Blog 2: The Power of Love

In the first two chapters of novel, “Salvage the Bones”, by Jesmyn Ward, Esch provides the details of life in the Pit with her family. Esch talks in great detail of the landscape that they are in as well as provide detail on the characteristics of her family and friends.  As such, she is able to provide subtle details that provide profound meaning around the power of love. One example of case is the relationship between Skeeta and China. A man who cares for his dog and provides love that one would share with a woman. In this scenario Skeeta is supporting china by curlying his body around hers while she gives birth. From this example, love is a bond that can be shared beyond human interaction. This love that all living creatures hold provides many types of impacts towards a being. In another example, when Esch broke the glass bottle in her hand, she chose to prevent herself from screaming in order to feel strong, rather than to be a crybaby in front of Manny. As such, her love towards Manny in this situation influenced her to make her choice. So therefore in this situation, love has the power to make her choose away from the norm, where as a girl would have instinctively yell from the pain or sight of blood. My last example of the power of love is its ability to invoke past memories. After Esch endured the urge to yell, Randall, her oldest brother aided her in cleaning up the cut. From this moment she unconsciously remembered a similar moment where her mother would do the exact same way to treating a scratch or cut. Because of Randall’s “motherly” role towards helping her sister, she realized the love that she had before her mother passed away giving birth to Junior. The Power of Love is a double-edged sword. On one hand it can provide happiness such as having a perfect bond with people you care for, while on the other it could produce hatred, sadness, and chaos, such as a person cheating on another.

Blog 2: Salvage the Bones-Love

Sounding very cliche, Ward is trying to tell us love has many strengths and weaknesses. The various relationships depicted in the story between Skeet and China, China and her pups, the family, and Manny and Esch all have varying degrees of love. The love Skeet feels for China is supportive in the mid-wife sense, and caring that it allows her to grow and survive as she was one of the first dogs that lived longer than a week. It also could be seen that his love is fueled by greed, after all his intention so far is to sell the puppies. The love between China and the pups is a traditional motherly nurturing response you would expect from a new mother. Esch even comments that China would normally be rough, but towards her pups she is kind and cleans them. The familial love is a little more tough, there is a sense of underlying love between the characters but not truly affectionate outcries of it. There is a sense of connection between Skeet and Esch on a deeper level but only grazed. Skeet does watch out for her and even cares for her when she vomits, the same way he does for China as she giving birth. Now the relationship between Esch and Manny is two-sided, in that Manny physically "loves" her but not on an emotional level; it's only a lust. Whereas Esch thinks of it like a mystical, mythological greek level just as the gods lust after each other, but she also knows it's not love in the traditional sense that she wants it to be of affection. Love in their relationship is a weakness; it's not genuine and heartfelt as say Skeet and China. While all the relationships have “love," it can be portraying very differently.

Love in Salvage the Bones

BLOG 2: Chapter 1 of Salvage the Bones is full of various kinds of love—love for China, China’s love for her puppies, familial love, and the relationship between Esch and Manny. What is Ward trying to tell us about the power of love in this first chapter?

      In the first chapter of "Salvage the Bones", we find that different kinds of love are introduced involving the family dog. There is the love Skeetah shows for China at the beginning of the novel as well as Skeetah's love for her puppies. The cause behind some of the love Skeetah has for China involves her worth. He loves the puppies but plans on selling them in the future. However, most of that love he has for China is because of the relationship they have. In chapter 1, Skeetah says that "people understand that between man and dog in a relationship...Equal (Ward 29)." Love can bring out negative effects on people as demonstrated by Skeetah. He displayed aggravation to a man who had just been in a car accident because he wanted to get home to feed his dog. China loves her puppies because it is her job to nurture and protect them. She is known for her vicious fighting skills but changes her behavior completely when with her children. It's a common and innate response parents demonstrate with their kids passed on through generations.
       The siblings also represent different kinds of love. Their mother died while giving birth so they have developed stronger bonds as a result. Randall, the oldest son seems to take care of Junior by himself. Esch is often with Skeetah and his friends. Esch and Manny, one of Skeetah's friends, don't share love as yet in the novel. During sex, she proclaimed, "I was making him hot with love and Manny was loving me (Ward 17)." Love is an intense like or adoration for someone. Esch just wants to be touched by Manny. She longs for him because he is an attractive guy who wants her for sex. It is simply a hidden relationship driven solely by lust.

Gender in Southern Lit

As we know from the discussions from class, gender is influenced by many different factors; class, region, culture, and race. However the common trend of influence in both Hunting Years and Confession of a Southern Failed Lady are the parents. The gender shaping stories were told after a push to fit a social norms from the story teller's parents. The storytellers were not the only victims in their families. Franklin's brother and King's mother were both pushed by their parents social southern gender roles.

The man is strong, and the lady is fragile. Franklin is taken on hunting trips and King is prepared to wed. We still see these trends today in the south. However without qualitative data we can sense that the this trend has decreased. This drop leaves me questioning what  can we make this trend to continue to decrease. 

As someone with southern parents I have heard the "we're going easy on you" stories my entire life ranging from whippings to hair and make up requirements. If all the southern parents gathered together and decided to ease back on gender expectations how would the next generation compare to past? Then I think bigger. What if parents everywhere decided to raise their young with little to no gender expectations?

