Ethnic Stereotypes in “The Displaced Person”

“The Displaced Person,” by Flannery O’Connor, is a story about life on Mrs.McIntyre’s farm after the arrival of a new Polish family, displaced due to the war. Throughout the story, Flannery O’Connor presents several different stereotypes, including racial, religious, business related, socioeconomic, marital, ethnic, and political stereotypes. The presentation of the standardized views of foreign ethnic groups in the story is especially effective, as it also emphasizes how oblivious the people on the farm are.

The story takes place in a farm in America, which makes Mr. Guizac and his family, or more generally the Europeans, the foreigners. Mrs.Shortley is prejudiced towards the Guizac’s even before she meets them. This is seen from the amazement that arises when she sees that the Guizac’s “looked like other people,” as Mrs.Shortley had imagined them as “three bears, walking single file, with wooden shoes on like Dutchmen and sailor hats and bright coats with a lot of buttons.” Mrs.Shortley’s astonishment increases as she watches the family, staring at them closely, squinting to see better. Mrs.Shortley had been judging the Guizac family even before they arrived, making fun of and insulting their language, by saying the word “Guizac” sounded like “Gobblehook” and that the daughter’s name sounded like something you would call a bug, and saying that they wouldn’t even know what colors are. The fact that Mrs.Shortley doesn’t see the Guizac’s as people, shows just how ignorant she is.

Mrs.Shortley’s attitude towards the Guizac family does not improve over time, and moves on to judge everyone in Europe as well. Europe is presented as a country that is not as advanced as America, where piling “dead naked people all in a heap, their arms and legs tangled together, a head thrust in here, a head there, a foot, a knee, a part that should have been covered up sticking out, a hand raised clutching nothing” is the norm. Mrs.Shortley talks about the situation in Europe without a single ounce of compassion, makes fun of the situation, which can be seen through her choice of words, and assumes everyone in Europe carries those murderous ways. To Mrs.Shortley, Europe is “mysterious and evil, the devil’s experiment station.”

Mrs.Shortley infects Mr.Shortley and Mrs.McIntyre with her way of thought. Mrs.McIntyre, who at first thought of Mr.Guizac as a source of salvation, starts to doubt him over time, even though she knows that he is the most efficient worker she ever had and saves her a great deal of money. This situation begins when Mrs.McIntyre discovers that Mr.Guizac intends to marry his niece to one of the Negroes on the farm, which leads to her threatening to fire Mr.Guizac if he insists on the marriage going through, and intensifies when she learns that Mrs.Shortley, who she considered a close friend, is dead. After this point, Mrs.McIntyre starts seeing the Guizac’s as “extra people,” and decides that she has no responsibility towards them.

Mr.Shortley’s hatred towards the displaced person starts the build up after his wife’s death. He decides that letting people from different ethnic groups learn English is a mistake, and that Mr.Guizac is to blame for his wife’s death. Mr.Shortley, coming to the conclusion that he has the right to vengeance, runs over Mr.Guizac with a tractor, taking care to make it look like an accident. The displaced person is carried away in an ambulance, dead, and failed to have earned the respect of the American’s and be accepted as a decent human being.

The River

               

          “The River” by Flannery O’Connor tells the story of a young child named Bevel who tries to baptize himself in search of the Kingdom of Christ, to make himself “count.” Bevel is introduced to Christianity by Mrs.Connin, the lady who takes care of him for a day. After seeing Reverend Bevel Summers preach to the people from a river in the forest, Bevel returns to the river the next day and drowns himself while looking for a way out of his life, which comes in the form of the Kingdom of Christ.

