Autobiography

Wake forest is an in between town. It used to be a small town, but it has grown exponentially in the last ten years. Most of the people who have moved to Wake Forest in these last few years are like me, from the North. Even though this area seems to be systematically losing its southern heritage, there are still a few people who were born and raised here who hold on to it. At school there would be trucks in the parking lot that were jacked up and had giant tires. They would have the confederate flag on them somewhere. Everyone who drove these trucks was members of FFA. However, most people did not actively participate in FFA. There were a few who went to the competitions, but most were only around to go to the meetings, which always had free pizza. Unless it was fall, then people would get into the state fair free on school days. I haven’t seen strong southern influence in the community that I live in. Even people who were born here don’t seem overwhelmingly southern.

rough draft

Southern writing presents themes that are part of southern tradition. A tradition that generally involves a strong sense of religion and family and even one for the rebel cause stemming from the civil war. Mason’s story “Drawing Names” uses the ideas of southern family, whereas, Horwitz, in the chapter “Dying for Dixie,” discusses southern pride by way of the civil war. Although both of these authors present a different aspect of southern culture, they both present the idea that in recent generations this culture is fading.
Stereotypical southern family and comfort usually refers to a large family sitting down to a nice, big, home cooked meal. This meal would include such things as biscuits, gravy, and fried foods, and they would always thank the lord before eating. Mason, in his story “Drawing Names”, presents these themes, which tells the reader that this is a southern family. He starts by creating a large family; there are sixteen people, spanning four generations, at this Christmas dinner. By including so many people, the author is creating this stereotypical large southern family. To further the image, the reader is informed of the mother’s habit of making too much food. At the beginning of the story, Carolyn and he mother discuss baked ham, and her mother gives away the fact that they frequently eat it fried. On top of it all, Carolyn makes a comment about the prayer that is said before the meal, thus incorporating many important southern themes.
Even though Mason applies these themes to his story, he includes further details that imply that the, once prominent southern traditions, are now fading. Although he presents this a large, spanning family, he includes details to show that this family dynamic is diminishing. Even though the parents have had a hard life, they managed to stay together. Staying together is the traditional thing. Because of that tradition, it upsets her father when Carolyn’s marriage fails. It is also because of this tradition that Iris goes out of her way to make everything in her marriage appear like it is well. In reality, she is in the process of getting a divorce and puts extra strain on herself trying to hide it.
Not only are the failing marriages a sign that the southern tradition is changing, but also the fact that the youngest sister, Laura Jean, is living with a man that she is not married to. The family has a big problem with this even though Jim, the man she is living with, is nice to the family. He attempts to win over their affections by bringing them bourbon and boiled custard. This only further agitated the family because it was not proper; the mother was slightly against drinking.
Pappy was the oldest member at the Christmas dinner. At one point, he told the family that in the old days the men would eat first, then the children, and finally the women. The family obviously doesn’t do that anymore as the all sit down together for dinner. Carolyn also noticed that the family no longer asked Pappy to say the prayer for the meal anymore showing a separation from the older generation.
Horwitz presents the south from a different angle; he emphasizes southern pride that stems from the civil war. In the chapter “Dying for Dixie” from the book Confederates in the Attic, he presents the issue over flying the rebel flag. Once the symbol of the southern confederacy, it is now hung on the back of a truck because they matched. Michael Westerman was killed for flying the flag and was treated like a war hero. His justification for flying the flag was that he had grown up with it and it was just something he had. He welded a pole on to his truck because the flag matched his truck. He had no real concern about the civil war or what the south fought for. It was just a flag he got when he was a small child.

autobiography

I was not born in the south, and it's been debated on whether or not I'm truely a northerner. I was born and grew up in Delaware. Now that I live in the south, I say that I am a northern. I moved to Wake Forest when I was fourteen. There was been some bits of the southern culture that I have seen and others that I have managed to avoid. I have seen the religous aspect of southern live. I have friends who go to church every sunday morning and have a big dinner afterwards. None of them really have a big familys, but some still have several generations living in the same area. Because i moved to an area where many other northerners were coming to, I see a more northern influenced society then true southern. I am used to hearing a light southern accent, but I don't normal hear a heavy southern acent. I probably couldn't understand one if I did. I feel bad, but sometimes i still laugh at a few of the words that my friends say.

Response

I liked the drawing names story. It appealed to different southern ideals then the first two chapters that i read. In the first two chapters, they mainly focused on southern pride and how it relates to the confederatcy. In Drawing Names, it appealed more to the southern family traditions. Here, it is a large family who still meets at the parent's house for chirstmas dinner. There are four generations and the mother still makes too much food. In the story, because the family didin't have enough money, they had to make a different tradition, drawing names. The mother, used to the tradition of everyone buying something for everyone else, still doesn't like the new tradition. The large family is a big issue; it hurt her father when her marriage fell apart. Her sister put extra stress on herself to appear that her marriage was working when it wasn't. The emphasis that the family put on not divorcing was a southern theme. In this story, the author appealed to the southern ideals without talking about the rebel cause.