Autor:
Współtwórca:
Łobodziec, Agnieszka - red. nauk. ; Fondo, Blossom N. - red. nauk.
Tytuł:
Tytuł publikacji grupowej:
Temat i słowa kluczowe:
white trash ; poverty ; identity ; representations ; "Bastard out of Carolina"
Abstract:
Dorothy Allison`s novel "Bastard out of Carolina" (1992) unflinchingly depicts the fate of a young girl, Ruth Anne Boatwright ("Bone"), who is in danger of succumbing to her oppressive environment marked by social stigmatization, extreme poverty, sexual abuse and neglect. It has been indicated that Bone comes to accept her identity as "a dumb and ugly white trash girl <born to shame and death>" and that her "inherited vulnerability" is practically predetermined because she is her mother`s daughter. ; In fact, she questions and critically examines her own identity by picking apart what is commonly identified as white trash identity on several occasions throughout the novel. Although it is true that Bone faces numerous traumatic experiences and as a result exhibits several signs of "self-loathing" and "self-contempt" that go hand in hand with her initial hatred of her dirt-poor background as well as her yielding to rigid social classification, I aim to show how Bone in the end dismantles classification processes and throws back the essentialist labels she is ascribed with. ; She does this by choosing a path away from conformity. This paper aims to examine the extent to which class and ethnic background influence the continuous identity formation of Ruth Anne Boatwright in "Bastard out of Carolina". In this context, a discussion of class dynamics in the US provides a backdrop to Bone`s identity processes. ; Furthermore, I intend to show that Bone`s identities are ambiguous and shift and exist simultaneously on several levels, with the aim to testify to the insufficiency of essentialist categories and classification. In addition, this examination will show how processes of Bone`s identity formation are crucially mapped out on and expressed through her body in a fragmented manner, suggesting that bodily fragmentation functions here as a means for identity formation.
Wydawca:
Zielona Góra: Oficyna Wydawnicza Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego
Data wydania:
Typ zasobu:
Format:
Strony:
Źródło:
Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego: Seria Scripta Humana, tom 12