Feeder 3.1

When one references to the South, certain expectations come to mind. Such expectations stem from the rich heritage and history felt by most southerners. Throughout the years, the people of the South have attempted to maintain these expectations. Though they began as strong beliefs, these expectations have not been able to fully survive the modern times. In the texts of Tony Horwitz’s Confederates in the Attic and Bobbie Ann Mason’s Shiloh & Other Stories, the authors portray the idea that these southern expectations are diminishing through generations in the social institutions of race, family, and gender.
Race is one of the most prominent controversial issues when it comes to southern expectations. Historically, due to the southern institution of slavery prior to the Civil War, the topic of race relations and civil rights has been a heated one in the South. This progress is seen Horwitz’s Confederates in the Attic. In the chapter “Dying for Dixie,” racial tension is the main subject. A young Michael Westerman has recently been shot and killed by a black man for flying the rebel flag on his truck. The comparison between generations in this text is taken from this situation and the scenario that Horwitz is put in at the beginning of the chapter. He starts the chapters by going into “Redbone’s Saloon.” The men in this bar brandished t-shirts that displayed racist comments and pictures. By beginning the chapter with these details, Horwitz is setting up Guthrie, Kentucky to look like a racist town. Using a majority of the chapter to describe the events leading up to and following the murder of Westerman, Horwitz portrays the town as a place that has not been able to move past a politically and morally wrong view of African-Americans. However, there are two instances where Horwitz is able to compare a younger generations’ perspective to that of the men in the bar and the people of the town. In the first instance Horwitz describes what he calls the paradox between the generations. He explains that Westerman used to play basketball with those who would later be charged with his murder and that, at the high school, a black student had been voted homecoming queen. The second example is described during the trial Westerman’s trial when his wife, Hannah, testifies. Leading up to this point, Westerman’s death had been seen as a martyr’s sacrifice to the people of Guthrie. He had died for the Cause. But when Hannah is asked why he flew the flag, she responded with “it matched his truck and made it look sharp” (Horwitz, 120). This showed that Westerman had not really been concerned with the meaning of the flag or offending anyone, but only flew it because it matched his truck. These instances prove that the underlying southern expectation of racial inferiority is diminishing through the generation.
The deterioration of southern expectations involving family values is also shown in the texts by Horwitz. In Confederates in the Attic, Horwitz describes the people of Salisbury as almost obsessed with their genealogy. There is a rich tradition of knowing where the family came from and, particularly in this book, what reference they held to the Civil War and the rebel cause. This led to ancestral clubs, such as the Daughters of the Confederacy or Sons of Confederate Veterans. To be a member of these groups, one must be able to prove ancestral ties to the Confederacy. Horwitz then describes the group Children of the Confederacy, which prepares children for Confederate citizenship. When talking to a local who was also in the Daughters of the Confederacy, Horwitz finds that at the age of 18, children grow out of the Children of the Confederacy and move straight to the UDC or SCV. This ancestral tradition is beginning to weaken as Horwitz speaks with the president of the C. of C., Beth. Beth tells Horwitz that she doesn’t “agree with all this ‘South is great’ stuff. I’m sure there were some good things about the North” (Horwitz, 39). This shows that the enthusiasm for the family tradition of the Confederate cause is diminishing in the younger generation.
The southern expectations concerning gender roles in are also shown to be lessening through the generations in the text by Mason. This story shows a family having Christmas dinner. The generational contrast occurs between the actions and words of the grandfather and parents and those of the four daughters. When at the beginning of the story Carolyn decides to bring her lover, Kent, to dinner as a date, this sets the southern outdated expectation that a woman showing up to an event without a date is pitied, or as Carolyn put it, uncomfortable. This expectation is further supported when Iris chose to convince Ray to come to the Christmas dinner, even though they do not live together any more. Saying that she did it “for Mom and Dad’s sake” (Mason, 98) shows the generational gap between the diminishing southern expectation of staying together and keeping one’s vows and the more modern acceptance of divorce. The southern expectation of the female’s role in the house is also challenged when Carolyn is annoyed by her mother’s habit of worrying too much about the cooking and about her lack of fancy napkins. Her mother still lives in the times when, as Pappy describes, “the menfolks would eat first, and the children separate. The womenfolks would eat last, in the kitchen” (Mason, 101).
Through these texts, it can be seen that certain southern expectations are diminishing from generation to generation. The effect that these southern qualities have on institutions such as race, family, and gender are lessening year after year. The texts show that what traditions held by older generations cannot keep up with modern times.

Response to "Dying for Dixie"

My initial feeling after reading this chapter of “Confederates in the Attic” was amazement at how people could still act that way. I was astonished that there are still people who are that ignorant. The whole over-production of the death and funeral of Michael Westerman made it seem as though the people of Guthrie had finally gotten a reason to justify the feelings they’ve had for so long. The beginning scene in the bar is just so outrageous. I honestly did not believe people like that still existed, but I’ve been lucky enough to have a Southern heritage that doesn’t involved using those words or pressing those beliefs on others.

As in my last post, I feel as though some things were left out in order to influence a certain picture into the reader’s mind. For a majority of the first 16 pages of this chapter, “Dying for Dixie,” Horowitz describes the town of Guthrie only through the shooting of Westerman – how the town reacted, how each family reacted and so on. In general, these descriptions left me thinking that the whole town was ignorant and stuck in the past. On page 104, Horowitz explains to us another part of Guthrie’s history. He tells us that Westerman and the man who was to become his murderer used to play basketball together and that Westerman’s mother worked in a factory that was evenly divided between black and white employees. Horowitz also tells us that interracial dating is common at the high school and that they had recently voted a black student as Homecoming Queen. These were the first signs of “normality” given by Horowitz to describe the town and people of Guthrie.

