Essay about Southern Culture in American Short Stories

Each of the authors in the three short stories, Andreas Lees Anthropology, Alice Walkers Roselily, and William Faulkners A Rose for Emily use a Southern background to show how people are ingrained to their past, and fearful of change. They each use Southern culture to show how it develops the personalities and inner feelings of the characters. Each story shows the fear and struggle of people who have made a change, or who would like to make a change, but are afraid of what change will mean to their lives and culture as they know it. In Anthropology, as the word implies, you see the physical, social, material, and cultural developments of human beings who have risen above their place, after having been born black in the South.†¦show more content†¦In the South, you are known as white-white, white-black, or black-black, and you keep to your own kind. Andrea Lee remembers what life was like as a child in the South. She was not ashamed that she was black, but her family in the South thought themselves to be more white than black, and did not appreciate that she called them black in a story she had written for a national magazine. There was even a neighbor of Aunt Noahs, Dan Mills, who was threatening to sue. They said he was ranting: Im not African-American like they printed there! Im not black! (Lee 184) Yet, at the first meeting with her aunt, she reminds Andrea that she should watch out for white folks. No matter how friendly they act at first, you cant trust them. (Lee 181) It was as if her family was not sure who they really are. She tells of how the fair, white-black relatives fought to desegregate Greensboro by marching on Washington, yet still expected their poorer, blacker tenants to address them as Miss Nora or Mr. Fred. (Lee 183) It was not uncommon for the white-blacks to be the biggest antagonists of segregation in the South. Andrea, herself, had married a white, and wondered how she would feel researching her black roots with people who did not consider themselves black at all. She knows that `place, identity, whetherShow MoreRelatedRace And Gender Roles : The Women On The Porch As Southern Gothic Literature893 Words   |  4 Pagesin the Southern culture and dynamic. After the Civil War, dramatic changes began to take place in the South. Political leaders began to enact Civil Rights amendments, industrialization became more popular, and gender roles were beginning to be indistinct. In Southern literature, the portrayal of female characters evolved along side with the Southern culture. Female characters became more independent, strong-willed, and hardworking. Even African Americans became the main characters in Southern literatureRead MoreZora Neale Hurston A Genius of the South Essay1664 Words   |  7 Pagesbut she felt the pride and dignity within herself. 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