Bastard Out of Carolina (Blue)

15 responses so far ↓

• 1    yhscarolinablue // Mar 30, 2007 at 9:55 am

  Women in Bastard Out of Carolina are depicted in many different ways. Anne, Bone’s mother, is depicted as a very headstrong person. She is upset that her daughter is labeled a bastard and tries many times to get the town to reissue a new birth certificate without that label. Even when she fails many times, she still tries to get a new birth certificate. This characteristic is also shown in several other women in the novel. For example, Alma, Bone’s aunt, moves out on her husband because he has been cheating on her. She moves into a neighborhood where blacks live and causes a scandal. She stands up to her husband even though it would have been hard for her to survive on her own with so many children. Even when she can’t make it on her own and has to move back in, she refuses to talk to Earle until he apologizes, which he does and she gets her way.
  While the women in the story do not always make the right choices and have the best lives, they are depicted as good role models. Bone’s mother has had a child out of wedlock and married a man who is angry and often out of work, but when she catches Bone stealing from Woolworth’s, she makes sure Bone returns the candy. She wants her children to have good morals and values, like she does, so that even if they make bad choices, like she did, they will be able to live with them and learn from them.

  -Sarah

• 2    yhscarolinablue // Apr 3, 2007 at 10:23 am

  I agree with Sarah in that the Women in Bastard Out of Carolina are depicted as headstrong and role models. I also do believe that they show leadership and as strong individuals with good morals. For instance using the same example as Sarah’s, when Bone’s mother catches her stealing candy from Woolworth’s she brings them back, showing honesty and she teaches her children well. Also, the family is very close and takes care of each other. Many times so far in the book Bone has gone and stayed with her aunts many times especially after the car accident. The women work together to stay happy. I think the women in the book don’t uphold the typical stereotypes of women in the 1950’s (I believe that is when this book takes place). I think they show good morals and characterizes that will teach Bone to grow up to be a very strong and intelligent individual

  SAMUEL

• 3    Mrs. P // Apr 4, 2007 at 9:43 am

  Sarah and Sam,
  You have both shed some interesting insights in to the novel’s portrayal of women. I am wondering about the purpose behind including women in this way. Could the roles women play represent something greater? Could their roles be seen as allegorical, possibily representing general types of women in our society? Interesting food for thought…

  I look forward to the next post.

  Mrs. P

• 4    Kate // Apr 23, 2007 at 12:29 pm

  The women in Bastard Out of Carolina are portrayed differently, but there are also several consistent themes. Despite the fact that women don’t have a lot of say in what they can and cannot do, they show persistence in their ideas. As stated above, when Anney tries to get a new birth certificate for Bone, she keeps on trying even though they reject her. The women in the novel are presented in stereotypical roles.

  Bone is shown as a girl with a huge problem in self-confidence. As Allison writes on page 3 of the novel, “There I was – certified a bastard out of South Carolina.” It shows from the start that Bone doesn’t show a lot of self worth. This unfortunately begins young with something as simple as a birth certificate, then intensifies when Anney marries Glen and he begins to physically and sexually abuse her.

  The women in this novel are forced into their stereotypical roles of the 1950s, but try to be good role models for Bone. Although they live in a small town, inspired by Allison’s own childhood, the biggest example at this point is the aforementioned incident at Woolworth’s.

• 5    Zachary // Apr 24, 2007 at 8:06 pm

  One of the interesting things that I am noticing about the nature of the setting of this book is that the author seems to be depicting women in states of mind and health that don’t exactly mesh with our perceptions of the 1950’s. In fact, our history textbook speaks glowingly of the status of women in the 1950’s; these women seem to be in the minority of the American population in the lower class during the 1950’s. While the stereotypes of the power of the male in the family may still be relevant, families of the 1950’s are generally thought of as a bit more “content” and “harmonious” than the ones in Bastard out of Carolina. The author may have been attempting to issue a wake-up call on behalf of the minority of women being mistreated, but I think as modern readers reflecting on this book in this time period, the stereotype of women being “submissive” along with the seemingly out of place description of family trouble in the 1950’s is not a good mix. A good indicator of whether or not the author is really being true to the setting of the 1950’s would be the reaction of those non-family members to this mistreatment.

  -Zach

• 6    Zachary // Apr 24, 2007 at 8:23 pm

  In addition, I have been continually pressing the point on the Daughter of Fortune blog about being “something more”. I am wondering as to whether or not merely “being of good morals and intelligence” is an acceptable goal for women of this time period. Clearly, these women are in difficult situations, so perhaps this is perfectly reasonable. In her upbringing, it seems as though Bone is acquiring a set of traits and morals that her mother figures deem important to surviving in the world, but where did those characteristics get those mother figures? Perhaps the author is advocating a more independent path entailing the pursuit of interests and abilities rather than simply entering the world with raw tools that have gotten her predecessors absolutely nowhere.

• 7    Jack // Apr 24, 2007 at 10:15 pm

  One thing I see represented in the personalities of the female characters in this novel is distrust in relationships. Bone has trouble accepting her new father. She is unable to call him dad, and when she does it doesn’t feel right. Due to the heavy emphasis on family and their female independence, the women of this novel can be seen as very headstrong and self sufficient, as Sam and Sarah have said. I believe that although women are portrayed as strong, they do not use their strength. The women teach eachother good morals and get through life with almost nothing, yet are not able to break away from an abusive stepfather. Bone’s trait of distrust in males is justified due to her stepfathers treatment of her mother. I believe that the book will continiue to focus on how women do not use their strength in hostile situations.