Autobiography

I've lived in the south my whole life. I was born in a small town called Mills River, located in the mountains of North Carolina. To me, my southern heritage means a lot. I feel like now that I've left my home town for the first significant amount of time in my life, I see how southern my little town really is.

For this post, I'll talk about my family because I feel like family is a huge aspect of southern heritage. My extended family all live within 10 mintues of my house. Both sets of my grandparents are natives of the town, as were their parents. My grandpa lives on 10 acres of farm and I used to help him harvest his hay, sugar cane, and corn before he grew too old to take care of it. He taught me how to drive a tractor and I used to go fishing in his pond. My grandma even had a secret recipe for bread.

I've never lived in a neighborhood and always had a big yard to play in. I still attend the same methodist church that I have all my life and that my whole family has always attended. My parents got married there and I like to think I might do the same. I went to the same elementary, middle, and high school that my dad and his parents went to.

My favorite "southern" aspect of my family is that we're all so geographically close to each other. It gives me a sense of security and more importantly a greater sense of what a family really is.

Response to Cats of the Confederacy

My first impression of the Cats of the Confederacy was that it was selectively told. In describing the scenes he experienced, it seemed to me that Horowitz chose certain details to focus on and that there was possibly some part to the story that he was leaving out. In the scene where he sat in on a Sons of the Confederacy meeting, Horowitz mocks the people in the meeting by explaining how they introduced themselves by rank but “none of the men wore uniforms.” Horowitz also does this in portraying the scene of the Children of the Confederacy event by juxtaposing the Kmart to the “faux-plantation” as a comparison of reality and fantasy.

I also feel like a lot of the things he observed are very true. From reading the chapter, I get an overall sense of pride from the neo-confederates that stems from the thought that the South’s prime was during its rebellion and its uprising. When visiting the color sergeant Mike Hawkins, Horowitz asks if Hawkins thought “there,” meaning the past was better than “here,” meaning the present. Hawkins replies by saying that he felt “like it was bigger somehow … I just feel like the South has been given a bum deal ever since that War.”

I was surprised to read that the president of the Children of the Confederacy, 12-year-old Beth, didn’t agree “with all this ‘South is great’ stuff” and that she was actually more fascinated with the Jews oppression in the Holocaust than in the Confederacy.

Event #2 - baseball game

Today, I attended the baseball game against UNC-Charlotte. This game was a non-conference game. It was drizzling and humid throughout the game, which aren’t the best baseball conditions. Not only was the weather poor, but the game time had been changed earlier in the day to account for the forecast of bad weather. I think it’s these two things combined that account for the lack of fans, but I also think that the lack of fans allowed me to experience the most dedicated Carolina baseball fans. I got my ticket for my seat, but didn’t sit down and instead stood under the overhang of the newly renovated baseball stadium. Not having been to a game in the old one, I couldn’t compare the two stadiums.

The language during the game by the fans generally included short, sporadic yelling either as encouragement for their team or as an argument toward a call made by the umpires. This is fitting for the audience in that they were there to cheer on the team. We ended up losing by 1 but most of the fans were dedicated enough to stay for the singing of the alma mater. This showed the amount of support the baseball fans have for their team, win or lose. Going to this baseball game has added to my experience at the university because it gave me the opportunity to cheer for a team that isn’t as glorified as the football or basketball teams. Also the fact that it was drizzling gave me the opportunity to see the true tarheel baseball fans and experience their dedication to the school and the sport.

Observation #3

My third observation took place at lunch at Lenoir Dining hall. During this time, I was having lunch with my friends, which included two Morehead Scholars and three non-Morehead scholars. The conversation was very casual. It started with the normal “How was your day” and we talked about how our classes were going just as we would with anyone else. The only time during the conversation that it was obvious, to me at least, that the three Morehead Scholars were in fact Morehead Scholars was when we started talking about our plans for the week. Everyone’s responses included things like intramural games, tests, or parties. One of the scholars stated that they were going to a reception on Friday night and was unable to give much more detail than that. When the subject changed, I noticed that scholar ask another whether they were going or not. The scholar’s inability to give more detail on her reception and the fact that she only asked the other scholar at the table if he were going makes me believe that the reception is a Morehead event. She also chose not to further discuss the reception, which argues that she was trying not to call attention to her being a Morehead Scholar.

Observation 2

For my second observation, I observed my suitemates, who are Morehead Scholars, and friends of there who are also Morehead Scholars as they watched TV in their dorm room. The atmosphere was very friendly and upbeat. They were watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, both of which require a certain level of intelligence on the subjects of politics and other worldly news. The conversation consisted of many things one might here in conversation between anyone such as classes, weekend plans, and the status of our fabulous basketball team. However, a few key subjects that I was looking for were brought up. One thing I was listening for was discussion about meetings or banquets. The group began talking about their next meeting and what it would consist of. Another thing I was looking for was talk of study abroad trips. My suite mate is studying in Brazil with a fellow scholar who happened to be over at the time, so discussion on details of the trip was brought up. Other minor clues of Morehead-speak were their mention of people I had never heard of. Overall, the night consisted of mostly common conversation with a few flags that would give away their Morehead Scholar status.