Eudora Welty is
regarded as one of the South’s greatest writers of all time, winning countless
awards for her short stories and novels. Welty was born in the deep south of
Mississippi to a very well educated family, growing up in a very sheltered home
environment. Many critics say that her stories do not portray the racial
tensions that were occurring at the time. Many even said that Welty was
oblivious to these tensions; possibly a result of the sheltered family life she
experienced as she was growing up. This can be demonstrated in her short story,
“A Worn Path.” While this story does portray characters of different race --Phoenix
Jackson, an elderly African-American woman caring for her grandson and a white
hunter she encounters in the woods -- racial tensions that were common in
society at this time were not present in the story. Although the characters
interact with one another, no direct racial segregation or hints of racism are
present. This story was published in 1940, almost fifteen years before
segregation was abolished. I thought that this was interesting because Welty
fails to include this time period’s social norm into her stories, giving the
reader the impression that she either was oblivious to this phenomenon as
others criticized or simply did not want to portray the South in a negative
way.
Through
research I discovered that Welty wanted her readers to view her work as it was without
a link or correlation to her life. I assumed that is why many of her critics
thought she was oblivious to the racial tensions of the South. I believe
Welty’s true feelings and depiction of Southern culture can be displayed
through the photographs she took, which most readers do not know of. Welty took
many pictures throughout the 1930s and most of them were of African-Americans.
Robert MacNeil, a long time friend of Welty said, “While white people in the
Deep South like Mississippi were surrounded by blacks at the time…they were
socially invisible. In a way, these two decades before the civil rights
movement began, these photographs of black people give us insight into a
personality who saw the humanity of these people before we began officially to
recognize them” (Frail). Welty said these pictures were not a “social document”
but of a “family album.” This shows Welty was ahead of her time, especially
being from the South, because of her social acceptances of African Americans.
Whether or not she photographed whites or blacks Welty always used the same
size pictures so that one was not favored over the other (Samway).
In Welty’s story, “One Time, One Place”
she acknowledges her photography and stood by her beliefs by saying, “And had I
no shame as a white person for what message might lie in my pictures of black
persons? No, I was too busy imagining myself into their lives to be open to any
generalities.” Through her photography, Welty showed many viewers the life and
culture of the South , however she believed there was something more to these pictures.
When asked about one of her photographs of a proud standing African-American
woman, Welty explained that she did not see the Depression, African Americans,
the South, or any sorry state of the world, but just the story behind the
woman’s face and her struggle to prevail.
Critics will still
argue that because Welty was such a prominent Southern writer she should have
put her thoughts out or at least talked about racial tensions in her stories
instead of acting oblivious. In my opinion, I do not think Welty needed to
include anything civil rights movement or problems of the South. She did this
through her photography and believed that while she was proud of being a
Southerner she would rather “capture and reproduce the inner calm found often
in life’s tumultuous mindscapes and landscapes” (Samway). In an ending
interview with Welty’s long time friend, Reynolds Price, he tried persuading her
to get back into photography; Welty states she would not, saying that, “I’ve
done what I have to do. I’ve said what I had to say” (Frail).
-Do you think
Eudora Welty would be viewed differently if her stories revolved around racial
tensions in the South? And do you believe using photography was a good way of
Welty to depict her true feelings and culture of the South?
Works
Cited
Samway,
Patrick H. “Eudora Welty’s Eye for the Story.” America Magazine (1987) 417-420. Print.
Frail,
T.J. “Eudora Welty as Photographer.” Smithsonian
Magazine (2009). Online.
Feeley,
Kathleen. “Remembering Eudora Welty.” America
Magazine (2001). Online.
Welty,
Eudora. “One Time, One Place.” Print.
To be honest the way Welty chose to right, and the topics she focused on are what make her one of the greats in literature. I find it interesting that people actually criticized her for not focusing on racial issues more than she did, because I feel in her own way she revealed what she thought was important about racial tensions in the South. I saw this especially in "A Worn Path" when the young white man is taunting and belittling the main character. Photography is another form of storytelling, as the old saying goes after all, "a picture speaks a thousand words". I find photography to be a great way to reveal the truth because photos record what is happening, and often times those are the feelings as well as the actions.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do believe Welty would have been viewed differently if she had written stories that revolved around racial tensions in the South because people would have recgonized that she was aware of the current issues within society. In addition to that, I felt that it was very important for her to use the pictures because as many people say, "a picture is worth a thousand words" and readers would be able to visually see the specific emotions and feelings that she wanted them to be aware of.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting that Welty portrays the southern black culture in her photography, but not her writings. I do not believe that the omission of racial troubles in her writing translates to being oblivious to these problems. perhaps she was just trying to shed new light on the south during her time period. It separates her writing from many of the other black southern writers of this time period.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is interesting how Welty may have been sheltered to the horrors of segregation, and therefore, did not relate those issues to the reader. The idea of Welty portraying the struggles of the African-Americans in her photography rather than her writing illustrates an interesting divide in her artwork. It is quite possible that Welty used photography as a medium for illustrating the struggles of Blacks in the deep south because it was more personal. It gave the people she encountered, more of a voice, where they would not have had such a powerful one before.
ReplyDeleteI think that considering the time period and what was going on, readers are well aware of what was going on during the time period and therefore Welty did not need to add these details of segregation and racism, because from what she is writing and what time period her stories take place the readers know all of this already. Welty needed no words to describe what was going on therefore she used her photography to depict the hardships happening in the south. The fact that she avoided the topics in her writing made her different and also showcased not how she was oblivious, but how no words needed to be used describing what everyone could already see.
ReplyDeleteI think that Welty did not have a responsibility to add her own personal touches into her works. Although many authors use their personal lives to influence their stories, some authors don't, most likely because they don't need to. After reading Welty's "A Torn Path", I couldn't see why an influence towards African American rights or an influence against them would be needed in the story. I think Welty's stories describe the lives or people, and the era didn't need to affect that. Also, I think that she would have been viewed differently if her stories were geared towards minority rights. At the same time however, according to this article at least, Welty was most likely seen with African Americans as she photographed them a lot. I'm sure people weren't okay with this back then, but she still is such a great writer and has been for many years.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed reading about how proud and in love she was with the South. She didn't choose to depict the negativity of it but rather the optimisim and liveliness it held.