                Bevel’s family and his life at home are the things that push him to decide to baptize himself. Bevel’s mother and father are people who constantly drink and smoke, and don’t take proper care of their child. This can be seen several times throughout the story. When the father is dressing up Bevel before Bevel leaves with Mrs.Connin, he doesn’t take care that Bevel’s arm isn’t in the sleeve of the coat and when Mrs.Connin points this out, he replies “ ‘Well then for Christ’s sake fix him,’ ” which is a sarcastic reply that shows he doesn’t care. Bevel’s mother also displays the same attitude towards her son. When he is leaving with Mrs.Connin, the mother doesn’t say anything or help fix Bevel up because she is sick in bed with a “hangover.” When the mother does talk to Bevel, she only does so to criticize Reverend Bevel and religion. The fact that Bevel steals, and that no one tells him not to steal also shows that the parents don’t take interest in their child’s life. This can also be seen when Bevel goes to bed without changing his clothes, because no one prepares him for bed, and when he wakes up, he eats the leftovers he finds lying around and drinks “some ginger ale left in a bottle.”   Bevel is a lonely child. His parents don’t look after him and no one cares for him. He is taken care of by babysitters, especially by the ones who take the children to their own houses instead of staying at the child’s house. When Mrs.Connin takes Bevel to the river, Bevel discovers that the “River of Blood” will take him to the Kingdom of Christ, and he will be able to leave his pain and sorrow in the river, and he is genuinely affected by this. The idea of laying his pain in some muddy water, and not having to return to the apartment leads Bevel to decide to go back to the river. Since his parents don’t look after Bevel, he is able to sneak out and visit the river once more, to baptize himself, this time without having to fool with preachers, until he finds the Kingdom of Christ.

                When Bevel dives into the river and realizes that he has to come back up for air, he believes that he was deceived, and that the Kingdom of Christ does not exist and that the people at the healing were joking with him earlier. This devastates and infuriates him, since he thinks that he came all the way to the river for nothing and that he won’t be saved from his life, and Bevel yearns for salvation; he desperately wants to be saved from his life at the apartment with parents who don’t love him. While he thinks about all of these things, he forgets to think about where he is stepping and is taken to the part of the river from where there is no return. At this moment, he sees Mr.Paradise, who had followed Bevel to the river when he saw him walk by the gas station, perhaps because he was worried when he saw Bevel by himself. Yet, Mr. Paradise could have actually known that Bevel would try to find the Kingdom of Christ, since he himself went through the same feelings as Bevel, and wants to be saved, because he has cancer and can’t be cured. Mr. Paradise, however, misinterprets Christianity and God, expects real miracles to be performed, and is an animal in the sense that he will never understand religion. This is why Mr.Paradise doesn’t see that Bevel finally finds salvation when he drowns himself.

                In this story, Flannery O’Connor describes what happens to a child who lives without love of spirituality. The need of love and something greater to believe in is demonstrated though Bevel’s behavior. 

“When someone sees the same people every day, as had happened with him at the seminary, they wind up becoming a part of that person's life. And then they want the person to change. If someone isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.” 

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist


People can't help but meddle in the life of others. It's so easy to point out the mistakes others make, and tell them how to live their lives, while deciding what to do with your own is so difficult. Maybe people meddle because they want someone to tell them how to live their life, but even when people are offered advice, most of the time, they don't take it.


Seeing others mess up can be sad, but messing up yourself is worse. Asking a person to change is much more simple than trying to change yourself, because if the other person doesn't change, you'll get mad then it will be over. When you don't change, you'll be letting yourself down, and moving on won't be as easy, and somehow you'll find a way to blame it on others, since that's what people do. The best thing to do  is to live for yourself, and not for others. Your life should not revolve around pleasing other people, or the lives of other people, and then by following the omens and listening to heart, the universe can help you find your treasure.

Characterizations

My name's John Wesley.
Imma boy scout.
I wheeled General Sash onstage, for Aunt Sally's graduation.
I did what I was told to do.
I deserve a bottle o'coke.

My name is Sally Poker Sash.
I am a decent teacher.
I spent the last 20 summers learning teaching methods I'll never use.
I prayed every night for my grandfather to live till I graduate.
See him! You upstarts, see him! See how he stands!