Of course our parents are not the only gender influence in our life. As I mentioned earlier there are multiple variables that define gender roles in the South, the Unites States and the world. However if we terminate the first layer, the first influence, the parents wouldn't the rest not follow?

 As our society becomes less gender reliant its easy to imagine a world where boys and girls grow up with no "gender destiny". 

Gustavo Rodriguez: Gender in the South

The discussion of gender Roles in the South brings up alot of debate. In the reading of "The Hunting Years" by Tom Franklin we find an individual who is trying to fit the role of a hunter in Alabama. For the sake of confirming his southern acceptance. Unfortunately for him due to his lack of interest and skill he isn't able to fit the mold of his surrounding. Often questioning his manhood and lashing out his frustrations on himself. He wants to make his father proud of him. Who is a skilled hunter in his own regard. By being a hunter like his father Tom hopes to be a Man. This will be his coming of age to adulthood. Ultimately, Tom's father is proud of him but, tells him that being a man is more then killing a 8 point buck. On the other side of the fence in the reading " Confession of a Failed Southern Lady" King explains what the proper role is for a lady in southern Virginia. Her family comes from prestige and heritage tied to the land. Grandmother is trying to make her child to fit a role that isn't true to herself. She is often shown behaviors that exhibit more masculinity rather then femeanlity such as playing softball and hanging out with the boys. Grandmother is frustrated by the lack of female pose in her daughter. So much so that he looks to replace Mother with a different daughter that fits her idea of a women. Both of these stories represent two individuals who are fighting against the norm of what there environment or society demands correct. No matter how much they fight the outside influences they can't escape who they truly are inside. King and Franklin have realized that gender shouldn't define the person. There actions make up who they really are inside no matter the stereotype or role they are set with.

Gender Roles in the South: Franklin vs King

Both writings paint clear picture of what southern life was like according to gender.  Tom Franklin's "Hunting Years" described what coming of age was like for a common male in Alabama.  According to Franklin, as one becomes a man, he must acquire toughness and skill in hunting.  Franklin's father found his son's playing with toys like G.I. Joes to be displeasing.  Franklin finds himself comparing his hobbies and interests to his brother, Jeff.  His brother was a better shot and a better hunter; so Franklin saw the need to try extra hard to wake up early and kill a deer for respect.  Franklin expressed fear in people thinking he was a "pussy" for not conforming.  I feel that pain is a very important part in becoming a southern man at the time.

Florence King's "Confessions of a Southern Lady" portrays the demanding lifestyle of being a refined woman in the south.  Women of high class were meant to be "sculpted by God" and were to act dainty and pretty.  Older women "reared" their daughters against their wills or interests.  Many women even acted sickly or mentally insane to attract attention.  I did not really understand what King meant when she wrote,"one of the joys of growing up Southern is listening to women argue about whether nervous breakdowns are more feminine than female trouble, or vice versa."  A huge part of the female identity was based upon this.  The writing also included the abuse of Preston, a homosexual, by his father and community.  There is hope for gender roles, however, because King's parents "invented themselves" despite their upbringings.

Raven Evans: Food for Thought

In today's world, the line dividing gender and gender roles are slowly but surely being blurred into one homogenous group. More men and women are performing tasks and actions that would normally be performed by the opposite sex. People are realizing that tasks are not specifically assigned to a certain gender and that any gender can do anything that they want to do as long as it's within the legal confines of one's culture and government. In the conservative South however, gender roles are more rigid and concrete in a sense that you would be an outcast or looked down upon if one were to deviate from those set roles.  Franklin expressed in "Hunting Years" that in order to be seen as a man, a boy would have to kill a deer. The problem arises when the narrator doesn't want to kill animals and could potentially be seen as what he calls a pussy. Conversely, in "Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady" the narrator's mother is very verbal about her disdain for a man so much so that she threaten physical violence. According to King's story, a southern lady is suppose to the very essence of fragility, submissiveness, and femininity, but the narrator's mother is very much the opposite. Both characters are perceived in a negative light because they don't follow gender norms or develop later than others.

I feel like this notion of having to exude masculinity or femininity based on the gender that society perceives you is dangerous. This makes young men fear crying they could be seen as weak or less of a man. This causes young girls to suppress suppress dreams of certain careers because of the perceived masculinity of the career. With this aged thinking of gender, we lose potential creative and intellectual minds that could change the world. It's as if society is saying, "Don't be yourself. it's bad and we don't like it."

 In addition to the danger of gender roles, I feel that these displays of gender almost mirror the primal actions of animals in the wild. For example,  female elephants have a certain smell that lets bull elephant know that they are ready to mate. The scent can attract multiple bull elephants to one female elephant and in order to court the female elephant the bull elephants must show off their strength and fight other bull elephants. The same goes for lion, chimpanzees, and other animals where the female species must be submissive while the male shows of their strength like a Mr. Universe show. The problem is that wild animals don't have a higher sense of thinking and can't differentiate right and wrong, yet human can tell the difference between right and wrong and still act like (excuse my French) jackasses.