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Emily Foster
English 1103
3/27/11
A. Walker
Stuck In Them Good Ole Southern Stereotypes
The South. Home to Hickville U.S.A., trailer trash, rednecks, racists,
conservatives, and a place where everyone grows up on a farm milking
cows. In contrast, others (people who are actually from the South)
consider it a place with long, beautiful summers, sweet tea, front
porches, Southern belles, beautiful, radiant beaches, sweet southern
hospitality, and tasty fried chicken. The South is associated with these
generalizations by today’s society. Many of the misconceptions are due
to the influence these stereotypes have in pop culture, most notably in
movies. Dukes of Hazzard, Sweet Home Alabama, Beverly Hillbillies,
Forrest Gump, and many more have influenced society’s views of the
South by instilling a stereotyped view.
Duane Carr, author of “A Question of Class: The Redneck Stereotype
in Southern Fiction”, and J.D. Murrah, blog author of the HubPage post
entitled, A Southern Primer: Truths, Untruths and Stereotypes, each
highlight Southern stereotypes in a distinct way. The preface and the
first section of Carr’s book focuses on the prominence of stereotypes in
literature and the reasoning behind the existence of stereotypes. In turn,
it describes how the uses of stereotypes in literature have thus
influenced our culture’s behaviors and the way our society perceives the
South.
In today’s society we are all put into stereotypes without even
knowing it. We are constantly being categorized based on the most
insignificant things. Carr tells us that according to psychologist Gordon
W. Allport, the function of a stereotype is to justify or rationalize our
acceptance or rejection of a particular group (Carr 2011 8). Historical
events are the foundation upon which the Southern stereotype is based.
These events include slavery, the Civil War, and the KKK. There is no
escaping the inevitable generalizations people make about one another,
whether true or not. These generalizations as they pertain to Southern
stereotypes vary from anyone who lives south of the Mason-Dixon line
is a redneck or everyone with a Southern accent was raised in a barn.
How did these stereotypes come about? Carr states, “stereotypes serve
‘as projective screens for our personal conflict’ and they continue to
exist because ‘they are socially supported, continually revived and
hammered in… by novels, short stories, newspaper items, movies, stage,
radio and television’”(Carr 2011 8).
Although each of the following stereotypes, such as there being
rednecks and racists in the south could be true of a southerner, they are
not limited to just one specific region or area. Geographical location can
influence a person’s values and beliefs, however a specific locale does
not limit one to certain activities or a particular lifestyle. There are
people all over the country with dozens of these different stereotypes.
Carr explains this best when he says “. . . the rural poor [aren’t] the only
ones subject to stereotyping”, As often as people make the assumption
that Southerners are racists, they will also associate people from out
west as being hippies, pot heads, and tree huggers.
In Murrah’s post, he strives to describe the views on how
Northerners look down on Southerners, as well as why people have
these stereotypes. However, I believe Murrah is unsuccessful in fully
developing his thoughts. He does not support his argument on why
people are unable to move past these stereotypes. I believe this is
because Murrah doesn’t relate the topic back to his main purpose of
why these stereotypes still exist in our society. His post instead focuses
primarily on how these stereotypes came about. Carr’s section, which is
based on substantial rhetorical knowledge, uses an expert (Gordon W.
Allport, psychologist) to develop his argumentative strategy. “The
Nature of the Stereotype”(Carr’s section), answers the main objectives
of Murrah’s article better than Murrah does. Although Carr doesn’t state
one precise answer, his eight pages of work reveal three different
possibilities to be the root of the cause. His most convincing argument
is, “One reason may be that the civil rights movement, . . . rarely
addressed issues surrounding disadvantaged whites (Carr 2011 8).”
Murrah explains how Southern stereotypes developed over a
period of time. He states, “Southern culture has been largely shaped by
its history…The Southern identity began during the days of colonial
settlement”(Murrah). He continues to prove Southern culture is shaped
by its history and that the stereotypes people have of Southerners are
based on the past and the media’s influence of a perceived reality,
instead of what the South truly is.