I'm General Sash.
I'm a hunndreddddd anddd fooouuurrr!
I was at the preemy with all the beautiful guls.
I was sittin on stage but my mind was at the hole in my head.
And the black procession was comin, the were comin fast!

Heaven lies about us in our infancy.

In his poem Ode Intimations of Immortality, William Wordsworth states that as years pass, people forget where they come from, which according to him is the "celestial light," get swept into the pleasures handed to them, and loose their youth. With the line "The things which I have seen I now can see no more." William Wordsworth says that once you lose your youth, nothing will be the way it was before. He further explains this by saying that youth is the only passage way to the celestial light, and you can only remember the celestial life, when you are an infant.

When you think about children, you will find this to be quite true. Children are pure, naive, energetic and curious. For them, nothing is impossible, and they are full with optimism. Children are free, and they feel glorious. They can dream, live without a single worry, and be happy, but not forever, because they are forced to grow up. As people grow up, they explore the world, and actually understand the things going on around them, and nothing is as simple as it was before, when small toys and ice cream made them happy. As you grow up, you forget about your life in the celestial light. "Business, love, or strife" will take away all your attention, and you will learn to always ask for bigger and better things, to want the things you don't have, and life will never be pure again.

This can also be seen in Joseph Conrad's story, Youth. Marlow, a middle aged sailor looks back on his journey to the East on an old ship called Judea. Marlow describes the day he joined the ship, which had the motto "Do or Die," as one of the happiest days of his life. The ship goes through a series of unfortunate events, like getting hit by a steamer and the cargo spontaneously combusting, and the journey is delayed several times. However, none of this affects Marlow's spirit at all, since he his young, for him, everyday is a new adventure, and the world continues to amaze him. When Marlow looks back at his attitude, all that he can say his that he was so stupid, because he has grown up, life has changed him, and he is not young anymore, he is far away from the celestial light, and will never know heaven.

the wind whistles,
the waves whip at the aging wooden vessel.
the smell of salt hangs in the air,
the white foam conceals the blue.

the mast towers,
the faded paint peels off the weathered wood.
the bleached canvas of the sail droops
and below stands the man.

the young man gazes at the endless sea.
the grey skies can't dishearten him
for what he sees are countless opportunities,
adventure, hope, and liberty,
and for him, life is infinite.

Comparing Two Texts From The Tempest and The Woman Warrior

             The theme of these two texts, one from Act 1, Scene 2 of The Tempest by William Shakespeare, and the other from the first chapter, No Name Woman, of The Woman Warrior by Maxine Kingston, is the love a parent has for their child, although the texts approach this topic in different ways. In addition to this, the texts differ in many aspects including style and the time period they were written in, yet they both manage to successfully convey the emotions the authors were trying to convey.

                The text from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest is a scene of a conversation between Caliban, Prospero, and Miranda. Caliban is seen cursing Prospero, and regretting that he was kind to him and helped him when he got onto the island. Prospero responds by saying that he treated Caliban very well, better than what he deserved, and reveals that Caliban tried to rape his daughter, Miranda. Miranda states that Caliban was from then on kept prisoner in the cave, “deservedly.” Caliban was Prospero’s slave, and he was useful to Prospero, but in order to protect his daughter, he confines Caliban to the cave, eliminating the danger.

                In the text from The Woman Warrior, we see the no-name aunt giving birth to her baby. As a part of Chinese tradition, the aunt gives birth in the pigsty, in order to protect the child from the ghosts that want to take the baby. However, the protection of its mother is not enough for the illegitimate child to survive. With no family, no descent line, the baby will live like a ghost, with no purpose in life. The aunt jumps into the family well, taking the baby along with her, an act done out of love for the child, trying to protect the baby from growing up all alone with nothing to live for. The no-name aunt, instead of eliminating the danger like Prospero, tries to run away from the danger, and even if that means killing the baby along with herself, it shows that she tries to protect her child.

