Emily Foster

English 1103

3/27/11

A. Walker

Stuck In Them Good Ole Southern Stereotypes

The South. Home to Hickville U.S.A., trailer trash, rednecks, racists,

conservatives, and a place where everyone grows up on a farm milking

cows. In contrast, others (people who are actually from the South)

consider it a place with long, beautiful summers, sweet tea, front

porches, Southern belles, beautiful, radiant beaches, sweet southern

hospitality, and tasty fried chicken. The South is associated with these

generalizations by today’s society. Many of the misconceptions are due

to the influence these stereotypes have in pop culture, most notably in

movies. Dukes of Hazzard, Sweet Home Alabama, Beverly Hillbillies,

Forrest Gump, and many more have influenced society’s views of the

South by instilling a stereotyped view.

Duane Carr, author of “A Question of Class: The Redneck Stereotype

in Southern Fiction”, and J.D. Murrah, blog author of the HubPage post

entitled, A Southern Primer: Truths, Untruths and Stereotypes, each

highlight Southern stereotypes in a distinct way. The preface and the

first section of Carr’s book focuses on the prominence of stereotypes in

literature and the reasoning behind the existence of stereotypes. In turn,

it describes how the uses of stereotypes in literature have thus

influenced our culture’s behaviors and the way our society perceives the

South.

In today’s society we are all put into stereotypes without even

knowing it. We are constantly being categorized based on the most

insignificant things. Carr tells us that according to psychologist Gordon

W. Allport, the function of a stereotype is to justify or rationalize our

acceptance or rejection of a particular group (Carr 2011 8). Historical

events are the foundation upon which the Southern stereotype is based.

These events include slavery, the Civil War, and the KKK. There is no

escaping the inevitable generalizations people make about one another,

whether true or not. These generalizations as they pertain to Southern

stereotypes vary from anyone who lives south of the Mason-Dixon line

is a redneck or everyone with a Southern accent was raised in a barn.

How did these stereotypes come about? Carr states, “stereotypes serve

‘as projective screens for our personal conflict’ and they continue to

exist because ‘they are socially supported, continually revived and

hammered in… by novels, short stories, newspaper items, movies, stage,

radio and television’”(Carr 2011 8).

Although each of the following stereotypes, such as there being

rednecks and racists in the south could be true of a southerner, they are

not limited to just one specific region or area. Geographical location can

influence a person’s values and beliefs, however a specific locale does

not limit one to certain activities or a particular lifestyle. There are

people all over the country with dozens of these different stereotypes.

Carr explains this best when he says “. . . the rural poor [aren’t] the only

ones subject to stereotyping”, As often as people make the assumption

that Southerners are racists, they will also associate people from out

west as being hippies, pot heads, and tree huggers.

In Murrah’s post, he strives to describe the views on how

Northerners look down on Southerners, as well as why people have

these stereotypes. However, I believe Murrah is unsuccessful in fully

developing his thoughts. He does not support his argument on why

people are unable to move past these stereotypes. I believe this is

because Murrah doesn’t relate the topic back to his main purpose of

why these stereotypes still exist in our society. His post instead focuses

primarily on how these stereotypes came about. Carr’s section, which is

based on substantial rhetorical knowledge, uses an expert (Gordon W.

Allport, psychologist) to develop his argumentative strategy. “The

Nature of the Stereotype”(Carr’s section), answers the main objectives

of Murrah’s article better than Murrah does. Although Carr doesn’t state

one precise answer, his eight pages of work reveal three different

possibilities to be the root of the cause. His most convincing argument

is, “One reason may be that the civil rights movement, . . . rarely

addressed issues surrounding disadvantaged whites (Carr 2011 8).”

Murrah explains how Southern stereotypes developed over a

period of time. He states, “Southern culture has been largely shaped by

its history…The Southern identity began during the days of colonial

settlement”(Murrah). He continues to prove Southern culture is shaped

by its history and that the stereotypes people have of Southerners are

based on the past and the media’s influence of a perceived reality,

instead of what the South truly is.