Although I do believe Murrah establishes the difference between
the stereotype and the truth, he doesn’t completely answer why people
can’t overcome these stereotypes. I also feel he successfully explains to
the public how the South isn’t what they think. He surprises them with
substantial information and states multiple facts vital to his argument.
The fact which surprised me the most says that “[a]ccording to a 2001
Harris poll, 40% of Southerners own a pistol in comparison with fewer
than one in seven for the northeast” (Murrah). By making reference to
the Harris poll, Murrah is supporting his facts with official
documentation. I also was intrigued to find “…that a majority of the
early presidents (up until Lincoln) came from the South” (Murrah). This
fact, taught in history classes across the nation, brings to light the
Southern contribution to governmental leadership. Murrah points out
that "[the] pay in the Confederate army was the same for blacks, whites
and hispanics." Murrah exemplifies statistics by stating "the first state to
elect a black governor was the Southern State of Virginia in 1989." With
these facts he proves there is less racism than is perceived.
Although there are obvious flaws in Murrah’s argument, he uses a
variety of literary devices to support his thesis. He uses examples, facts,
and statistics to give the reader hard evidence which supports his
claims. He also effectively utilizes appeal to value in a means to reach a
level of public resonance. Murrah also uses appeal to logic to help get
through to readers by saying “ Although labeled as uneducated or
unenlightened, Southern writers and songwriters have been highly
influential on popular culture. Writers like William Falkner, Robert
Penn Warren, Flannery O’Conner and others have influenced writing.”
One of the areas that Murrah went wrong in his argument was by
making multiple hasty generalizations, such as, “In the minds of many
Northerners, the people of the South are lazy, violent, uneducated,
bigoted and uneducatable” (Murrah). Another instance in which he does
this when he says “Southerners tend to protect family members from
the law, and often take revenge when someone wrongs a family
member” (Murrah). By making a generalization about a rather large
region and group of people, this logical fallacy works against him in his
argument.
Our country has been able to overcome the Civil War, Integration,
9/11, World War I and II and so much more that it only seems logical
that we can make it past these prejudiced viewpoints that we have of
the North and the South, and the East and the West. If we can make it
through all of that, then shouldn’t we be able to move past this? All it
takes is thinking about others feelings and your own before you speak.
Can you stop to think before you act?
.
Works Cited
Hillier, Jim, and Alastair Phillips. 100 Film Noirs. London: Palgrave Macillan on
Behalf of the BFI, 2009. Print.
Murrah, J. D. "A Southern Primer:Truths, Untruths and
Stereotypes." HubPages. Web. 22 Mar. 2011.
<http://hubpages.com/hub/A-Southern-PrimerTruths--Untruths-adn-
Stereotypes>.
Dear Mr. Mullah,
I wanted to write to you because I read your article titled, A
Southern Primer: Truths, Untruths and Stereotypes, on your HubPage and
completely agree with you in regards to the stereotypes given to
Southerners. I’m a born and raised Southern girl and am proud of it. I
had never experienced any issues with me being from South Carolina up
until I came to college. I wasn’t used to people instantly treating me
differently just based on what state I would say I’m from. It was a whole
new experience and I just first of all wanted to thank you for writing this
because I think that it will help people from other places get a better
idea of what the South is actually about. That all Southerners aren’t
stupid and that we don’t all live on farms in the middle of nowhere. But I
didn’t just write to you just to tell you the things that I agree with you
on, because I know that wouldn’t be an interesting letter in the least, so I
was hoping to point out where your argument was flawed in places.
Although I completely agree with you, I feel the need to express to you
where I could just see some readers being able to argue with you and
attack you for some of the hasty generalizations that you made, not only
about Northerners, but Southerners as well. Attacking a group of people,
especially your own, isn’t ever a good idea. I know that you probably
are already aware of all of these things; I just wanted to help you
strengthen your argument to the best of your ability. I hope that some of
this has helped you. Thank you.
-Respectfully,
Emily Foster
Dear Professor Walker,
I told myself I was NOT going to be a victim to the “Freshman
Fifteen”. I’d seen it happen to girls in the class above me, and told
myself, “There is no way that I am going to allow that to happen to me.”