                Although similar in theme, these two texts are quite different in style. While The Tempest is a play, written as a script, The Woman Warrior is a collection of memoirs, written in prose. This does not only affect the style of the texts but also the thoughts and emotions the authors try to communicate. As The Tempest is made up of dialogue between people, we get to see the same event from different points of views, and see what different characters have to say about the events taking place. For example, we can see that Caliban does not enjoy being Prospero’s slave and prisoner, but Miranda thinks Caliban got what he deserved and appreciates what her father has done to protect her. In The Woman Warrior, we only get to see one point of view, so we don’t know what the child or the family thinks about the no-name aunt killing herself, but we get to see the aunt’ thoughts, that she took the child with her when she was going to die because she loved it. However, the narrator is retelling stories she heard from her mother, and as she imagines things about what might have happened, it is hard to know how reliable the story is.

                Another big difference between these two texts is the language used. William Shakespeare uses older words compared to those in The Woman Warrior, and sometimes shortens the words, like “o’th’ island,” to be able stick to the iambic pentameter. The language used by Maxine Kingston is simpler, and easier to understand. In addition to this, Maxine Kingston uses less varied punctuation marks compared to William Shakespeare. While exclamation marks and apostrophes can be seen in The Tempest, only periods and commas with one question mark and one dash are seen in The Woman Warrior. The length of the sentences in The Tempest also varies more than those in The Woman Warrior. The text from The Tempest consists of some short sentences like “I must eat my dinner” and some longer sentences like “ I have used thee, filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged thee in mine own cell till thou didst seek to violate the honor of my child,” while the sentences in The Woman Warrior are made up of approximately twenty words.

                The tone of the writing is also something that is different in these texts, and it affects the ideas the authors try to communicate. In The Tempest, the characters speak with anger and regret, and an image of three people arguing comes to mind. This makes the reader think about if Prospero was really doing the right thing or not. On the other hand, The Woman Warrior has a calm and melancholic tone, like a story, which helps the reader understand why the aunt did what she did. The mood of The Woman Warrior is also more light-hearted, with images of “a young calf, a piglet, a little dog” compared to the gloomy mood of The Tempest, with images of “toads, beetles, bats.”

                The Tempest and The Woman Warrior are very different when compared in style, tone, mood, images, language and other similar things. However, both of them manage to convey the idea that parents always do their best to protect their children, even if they do this in different ways.

Sure God created man before woman.  But then you always make a rough draft before the final masterpiece.  ~Author Unknown

Antonio and His Sword

3 inches of shimmering steel,
Obedient, malignant and lethal.
A swish of my arm,
One stroke only,
Will end my troubles.

Trapped in Concrete

The young child, nose pressed on the window,
watches the ice cream van come down the muddy road.
A large, dusty book lies by him, untouched,
and the TV buzzes in the background.
The boy stares as outside the sky-scraping building
the kid with the sky blue hat reaches to grab the chocolate chip cone.

Reapers

Scary men with the expression of evil on their faces,
are sharpening knives. I see them place the bodies
in their old truck as a thing that's done,
and start their silent escape one by one.

The men drive a truck through the desert,
and there a young child, startled, spluttering bleeds,
his life close to non-existence. I see the men,
blood-stained, continue cutting bodies and laughing.

Retrospective

I didn't really do anything during the holiday. I probably should of started studying for the final exams, but my holiday wasn't productive. My mother took me to Cepa once, so we could follow around my mother, and we went to my grandmothers house twice. My grandmother lives on her own, so my dad would like us to stop by every week, but we don't always have the time. Like all grandparents in Turkey, my grandmother cooks more food than we can possibly eat, and tries to get us to finish it all. We spend a few hours there, we talk and watch movies sometimes.

Other than this, I finished the book we were supposed to read for Turkish class, Yaban by Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoglu. I spent the rest of the holiday sleeping and sitting around and doing nothing. However, I did write my essay for English class and finished part of my Physics homework.