his proposal. Even though the truth glares all around her, she has been conditioned to blindly deny it. When Clifford does cut her hair, her “unsunned right temple” is revealed. The sun beats down on her, but because of her hair, which signifies cumbersome religious traditions, it has never shined through. As soon as Clifford finishes the job, Gloriann “shot away to the edge of the shade, slinging her freed head.” She was liberated.
Clifford’s transformation has not yet occurred at this point. The memory of his mother spurs the struggle between her religious standards and his inability to accept them. A conflict exists between Clifford and his memories. The cloud from which he seems to draw them moves west like he had been initially. Before he crashed, he was running away from something in his past. By the end of the story, he is able to turn around and face it.
When he finishes cutting the girls’ hair, he falls asleep “holding a bouquet of hair” in one hand, and “latching onto the scissors” with the other. He is torn between the fundamental religious obligations of his mother and the desire to be free from them. He awakens with the sun “blazing directly into his eyes.” Now is his moment of reconciliation. He sees Gloriann looking out of the window of their cabin with her sisters. She smiles at him thankfully, and now Clifford climbs onto his bike, and rather than continue west as he was when he ran into the well, he turns around and “tool[s] east with the heat on his back.” He connects with Gloriann and she allows him to find a balance. They both understand the tension that exists in their lives and are able to bridge each other to a point of peace.