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.