Of course, as for any college student, that has not been the case. I too
found my clothes from last semester fitting a bit snugger than I once
remembered. The culprit being due to “period cravings” and
temptations of ice cream from the Café, I quickly realized that this
promise I made to myself wouldn’t be easy.
In the same manner, I have found this English class to be like the
“Freshman Fifteen”. The emotions I experienced over the course of
struggling to manage a healthy lifestyle my first year in college, are the
same I endured over the course of my semester in this class. I was
stressed, scared, excited, worried, and worst of all, at the point when the
tears break loose. With all of the stress, I found myself pulling far too
many all-nighters due to the anxiety.
The stress, worrying, and scared emotions all came at the same
time due to the moments it felt like things were closing in on me, as if
there was no escape. There were those times I believed I wouldn’t be
able to turn in my paper on time and have it measure up to your
standards. Over winter break, I was unable to button my favorite Joe’s
Jeans shorts. Although unable to button them, I was still able to fit into
them. I knew this meant I still had time to get myself to button them
before springtime. It was after limiting myself to a healthy meal plan
and having a weekly exercising schedule that I came to find myself
seeing results. My success in this class is the same way. After the death
of my grandmother and having to return home for her funeral, I had
fallen behind for the second paper and believed it to be better to turn in
on time and revise later. I was aware in that moment that I would be
able to recover from this set back and would have time to power
through. I knew I had time to turn things around and I decided to throw
myself into my work in this class one hundred and fifty percent from
that moment on. I knew that I couldn’t let things outside the classroom
bring my grade down.
As it has been important for me to manage a healthy lifestyle for
my physical well being, I believe that it was also necessary that I find the
“healthy lifestyle” for myself in regards to my work ethic in this class. I
believe I have found this “healthy lifestyle” for this class and have
become the best writer I can be. I have gained a better understanding of
how to illustrate 21st century literacy, critical thinking, and rhetorical
knowledge.
I demonstrated my understanding of rhetorical knowledge, and
my ability to persuade my audience through the use of specific support
through my claims. Ways in which I do this are through my ability to use
argumentative strategies, make “revelatory” claims, create a purpose,
target a specific audience, marshal my point, and create a tone. I
exemplified my ability to use imagery as an argumentative strategy in
my first essay entitled Corruption, when I said, “Turning their brains
into mass media absorbing sponges, soaking up everything they see on
television.”
It is also in my first essay that I create a “revelatory” moment for
the reader. I did this by saying,
“For the audience, mass media is a source of entertainment, for
journalists, media is a source of salary and social status and for
the owners of these media companies it’s a source of profit and
political influence.”
I am allowing the reader to see not just one definition of mass media,
but also the various meanings that it has for people of different career
or social standings. I also do this later on in the essay when I say,
“You may be wondering who is the mass media, who’s backstage
behind the curtain messing with our heads? And it really just
comes down to 5 major companies that have the power to take
control of any issue and make a 180 with it and turn it into a
positive. With five major companies that dominate the mass
media, what once started out as an industry, has now almost
completely become a monopoly of sorts. Among these five major
companies are Time Warner, VIACOM, Vivendi Universal, Walt
Disney, and News Corp, all of which also own broadcast networks,
movie studios, major entertainment theme parks, wireless
phones, video games softwares, music industry and even more.
Which means they have various ways to influence us, making their
influence even more powerful.”
I am explaining to the audience in this paragraph why it is that these
companies have so much control, and what they have control of.
In my first essay I created a purpose within the first paragraph by
stating:
“In today’s society, we are no longer able to have opinions of our
own that aren’t influenced by the media. We live in a society that
is dependent on the information from the media to keep us
moving in the right direction. A society that is easily influenced by
the media and what they tell us to believe.”
Here, I am making a clear statement as to what the main purpose of my
paper is. I also provide a clear purpose in my last paper, Stuck In Them
Good Ole Southern Stereotypes, when I said,
“Although each of the following stereotypes, such as there being
rednecks and racists in the south could be true of a southerner,
they are not limited to just one specific region or area.
Geographical location can influence a person’s values and beliefs,
however a specific locale does not limit one to certain activities or
a particular lifestyle.”
