The South, True Blood indeed

I should look harder, because I am not finding a moment where a character made a successful “moment of grace”. There were opportunities galore. Such as when the son was poised to rush the Misfit, but didn’t. When the Grandmother could have pleaded for the lives of her grandchildren, she didn’t. Instead, she choose to play the “you would never shoot a woman” card, a fat lot that did for her. Reading back, I do find a surprising character of that of the cat, making a graceful decision, albeit a selfish one, at the end of the story by snuggling up to the Misfit. Does the cat care that it’s family had just been horrifically murdered? No, perhaps the family would have been better served if they had a pitbull.

Q: 6, idea of “good”. If a definition of “good” could be described sans religion, then that definition would include selflessness. Evil, as it’s opposite, would be the epitome of selfishness. I felt that the story and title were slightly at odds, since the story was more about what people do for themselves, at any cost or suffering for those around them.

Misfit killing group of people to avoid detection.

Grandmother bringing her cat along.

Grandmother complaining of Florida, but first in the car.

Grandmother failing to even attempt to save the lives of her son or grandchildren, instead pleading for her own life.

Grandmother freaking out when she realized she made a mistake, causing the accident which lead to the deaths of the car load at the hands of some rough men.

Buddies of the Misfit killing for the power and “fun” of it.

When the Misfit makes his quote at the end, referring to the grandmother, he is really saying that the grandmother would never make a free conscious choice to be good unless there was an external inducement to do so.

Gothic literature always focuses upon setting a mood. (Regular “Gothic” setting a dark, mysterious, magic, slightly erotic world. Southern Gothic follows a similar idea, highlighting odd occurrences, weird characters and localized flavor setting the stage for the reader to be immersed in “The South”. Ok, I have a theory that everyone in life is a few puzzle pieces short. The story simply takes this to new levels, depicting a “normal” dysfunctional family on it’s way to a disaster as a direct result of that dis-functionality arising from choices made along the way. The very realness of the characters and their actions, conjure up that southern mood. Everything from their dialect to the scenery, (such as driving by a “pickaniny” on a dilapidated porch) leads the viewer on a merry journey into the seeder parts of the “Gothic South”.

Decker