Bastard Out of Carolina (Blue)

8 responses so far ↓

• 1    yhscarolinablue // Apr 12, 2007 at 11:59 pm

  Although this is contempory fiction, it is set much earlier and therefore the way women are depicted is not how women are typically seen today. The women described in the book are headstrong and hardworking, like Bone’s mother and Aunts, however they are still shown to be submissive to the men. I believe that the women are shown submissive to the men because that is the way women acted back then, not because that is what the author believes is right. An example of this is when Bone goes to the doctors for her broken collar bone. This is when her mother truly realizes how much Daddy Glen has been beating her and she takes Reese and Bone to Alma’s house. She is doing what is best for her daughters and trying to keep them safe, yet several weeks later when Daddy Glen promises to stop, she moves back in with him anyway. She knows he won’t ever really stop, so she instructs Bone to stay out of his way. Women in this novel try their best to do what is right and be good role models, but they eventually follow what them men tell them to do.
  The purpose of showing women like this is to be true to the setting. The social norm of the time was that the men had more power, and women typically listened to the men. This book is simply showing what life was like in that time.

• 2    yhscarolinablue // Apr 23, 2007 at 8:56 am

  I agree with the post above because since the book takes place a few centuries ago the women are dipected differently than they have before. For instance most women in the small town in get married very young and have a family at a young age. Bone was born when Anney was only 16 years old. The women did little jobs such as work at the local diner or not work at all. The males were a lot more controlling of the family and what happened. All the family decisions made were made by daddy glen. When he was angry from loosing his job and what not it was always aunt Anney who told the kids to calm down. It seems like in this book the women were always controlling the drunk fathers.

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• 3    Wilson // Apr 24, 2007 at 12:19 pm

  This group brings up a good point. Unlike my book this book is set in a much earlier time period and so women are seen/portrayed much differently. However some of the things are the same, they are not treated as well as men and show similar weaknesses. Also it says that women worked in local diners which is the same case in my book Stained. Also in my book, the men control the women when it comes to my main character and her boyfriend.

• 4    Kate // Apr 24, 2007 at 9:25 pm

  As this novel is a contemporary written story set in the 1950s, it doesn’t depict women as how they are today. It depicts Anney and Bone’s aunts as hardworking, but they don’t really seem to accomplish much. While reading I feel as though the women always try and stand up to the men, but never follow through completely. Is anybody else feeling that way? I realize that it’s different when one of the aunts moves out because her husband is cheating on him, because she seems to hold strong, but I kind of feel as though the women tend to be pretty trusting.
  As Sarah said, the section where Anney moves her family out of the house because she finally realizes how much Daddy Glen has been beating her, and then moves back in when he promises to stop. Obviously he wont stop. What is she thinking?! It’s clearly impossible for Bone to just stay out of his way like that.
  I guess ultimately I agree with Sarah in that the women try to be good role models, but I am getting frustrated with their actions at times. In this novel, it portrays women as weak and says they give up easily.

• 5    Zorro // Apr 24, 2007 at 9:53 pm

  Just responding to Kate’s comment, the way women are portrayed in this novel seems actually very different from the portrayal of women in Zorro. In Zorro, most if not all of the women are very strong willed and idealistic. They definitely are not “weak” and most definitely do not “give up easily,” evident in scenes such as the one where Juliana does virtually everything in her power to free the slaves the pirates have captured. In another instance, all of the women (Juliana, Isabel and their house-maiden/guardian) were all incredibly strong-willed and tough in their trek all across Barcelona and the rest of Spain to save their father from the awful fate that he did not deserve in the least. These pampered girls didn’t complain at all and toughed it out in the wilderness to save their father — nothing else was really on their mind.
  -Sam Tureff

• 6    Jack // Apr 24, 2007 at 10:08 pm

  I agree that all the women of the book are very driven and hardworking. Although the women are portrayed as strong they let themselves be controlled. Anney lets Daddy Glen call all the shots without question. Granny Parsons brings papers for Anney to sign to collect money for Lyle’s time spent in the army, but Daddy Glen tells her not to. She doesn’t inquire further or even read the papers she just submits to his judgment. Daddy Glen slowly shuts the women of the family out from the rest of the world. Visits to see family members occur less frequently as Glen begins controlling Anney. She is blind to this until Bone’s collar bone is broken. At this point she realizes that Glen is not safe. She leaves but soon returns. At first the women are shown as somewhat oblivious, but as Kate says women are portrayed as weak and that they give up too easily. While reading the book one would think Anney would know when enough is enough, but she thinks she needs Glen. The women of this novel think they need a man to support them, as costom says, but in reality they would be better off alone.

• 7    yhscarolinablue // Apr 24, 2007 at 10:59 pm

  I agree with the above comments made by Jack and Kate. The wome are both very hardworking and work for what they want. For instance (I think sarah used this examplein another post) When Anney continues every year to fix her birth certificate, every time they would say no, yet she still went back with a new stratagy every time. The women are always are working and doing what is best for the kids. When the girls were staying away from the daddy glenn for a while after bone had been beaten by daddy glenn and even though that was hard for Anney to do it she still did it, because that is what is best for the children.

  The men do seem the call all the shots in the book. What is going to happen. The women seem to almost slave around for the men and let them do what they want to do. Like kate said they stand up for the men and support all their actions I feel, even if they are not right. Jack I think that is a good point about how Anney claims she needs Glen but really, she would be better off with out her. Interesting.

• 8    Julia // Apr 25, 2007 at 6:19 am

  A major similarity I see between this book and Child Of My Heart is a headstrong, hardworking main character. From what I have read from these posts, it seems that Anne in Bastard Out Of Carolina had to go through a great deal of struggle at a young age. The main character Theresa in my book, though she does not have any children of her own, is a babysitter for several families in her town. She must serve as a positive role model and a leader for these children who do not get much, if any, guidance from their own mothers. Like Anne, Theresa is always trying to make sure the children she cares for have good morals and know how to make the right decisions for themselves.

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