Bastard out of Carolina

I never thought about what you wrote in your comment. It’s very true that the characters in this novel let their emotions steer their lives. This, in effect, harms the relationship that they have with each other. For example, Mama loves Glen, and this loves fogs up her responsibility as a mother. In the end of the book she ends up leaving Bone, and the book makes you think that it’s because she goes to live with Glen. Bone lets her emotions of pride and love towards her mother get in the way of her safety. When her aunt asks her if she is beat, she lies because of Mama. Ethan, you were very right about this aspect of the book, I agree completely

In these chapters, the role of women drastically changes. in the first third of the book, they seem very level headed and loving. in this part of the book they seem to be driven more by their emotions. The women seem to think emotionaly rather than rationally, for example, because mama is supposed to love bone, bone loves her back, even though mama still blames bone for her beatings.

The reason for this may be that the author wants to show the unpredictability of the characters, especially the boatwrights. it seems like the simple lives of the boatwrights seem to fall apart the more the characters let their emotions run their lives.

Throughout these next seven chapters, the relationship between Mama, Daddy Glen and Bone has developed immensely. Mama is the middle person that continues to tell Bone that Daddy Glen loves her. However, Mama I naïve and she doesn’t see how badly Glen is treating her very own daughter. She constantly feels as though she has to stick up for her husband, where as in reality she should be sticking up for her children. “’He loves you,’ Mama was always saying, and she meant it, but it seemed like Daddy Glen’s hands were always reaching for me” (Allison 105).
As the novel continues, Glen’s abuse becomes very obvious to Mama. This portrays her as weak and pathetic. When Daddy Glen physically harms Bone, he constantly finds an excuse for his action. Mama succumbs to his reasoning and finds it within herself to forgive him. “She’s always getting into something,” Daddy Glen complained. ‘Lucky she’s such a hardheaded brat.’ I watched him from under lowered lashes, my head turned slightly to the side, careful not to grin out of my unmarked stubborn face. ‘Bone, be more careful,’ Mama begged me” (Allison 112). Thus far in to the novel, woman are depicted as very weak characters. They don’t have much, if any, power, and because of this men can abuse them; mentally and physically. I am very interested to know if Mama will end up protecting her daughter from this intense pain. Part of me thinks she might, and another part of me thinks she is too weak.
In response to the question, “does the way that women are portrayed say anything about our culture?”, I’m not so sure that it does. I believe that situations, such as the one that Bone and Mama are in throughout this book, are actually common. Thus, it’s not a stereotype and it’s not ‘passing judgment’. Clearly, I do not like the way that women are weak in this book, however, I do believe that in real life, these cases are prevalent, and because of this we, as readers, cannot say that Allison is feeing in to the stereotype of women.

The second question being considered during this unit is: What does the way women are depicted in contemporary fiction say about our culture and identity? Evaluate the purpose of presenting women in this way in your novel.

 Women in Bastard Out of Carolina are strong willed and tough. Bone says at one point something to the effect of the Boatwright women being just as strong as the men. In this way, she means not that the women have the physical strength of the men, but that the women are shrewd and clever, using their minds to outwit the men around them. In that way, they are just as strong as the men.

Bone’s family is poor. To society, her family is seen as a bunch of criminals and drunks, barely able to make ends meet. Maybe they’re right. Bone sways between hating her family and financial situation to being immensely proud of her family. She knows that he family is not normal or perfect. However, they are her family, and since Bone has little friends, they turn out to be the only people she has, even if she can’t always count on them.

Also, the women in the Boatwright family do not embody the ‘perfect’ example of women. They are loud and rambunctious, spitting and yelling as well as the men do. Boatwright women are made long and lanky; “…born to be worked to death, used up, and thrown away” (206). The ideal woman is the one Bone reads about in stories, with pretty pink cheeks and wispy hair. Boatwright women are hard. They could be considered pretty back when they were young, but they age fast and lose their beauty. After their babies are born and their husbands gone away, they settle into that Boatwright look. “‘Now you look like a Boatwright,’ she said, ‘Now you got the look. You’re as old as you’re ever gonna get, girl. This is the way you’ll look till you die’” (8).

Society’s women are pretty and proper. They don’t mess around with boys, make babies, and leave their husbands for days before coming back. Bone’s family is unconventional. She knows she’ll end up being just the same. There’s no way around it. When she grows up, she’ll be just like them; just like she is at the end of the novel. That was why she had a desire to be a boy when she was younger. For them, at least, they have freedom. A woman has her tongue and her wit, but she’ll be used up anyway and tossed aside.

The second question being considered during this unit is: What does the way women are depicted in contemporary fiction say about our culture and identity? Evaluate the purpose of presenting women in this way in your novel.

In Bastard out of Carolina the role of women in the novel is a very interesting one. As bone is growing up, there are countless female role models around her. Her mother for example became a mother at the age of seventeen. Bones father split, leaving her to raise bone all by herself. she managed to find a new husband, and after only a short period of time, is left with two daughters and no husband. the strength that bones mother shows in order to be a full time mom, as well as a waitress at the local diner is impressive. Bones grandmother is full of wisdom. always telling stories to comfort the kids, she is a constant source of entertainment, or answers to all those in need.

bone does convey the desire to be a boy. it shows the men in the novel in a kind of Neanderthal way, fighting, drinking, smoking. they seem to lack most real intelligence. the women in the novel carry the worry and the weight, and they are the ones that have to find ways to fix all the small problems. the men simply cause trouble. this may be the reason that bone wishes to be part of the male race, to be able to go through life with out caring, to avoid all the disconcerting conversations about her illegitimate birth or her poor financial situation.