Although I do believe Murrah establishes the difference between

the stereotype and the truth, he doesn’t completely answer why people

can’t overcome these stereotypes. I also feel he successfully explains to

the public how the South isn’t what they think. He surprises them with

substantial information and states multiple facts vital to his argument.

The fact which surprised me the most says that “[a]ccording to a 2001

Harris poll, 40% of Southerners own a pistol in comparison with fewer

than one in seven for the northeast” (Murrah). By making reference to

the Harris poll, Murrah is supporting his facts with official

documentation. I also was intrigued to find “…that a majority of the

early presidents (up until Lincoln) came from the South” (Murrah). This

fact, taught in history classes across the nation, brings to light the

Southern contribution to governmental leadership. Murrah points out

that "[the] pay in the Confederate army was the same for blacks, whites

and hispanics." Murrah exemplifies statistics by stating "the first state to

elect a black governor was the Southern State of Virginia in 1989." With

these facts he proves there is less racism than is perceived.

Although there are obvious flaws in Murrah’s argument, he uses a

variety of literary devices to support his thesis. He uses examples, facts,

and statistics to give the reader hard evidence which supports his

claims. He also effectively utilizes appeal to value in a means to reach a

level of public resonance. Murrah also uses appeal to logic to help get

through to readers by saying “ Although labeled as uneducated or

unenlightened, Southern writers and songwriters have been highly

influential on popular culture. Writers like William Falkner, Robert

Penn Warren, Flannery O’Conner and others have influenced writing.”

One of the areas that Murrah went wrong in his argument was by

making multiple hasty generalizations, such as, “In the minds of many

Northerners, the people of the South are lazy, violent, uneducated,

bigoted and uneducatable” (Murrah). Another instance in which he does

this when he says “Southerners tend to protect family members from

the law, and often take revenge when someone wrongs a family

member” (Murrah). By making a generalization about a rather large

region and group of people, this logical fallacy works against him in his

argument.

Our country has been able to overcome the Civil War, Integration,

9/11, World War I and II and so much more that it only seems logical

that we can make it past these prejudiced viewpoints that we have of

the North and the South, and the East and the West. If we can make it

through all of that, then shouldn’t we be able to move past this? All it

takes is thinking about others feelings and your own before you speak.

Can you stop to think before you act?

.

Works Cited

Hillier, Jim, and Alastair Phillips. 100 Film Noirs. London: Palgrave Macillan on

Behalf of the BFI, 2009. Print.

Murrah, J. D. "A Southern Primer:Truths, Untruths and

Stereotypes." HubPages. Web. 22 Mar. 2011.

<http://hubpages.com/hub/A-Southern-PrimerTruths--Untruths-adn-

Stereotypes>.

Dear Mr. Mullah,

I wanted to write to you because I read your article titled, A

Southern Primer: Truths, Untruths and Stereotypes, on your HubPage and

completely agree with you in regards to the stereotypes given to

Southerners. I’m a born and raised Southern girl and am proud of it. I

had never experienced any issues with me being from South Carolina up

until I came to college. I wasn’t used to people instantly treating me

differently just based on what state I would say I’m from. It was a whole

new experience and I just first of all wanted to thank you for writing this

because I think that it will help people from other places get a better

idea of what the South is actually about. That all Southerners aren’t

stupid and that we don’t all live on farms in the middle of nowhere. But I

didn’t just write to you just to tell you the things that I agree with you

on, because I know that wouldn’t be an interesting letter in the least, so I

was hoping to point out where your argument was flawed in places.

Although I completely agree with you, I feel the need to express to you

where I could just see some readers being able to argue with you and

attack you for some of the hasty generalizations that you made, not only

about Northerners, but Southerners as well. Attacking a group of people,

especially your own, isn’t ever a good idea. I know that you probably

are already aware of all of these things; I just wanted to help you

strengthen your argument to the best of your ability. I hope that some of

this has helped you. Thank you.

-Respectfully,

Emily Foster

Dear Professor Walker,

I told myself I was NOT going to be a victim to the “Freshman

Fifteen”. I’d seen it happen to girls in the class above me, and told

myself, “There is no way that I am going to allow that to happen to me.”

