Melissa Tyndall Dr.

Barnes Southern Fiction May 12, 2004

Elements in Southern Literature: The Yellow Bird Southern Literature is a classifiable and significant genre in the realm of fiction and is very vital in the study of literature as a whole. Southern Literature often has many distinguishable characteristics (beyond being literature about the south, written by Southern authors) and often includes anti-heroes, elements of the grotesque, the influences of family, sense of community and isolation, the moral affects of religion, and stories about story telling. Southern Literature also focuses on the change of a particular character despite his or her rural surroundings or Old South upbringing. Tennessee Williams short story, The Yellow Bird exemplifies the majority of these elements. The first way in which a piece of Southern Literature is distinguishable is by the southern author as well as the southern setting. Tennessee Williams, a native of Columbus, Mississippi, also had southern born parents (his mother, if fact, was the daughter of a minister as is Alma) and seems to write from his own experience with southern life. Though Alma and the Tutwilers are from Hobbs, Arkansas, the south plays an extremely pertinent role in the story, for the new of the family spread throughout the Delta (493). Southern Literature is also largely classifiable through the anti-hero. An anti-hero is often weak, malign, isolated, affected, and at times, grotesque. From the beginning of The Yellow Bird, it is apparent that Alma is freakish or grotesque, for, Alma had the reputation of being a very quiet and shy girl, so this speech was nothing short of sensational, which also

Melissa Tyndall Dr. Barnes Southern Fiction May 12, 2004 made it apparent that Mr. Tutwiler often carried out his owns desiresblind to what the desires were of those around him (493). In addition, the fact that Alma is a ministers daughter carries the stereotype that preachers daughters are often misbehaved and shelteredAlma herself was pushing thirty and still unmarried and had gotten to smoking in the attic (494). It could be argued that Alma was a freak, or grotesque, because of her lack of life experience. Due to her father, Alma was encountering a situation she should have dealt with as a teenager. Alma had lost her mind, its the hair-bleaching thats done it (497). The influences of family, sense of community and isolation, and the moral affects of religion are all southern elements that are tied closely together in The Yellow Bird. Alma Tutwilers family situation as well as her fathers profession ties her religious beliefs tightly to her family though she had not had very much fun out of being a ministers daughter (493). Her family situation and the pinion of her parents affect Alma late into adulthood, for their religious views seemed to surround that every girl who is driven out of her fathers house goes right into a good-time house (494). Mr. Tutwiler controlled his daughter in every aspect and forced his religious views upon her, for he was obsessed with the idea that Alma might get to smoking, which he thought was the initial and, once taken, irretrievable step toward perdition (494). Southern Literature also often focuses on the change of a particular character despite his or her rural surroundings or Old South upbringing and Alma is no exception. Alma, at the age of thirty, finally attempts to find herself and create her own identity separate from that of her parents, Mrs. Tutwilers hair had been turning slowly gray for a number of years, but after

Melissa Tyndall Dr. Barnes Southern Fiction May 12, 2004 Alma took to smoking in the attic, it turned snow-white almost immediately (494). Alma also illustrates her willingness to be independent when she didnt blink an eye, she just drew back her right arm and returned the slap with good measure (495). After she had peroxided her hair and put on lipstick, she informs them that she is going to do as I please around here from now on, and I dont want any more interference from you! (495).