Bastard Out of Carolina (novel)
Encyclopedia
Bastard Out of Carolina was the first novel published by author Dorothy Allison
. The book, which is semi-autobiographical in nature, is set in Allison's hometown of Greenville, South Carolina
. Narrated by Ruth Anne "Bone" Boatwright, the primary conflict occurs between Bone and her mother's husband, Glen.
The novel examines the expectations of gender and mother–child relationships, and explores the roles of these characters in the future. Conditions of class, race, sexuality and gender play out in Bone's life and her relationships with others.
The book was adapted into a film in 1996.
Anney, who "hated to be called trash", then spends the next two years unsuccessfully petitioning to get a new birth certificate issued without the word "illegitimate" stamped on it. This opens her up to the ridicule of the customers in the diner in which she works.
At age seventeen, Anney marries Lyle Parsons and gives birth to another daughter, Reese, in short order. Lyle is killed in a car accident which left Anney "all butter grief and hunger." After remaining single for a few years she begins to date Glen Waddell, the son of a socially prominent dairy owner. Two years later, as a result of becoming pregnant, they get married.
Anney gives birth to a stillborn
boy and becomes unable to have more children. The family's fortunes plummet, with Glen losing job after job due to his anger management problems. It is then that Glen, who had been loving and gentle with Bone, begins sexually molesting her. The abuse
culminates in beatings and whippings that leave Bone nursing bruises and broken bones.
When Anney discovers the abuse, she leaves Glen, who promptly promises never to do it again. Anney takes him back and the abuse resumes. Anney leaves Glen again after her tough, hard-drinking brothers severely beat Glen upon discovering that he has beaten Bone once again.
Bone then announces to her mother that she will never live in the same house with Glen again. Bone then tells her mother that she loves her and will forgive her if she decides to go back to Glen, reiterating that she will not return to the house with Glen. Her mother then vows not to go back to Glen unless Bone comes with her.
When Glen discovers this, he attacks Bone at her Aunt Alma's house, raping
her on the kitchen floor. Anney walks in on him and fights him off. Glen follows the two out to the car, begging Anney to kill him rather than abandon him. To Bone's disgust and amazement, Anney ends up crying and throwing her arms around Glen.
Bone's aunt, Raylene, visits her at the hospital and takes custody of Bone, as Anney has disappeared. While she is recuperating at her aunt's house, Anney shows up with a new birth certificate for Bone, this time without the word "illegitimate" stamped on the bottom. She asks Bone's forgiveness and leaves without telling Bone where she is going.
Dorothy Allison
Dorothy Allison is an American writer, speaker, and member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.-Early life:Dorothy E. Allison was born on April 11, 1949 in Greenville, South Carolina to Ruth Gibson Allison, who was fifteen at the time. Ruth was a poor and unmarried mother who worked as a...
. The book, which is semi-autobiographical in nature, is set in Allison's hometown of Greenville, South Carolina
Greenville, South Carolina
-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...
. Narrated by Ruth Anne "Bone" Boatwright, the primary conflict occurs between Bone and her mother's husband, Glen.
The novel examines the expectations of gender and mother–child relationships, and explores the roles of these characters in the future. Conditions of class, race, sexuality and gender play out in Bone's life and her relationships with others.
The book was adapted into a film in 1996.
Plot
The book opens with Bone relating the details of her birth. Bone's fifteen-year-old mother, Anney, gives birth to her after being seriously injured in a car accident. Anney, who is comatose during the delivery, is unable to lie about being married. Her mother and older sister, Ruth, attempt to give a false name and are caught in their deception. This results in Bone being declared illegitimate.Anney, who "hated to be called trash", then spends the next two years unsuccessfully petitioning to get a new birth certificate issued without the word "illegitimate" stamped on it. This opens her up to the ridicule of the customers in the diner in which she works.
At age seventeen, Anney marries Lyle Parsons and gives birth to another daughter, Reese, in short order. Lyle is killed in a car accident which left Anney "all butter grief and hunger." After remaining single for a few years she begins to date Glen Waddell, the son of a socially prominent dairy owner. Two years later, as a result of becoming pregnant, they get married.
Anney gives birth to a stillborn
Stillbirth
A stillbirth occurs when a fetus has died in the uterus. The Australian definition specifies that fetal death is termed a stillbirth after 20 weeks gestation or the fetus weighs more than . Once the fetus has died the mother still has contractions and remains undelivered. The term is often used in...
boy and becomes unable to have more children. The family's fortunes plummet, with Glen losing job after job due to his anger management problems. It is then that Glen, who had been loving and gentle with Bone, begins sexually molesting her. The abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
culminates in beatings and whippings that leave Bone nursing bruises and broken bones.
When Anney discovers the abuse, she leaves Glen, who promptly promises never to do it again. Anney takes him back and the abuse resumes. Anney leaves Glen again after her tough, hard-drinking brothers severely beat Glen upon discovering that he has beaten Bone once again.
Bone then announces to her mother that she will never live in the same house with Glen again. Bone then tells her mother that she loves her and will forgive her if she decides to go back to Glen, reiterating that she will not return to the house with Glen. Her mother then vows not to go back to Glen unless Bone comes with her.
When Glen discovers this, he attacks Bone at her Aunt Alma's house, raping
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
her on the kitchen floor. Anney walks in on him and fights him off. Glen follows the two out to the car, begging Anney to kill him rather than abandon him. To Bone's disgust and amazement, Anney ends up crying and throwing her arms around Glen.
Bone's aunt, Raylene, visits her at the hospital and takes custody of Bone, as Anney has disappeared. While she is recuperating at her aunt's house, Anney shows up with a new birth certificate for Bone, this time without the word "illegitimate" stamped on the bottom. She asks Bone's forgiveness and leaves without telling Bone where she is going.
Reviews
- In the July 5, 1992 edition of The New York Times Book ReviewThe New York Times Book ReviewThe New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...
, George GarrettGeorge Garrett (poet)George Palmer Garrett. was an American poet and novelist. He was the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2002 to 2006. His novels include The Finished Man, Double Vision, and the Elizabethan Trilogy, composed of Death of the Fox, The Succession, and Entered from the Sun...
said "in no way seems to be a patchwork of short stories linked together. Everything, each part, belongs only to the novel" and "close to flawless." He compared it J.D. Salinger's novel Catcher in the Rye and Harper LeeHarper LeeNelle Harper Lee is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama...
's novel To Kill a MockingbirdTo Kill a MockingbirdTo Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature...
praising that it includes: "special qualities of her style include a perfect ear for speech and its natural rhythms; an unassertive, cumulative lyricism; an intensely imagined and presented sensory world, with all five senses working together; and, above all, again and again a language for the direct articulation of deep and complex feelings."
- K. K. Roeder in the April 1991 publication of San Francisco Review of BooksSan Francisco Review of BooksSan Francisco Review of Books was a book review periodical published from the mid-1970s to 1997 in the Bay Area. Founding editor-publisher Ronald Nowicki launched his publication April 1975, a time when the San Francisco Chronicle depended on the wire services for its reviews...
states that Allison: "relates the difficulty of Bone's struggles with intensity, humor, and hard-wrought rejection of self-pity, rendering Bastard a rare achievement among works of fiction dealing with abused children."