Of course, as for any college student, that has not been the case. I too

found my clothes from last semester fitting a bit snugger than I once

remembered. The culprit being due to “period cravings” and

temptations of ice cream from the Café, I quickly realized that this

promise I made to myself wouldn’t be easy.

In the same manner, I have found this English class to be like the

“Freshman Fifteen”. The emotions I experienced over the course of

struggling to manage a healthy lifestyle my first year in college, are the

same I endured over the course of my semester in this class. I was

stressed, scared, excited, worried, and worst of all, at the point when the

tears break loose. With all of the stress, I found myself pulling far too

many all-nighters due to the anxiety.

The stress, worrying, and scared emotions all came at the same

time due to the moments it felt like things were closing in on me, as if

there was no escape. There were those times I believed I wouldn’t be

able to turn in my paper on time and have it measure up to your

standards. Over winter break, I was unable to button my favorite Joe’s

Jeans shorts. Although unable to button them, I was still able to fit into

them. I knew this meant I still had time to get myself to button them

before springtime. It was after limiting myself to a healthy meal plan

and having a weekly exercising schedule that I came to find myself

seeing results. My success in this class is the same way. After the death

of my grandmother and having to return home for her funeral, I had

fallen behind for the second paper and believed it to be better to turn in

on time and revise later. I was aware in that moment that I would be

able to recover from this set back and would have time to power

through. I knew I had time to turn things around and I decided to throw

myself into my work in this class one hundred and fifty percent from

that moment on. I knew that I couldn’t let things outside the classroom

bring my grade down.

As it has been important for me to manage a healthy lifestyle for

my physical well being, I believe that it was also necessary that I find the

“healthy lifestyle” for myself in regards to my work ethic in this class. I

believe I have found this “healthy lifestyle” for this class and have

become the best writer I can be. I have gained a better understanding of

how to illustrate 21st century literacy, critical thinking, and rhetorical

knowledge.

I demonstrated my understanding of rhetorical knowledge, and

my ability to persuade my audience through the use of specific support

through my claims. Ways in which I do this are through my ability to use

argumentative strategies, make “revelatory” claims, create a purpose,

target a specific audience, marshal my point, and create a tone. I

exemplified my ability to use imagery as an argumentative strategy in

my first essay entitled Corruption, when I said, “Turning their brains

into mass media absorbing sponges, soaking up everything they see on

television.”

It is also in my first essay that I create a “revelatory” moment for

the reader. I did this by saying,

“For the audience, mass media is a source of entertainment, for

journalists, media is a source of salary and social status and for

the owners of these media companies it’s a source of profit and

political influence.”

I am allowing the reader to see not just one definition of mass media,

but also the various meanings that it has for people of different career

or social standings. I also do this later on in the essay when I say,

“You may be wondering who is the mass media, who’s backstage

behind the curtain messing with our heads? And it really just

comes down to 5 major companies that have the power to take

control of any issue and make a 180 with it and turn it into a

positive. With five major companies that dominate the mass

media, what once started out as an industry, has now almost

completely become a monopoly of sorts. Among these five major

companies are Time Warner, VIACOM, Vivendi Universal, Walt

Disney, and News Corp, all of which also own broadcast networks,

movie studios, major entertainment theme parks, wireless

phones, video games softwares, music industry and even more.

Which means they have various ways to influence us, making their

influence even more powerful.”

I am explaining to the audience in this paragraph why it is that these

companies have so much control, and what they have control of.

In my first essay I created a purpose within the first paragraph by

stating:

“In today’s society, we are no longer able to have opinions of our

own that aren’t influenced by the media. We live in a society that

is dependent on the information from the media to keep us

moving in the right direction. A society that is easily influenced by

the media and what they tell us to believe.”

Here, I am making a clear statement as to what the main purpose of my

paper is. I also provide a clear purpose in my last paper, Stuck In Them

Good Ole Southern Stereotypes, when I said,

“Although each of the following stereotypes, such as there being

rednecks and racists in the south could be true of a southerner,

they are not limited to just one specific region or area.

Geographical location can influence a person’s values and beliefs,

however a specific locale does not limit one to certain activities or

a particular lifestyle.”