So far this book has seemed a bit slow, I feel as though it is building up to the climax, but it’s in a lethargic way. Allison’s writing frustrates me from time to time, in the sense that I feel as though it’s constructed as a slow, warm, southern novel. And from what I’ve heard through other people and such, I anticipated a cold (and quite depressing) novel. Thus, I feel as though her style takes away from the beginning of this book, and in effect makes it difficult to become involved in. There has been on incident between Bone and ‘Daddy Glen’ and this was disturbing, to say the least.

As of right now, I see Bone has a strong character, one that has the potential to depict women in a good way. “He was hurting me, hurting me! I sobbed once, and he dropped back down and let go of me. I bit my lips and held still” (Allison 47). If Bone had been any older, then the fact that she sat there without fighting would depict her as weak. However, since she is very young (8 years old), this type of self-control shows how strong she really is. This event could depict women in two ways, one as being very weak or being very strong. I believe that if you keep Bone’s age in mind, it shows how tough and resilient woman can truly be.
I get the feeling that Anney, Bone’s mother, is a bit cowardly and dependent. I am not sure if this will continue throughout the book, but I have a notion that she will become naive, and she will begin to make excuses for him.

Reese, who is Bone’s sister, and is a bit apathetic (this probably has to do with her age) towards anything of extreme importance. I do, however, feel as though she looks up to Bone, and with this in mind I feel as if she could end up being a victim of Glen as well. So in conclusion, men are depicted as powerful creatures and in effect, this portrays women as a bit pathetic. I’m hoping that this will change and as the book continues to reach its potential climax, I hope that the women become stronger and more respectable.

I’m very happy that our group chose this section (chapter 7) as a stopping point, because I’m anticipating a big change in the pace of this novel. Ethan and Anne, do you agree that this beginning has been a bit slow, and if so, do you anticipate a change? What do you think of Bone? And Reese?

You have made some interesting comments about the narrator of this novel. I am wondering what you think of the author’s reasoning for choosing to create the narrator in this way. The narrator’s feelings are obviously signficant - the challenge of feeling like a tom boy while knowing that she will ultimately grow up to be what the men are making fun of - strengthens the message being delivered to readers. Why did Allison create such a narrator? How can readers connect to the narrator at this stage in her life?

Stories move forward by conflict. In this story, much of the conflict is between the narrator and herself. This type of conflict is subtler and harder to portray through a story as opposed to other types of conflict, such as a fast paced action story.

With this narrator, Allison wished to portray the conflicts of growing up. Bone is a perceptive child and understands much more of the world than she lets on. Allison is not just telling the story of Bone’s family, but how Bone interacts and learns from that family situation.

Bone works as a narrator because she is torn between thinking like a child and thinking like an adult. With her mother working all the time, Bone was forced to grow up faster on her own. However, she still retains some childlike qualities which make her view of the world seem at times to be both naive and insightful. When Daddy Glen begins to treat her in a way that makes her uncomfortable, she understands the situation, but at the same time denies that it anything like ’sex’ as she has learned from her aunts and uncles.

The readers can connect to the conflicts of growing up, because everyone experiences it at some point. Although the circumstances may be different for Bone, the process of growing up is still very similar.

One of the questions being considered during this unit is: How are women depicted in contemporary fiction and media? During your reading of the novel, comment on the ways in which women are being portrayed. Consider relationships, experiences, situations, etc.

In the novel Bastard Out of Carolina, there is a stark contrast shown between men and women. Through the perspective of Bone, a child trying to understand her own place in the world, this difference is most evident. At the beginning of the novel when Bone is younger, she laments not being born as a boy. She sees the toughness and brashness of her uncles and attempts to be just like them. For her efforts, they laugh and poke fun as she dresses like them and mimics their movements.

However, as time goes on, Bone begins to observe the subtleties that the women in her family embody. They don’t display an outward toughness like the men do, but instead an inward fire and deifance that puts them on a wholly different level than men. Over time, Bone moves further from the boyish ideal she idolized and towards wanting to understand the nature of women in her family.

“A man has needs,” they’d laugh every time they got together. “So what do you suppose a woman has?”

“Men!” one of them would always answer in a giggling roar. Then they would all laugh till the tears started running down. I wasn’t at all sure what was so funny, but I laughed anyway. I liked being one of the women with my aunts, liked feeling a part of something nasty and strong and separate from my big rough boy-cousins and the whole world of spitting, growling, overbearing males.

- Pg. 91

It is through observing her own family, a mix of aunts, uncles, grandmothers, and cousins, that Bone is able to sort out and understand these differences. The men fight and yell at each other to sort out their problems, while the women make comments at each other and fight with their words and tears.

Bone is torn between her childhood of wanting to be a boy and her growing perspective that being a woman has its own advantages as well. As the novel continues, it is likely that Bone will grow into her role as a woman, because she will learn that it is nothing to be looked down upon at all.

One of the questions being considered during this unit is: How are women depicted in contemporary fiction and media? During your reading of the novel, comment on the ways in which women are being portrayed. Consider relationships, experiences, situations, etc.