It is also in this essay that I make a point of contact with the audience,
by thinking radically as Chapter 12 in the textbook would describe it.
The textbook explains that “going to the root” is a means of thinking
radically saying, “[r]adical thinking might be seen as a process of finding
the root or essence.” (Mauk 424). I do this best in my last essay by
getting to the root of why it is that these stereotypes exist.
I also made connections to conventional thinking. Our textbook,
The Composition of Everyday Life tells us, “Conventional ideas are those
you are trying to transcend or challenge.”(Mauk 436 ). I believe that I
best demonstrate my proficiency in this area over the course of my last
essay. I start off by making a point to both viewpoints by saying,
“The South. Home to Hickville U.S.A., trailer trash, rednecks,
racists, conservatives, and a place where everyone grows up on a
farm milking cows. In contrast, others (people who are actually
from the South) consider it a place with long, beautiful summers,
sweet tea, front porches, Southern belles, beautiful, radiant
beaches, sweet southern hospitality, and tasty fried chicken. The
South is associated with these generalizations by today’s society . .
. These generalizations as they pertain to Southern stereotypes
vary from anyone who lives south of the Mason-Dixon line is a
redneck or everyone with a Southern accent was raised in a barn.”
And later by challenging the reader to see differently when I say,
“Our country has been able to overcome the Civil War,
Integration, 9/11, World War I and II and so much more that it
only seems logical that we can make it past these prejudiced
viewpoints that we have of the North and the South, and the East
and the West. If we can make it through all of that, then shouldn’t
we be able to move past this? All it takes is thinking about others
feelings and your own before you speak. Can you stop to think
before you act?”.
I am pushing the reader to make a conscious effort not to give in on
making those stereotypes next time they hear someone making a
derogatory comment about someone from a different geographical
location, or to not let it influence their judgment of that person.
Starting out I didn’t have the greatest understanding of the
rhetorical devices necessary to make a paper the best it could be. Nor
did I have an understanding of how to incorporate those rhetorical
devices, as well as communicate all of my various thoughts in one
organized paper. I had what Chapter 10 from the textbook describes as:
“Fear of Commitment [,which is that] some writers avoid
committing to a focused statement. They wander around without
attempting to establish a particular idea, without digging in to a
specific intellectual place. Such wandering, if it goes on for too
long, often leads to shallow ideas (saying lots of different things
about lots of different things).
I believe that I now have a greater understanding of how to use these
tools to better my writing. In my last essay, I believe that I demonstrated
commitment to my topic and made sure not to wander from the subject
at hand.
Now I’m not saying that I believe that I deserve an A+ in your class
by any means. Just looking at the grades that I have received on
Taskstream acknowledges that my grade in this class is not at A+ status.
Although, Taskstream grades are important and part of our final grade,
they are not the only grades given either. Ones grade for this class does
not merely come down to number grades given on a website, but how
one contributed to the class itself. Participating in class discussions and
group activities, being on time and present for class, as well as asking
questions all play a role in ones grade. As we both know, I do not have
the best grades on Taskstream, but I can honestly say that I have given
this class my all. I have participated in class discussions when others
didn’t, turned in all homework assignments necessary, arrived on time
every class that I have attended, as well utilized my time spent in the
classroom in a productive manner to not only ask questions but to
answer them as well.
But in learning it’s not just about what you give, but rather what
you take from it. I know that in the beginning I had difficulty resisting
the temptations I mentioned earlier, as I did in the beginning with trying
to find a healthy lifestyle, but I believe that I now posses the tools
necessary to guide me for the future. Through this class I have built the
foundation upon which will guide me in future educational and career
endeavors. I believe that I have found the balance I was seeking in both
my physical health and in my discipline in this English class. I feel
confident in my abilities to take what I have learned from you and apply
that knowledge in future classes and in my life beyond college. Just like
the button that is FINALLY fastening on my favorite Joe’s Jeans, I feel
that I have FINALLY found my “fit” in this English class. For both of
these reasons, I am a very happy rising sophomore who no longer will
have to worry about the “Freshman Fifteen”!
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