It is also in this essay that I make a point of contact with the audience,

by thinking radically as Chapter 12 in the textbook would describe it.

The textbook explains that “going to the root” is a means of thinking

radically saying, “[r]adical thinking might be seen as a process of finding

the root or essence.” (Mauk 424). I do this best in my last essay by

getting to the root of why it is that these stereotypes exist.

I also made connections to conventional thinking. Our textbook,

The Composition of Everyday Life tells us, “Conventional ideas are those

you are trying to transcend or challenge.”(Mauk 436 ). I believe that I

best demonstrate my proficiency in this area over the course of my last

essay. I start off by making a point to both viewpoints by saying,

“The South. Home to Hickville U.S.A., trailer trash, rednecks,

racists, conservatives, and a place where everyone grows up on a

farm milking cows. In contrast, others (people who are actually

from the South) consider it a place with long, beautiful summers,

sweet tea, front porches, Southern belles, beautiful, radiant

beaches, sweet southern hospitality, and tasty fried chicken. The

South is associated with these generalizations by today’s society . .

. These generalizations as they pertain to Southern stereotypes

vary from anyone who lives south of the Mason-Dixon line is a

redneck or everyone with a Southern accent was raised in a barn.”

And later by challenging the reader to see differently when I say,

“Our country has been able to overcome the Civil War,

Integration, 9/11, World War I and II and so much more that it

only seems logical that we can make it past these prejudiced

viewpoints that we have of the North and the South, and the East

and the West. If we can make it through all of that, then shouldn’t

we be able to move past this? All it takes is thinking about others

feelings and your own before you speak. Can you stop to think

before you act?”.

I am pushing the reader to make a conscious effort not to give in on

making those stereotypes next time they hear someone making a

derogatory comment about someone from a different geographical

location, or to not let it influence their judgment of that person.

Starting out I didn’t have the greatest understanding of the

rhetorical devices necessary to make a paper the best it could be. Nor

did I have an understanding of how to incorporate those rhetorical

devices, as well as communicate all of my various thoughts in one

organized paper. I had what Chapter 10 from the textbook describes as:

“Fear of Commitment [,which is that] some writers avoid

committing to a focused statement. They wander around without

attempting to establish a particular idea, without digging in to a

specific intellectual place. Such wandering, if it goes on for too

long, often leads to shallow ideas (saying lots of different things

about lots of different things).

I believe that I now have a greater understanding of how to use these

tools to better my writing. In my last essay, I believe that I demonstrated

commitment to my topic and made sure not to wander from the subject

at hand.

Now I’m not saying that I believe that I deserve an A+ in your class

by any means. Just looking at the grades that I have received on

Taskstream acknowledges that my grade in this class is not at A+ status.

Although, Taskstream grades are important and part of our final grade,

they are not the only grades given either. Ones grade for this class does

not merely come down to number grades given on a website, but how

one contributed to the class itself. Participating in class discussions and

group activities, being on time and present for class, as well as asking

questions all play a role in ones grade. As we both know, I do not have

the best grades on Taskstream, but I can honestly say that I have given

this class my all. I have participated in class discussions when others

didn’t, turned in all homework assignments necessary, arrived on time

every class that I have attended, as well utilized my time spent in the

classroom in a productive manner to not only ask questions but to

answer them as well.

But in learning it’s not just about what you give, but rather what

you take from it. I know that in the beginning I had difficulty resisting

the temptations I mentioned earlier, as I did in the beginning with trying

to find a healthy lifestyle, but I believe that I now posses the tools

necessary to guide me for the future. Through this class I have built the

foundation upon which will guide me in future educational and career

endeavors. I believe that I have found the balance I was seeking in both

my physical health and in my discipline in this English class. I feel

confident in my abilities to take what I have learned from you and apply

that knowledge in future classes and in my life beyond college. Just like

the button that is FINALLY fastening on my favorite Joe’s Jeans, I feel

that I have FINALLY found my “fit” in this English class. For both of

these reasons, I am a very happy rising sophomore who no longer will

have to worry about the “Freshman Fifteen”!

Works Cited:

Mauk, John, and John Metz. The Composition of Everyday Life: a Guide to

Writing. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2010. Print.