  I am sorry if this seems out of place, but I wrote it during vacation and didn’t know how to work the blog thing.

• 8    Talo Anne Schwarz Thomson // Apr 24, 2007 at 11:39 pm

  In reading these posts about Bastard out of Carolina, I recognize some parallelisms between characters from Carolina and characters from my book, Stained. In Stained, the mothers of the novel also play a role of strong and independent caregivers. The mother of the main character (a teen girl, Jocelyn) is extremely headstrong (like ANNE from Carolina) – she demonstrates this when she quits the church in an intensely Catholic community because she does not believe their teachings are benefitting her child. Like Anne, she fights a controversial fight in order to benefit and protect her child. She persists to avoid the church through Jocelyn’s adolescence – something that takes strength as she is ostracized by her community. On the flip side, however, the mother’s daughter, Jocelyn, serves as a foil. Jocelyn is weak and pitiful – not terribly unlike Bone from Bastard out of Carolina. Jocelyn is lacking in a father figure also. She only overcomes her weak character when she redeems herself with a true act of courage at the end of the novel.

  Talo

• 9    Jack // Apr 25, 2007 at 6:58 am

  Talo’s point about Jocelyn being pitiful and weak directly relates to the women of Bastard out of Carolina. There is something odd about how the women of this book are portrayed. They seem self sufficient and strong, yet they are not. In the beginning of the book, when there is no father figure at all, the family seems to do very well. It is only when Anney is married that her life begins to turn sour. She would have been much better off living with one of her sisters, but society is driven towards marriage, and she feels she needs it. A relativly strong women at the begin of the book is turned into a weak and lifeless women towards the end by an controlling husband. This is similar to Daisy in The Great Gatsby, who has also lost her flair.
  Bone is depicted as a spunky girl and it seems like she wouldn’t let anyone get away with anything. After she is molested by Daddy Glen this whole image shifts. Despite the fact that she is strong to be able to live with this tragedy, she is also opening the door for more incidents without telling anyone.
  Women in this novel are too trusting to men. When it is evident to everyone that Glen is a horrible man, Anney sticks with him. She trusts him when he says he would never hurt his family. Bone who does not seem trusting still does not tell of the incident at the hospital. This is why the role of women seems odd to me. The women seem strong and moral, but when a man comes into their life it seems like the lose everything.

• 10    yhscarolinablue // Apr 25, 2007 at 7:09 am

  I agree with Jack’s last comment. I hadn’t ever thought about the connection between when the women are strong and when they are weak and it does seem that they are weak when they are around men. One point to note though, is that Bone does finally stop trusting men, while Anne continues to trust them. After Bone’s family sees how Daddy Glen has been beating her and they move out, she tells her mother she won’t move back in with Daddy Glen. Bone stands up to her mother and Daddy Glen because she knows that is what is best for her. She also stands up to Daddy Glen when he comes to talk to her, beats her, and rapes her, and she refuses to give in. Anne is unable to stop trusting Glen. She knows he has hurt Bone but she just loves him too much and ends up leaving with him and leaving her daughter behind. I think this could show the difference in generations. Anne, the older generation, is still subordinate to men as it was during that time period, but Bone is beginning to assert her independence and not put up with abuse from men.

  -Sarah

• 11    Dan G // Apr 25, 2007 at 8:57 pm

  It seems to me that the women from Bastard out of Carolina and Zorro, my book, are very different. As Jack said, the women in Bastard out of Carolina are submissive to men when they are around them, but this is the opposite in Zorro. Zorro’s mother, an Indian woman who married an Hispanic hidalgo, seems to become more independent when she is around her husband. Eventually she leaves to be with her native people because she felt too oppressed by the Spanish culture that the missionaries were trying to press on her. Julianna, the woman who Zorro wishes to be with, although she falls for a pirate, is the same as Zorro’s mother. She is completely independent when it comes to choosing a man to be with. Despite the good choices for her and her father’s pressure, she wants to wait until she meets the perfect man.

  -Dan G

• 12    shayna G. // Apr 25, 2007 at 10:26 pm

  From the book I read The Secret Life of Bees woman are seen in a similar light. In the beginning the women, Lily and Rosealeen are forced to be submissive when men are around. T. Ray abuses Lily both mentally and physcially makeing sure that she does what he wants and Rosealeen is unwillingly expected to do what people want because the color of her skin. Later on in the book Lily and Rosealeen become more independent without the pressure of being told what to do. This leads them to find love in the most unlikely places.

  -Shayna G.

• 13    Zorro // Apr 26, 2007 at 11:49 am

  yea, thats cool and all but based on what some people said, the depiction of women here are like the exact opposite of mos of the women in Zorro. In Zorro they are definately not in control except one or two or a few of them, and arent exactly shown to be role models.
  -Alex

• 14    yhsjoyluckclub // Apr 29, 2007 at 6:08 pm

  After reading a few blogs I get the immpression that the women in Bastard Out of Carolina and the Joy Luck Club are similar yet they show a signifigant indifference as well. Reading the two sections about the daughters, we learn about the issues they carry through life, and some of them appear to be weak but perhaps end up with a sense of strength and gain insight to the realization of love and confidence tehy have in their lives-I guess?? Those blogging about Bastard Out Of Carolina write about the women who are headstrong and have good morals. I think that this is also evident to the mothers in Joy Luck Club because they appear to be strong and tough because of the backgrounds they come from.

• 15    yhsjoyluckclub // Apr 29, 2007 at 6:09 pm

  ps that last one was from eileen

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