This week is finals week, so I had a few final papers to write for my English classes. One of them was a fairly involved research paper focusing on a short story of our choice that we had read in class. We've read a lot of fantastic authors this semester, including Chekhov, Joyce, Mansfield, Welty, and O'Connor, so it was difficult to chose just one. After doing some research, I realized that most of the topics I was interested in were dead-ends when it came to sources, so I finally decided to write about violence and femininity in Welty's "A Memory" and O'Connor's "A View of the Woods". Surprisingly, there was a ton of information out there about these two stories and the themes of sexual deviance, southern womanhood, and domestic violence.
I have to say, I had more fun writing this paper than I've had in a long time! Sad, huh? The subject matter was just so provocative and the deeper I dug into the scholarly analyses that had been written on these stories the more absorbed I became in deconstructing the relationship between southern women, sado-masichism, and domestic abuse. There exists a bizarre, yet relevant, relationship between the southern belle image and misogynistic victimization. Part of being considered a lady involves subservience and impeccable manners, but another characteristic associated with southern womanhood is fiestiness. I've named this paradox "Gone With the Wind Syndrome". Unfortunately, it affects young women who are growing up in a society where stubbornness and independence are glamorized, but submission and domesticity are required. The consequences of not obeying your father when you are young and your husband when you are grown, are serious and may involve corporal punishment.
Anyway, this was an extremely interesting topic to write about and I really hope my enthusiasm pays off!
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