I really enjoyed reading Anne Porter's "The Old Order." I had thought that Chopin was breaking out through the use of her characters but Porter's writing was entirely centered on the strength of her female characters, Grandmother and Nannie. The only mention of male characters was in tones of disgust. In the comparison between the characters the female came out as the stronger gender while the men were portrayed as weak and lacking focus. Where all of our readings so far have focused on southern culture and the southern belle and southern men needing to protect women, Porter's Grandmother was filling the men's stereotypical role and taking care of and providing for the family. It was also interesting that Grandmother's best friend was a black woman and former slave that she had grown up with.
There was a lot of focus on this being post-Civil War and post-slavery. This in turn centered a lot of focus on the past. On pg. 10 almost the entire page is about how Grandmother is always reminiscing about the past and even goes so far as to relate the future to the past, hoping that things will come full circle and go back to the way they were. But both Grandmother and Nannie were well aware of the faults of the South and even wondered why they missed the past so much when "so much suffering and confusion could have been built up and maintain on such a foundation." (pg. 11) I thought this was interesting. It is understandable though, post-Civil War South underwent a great deal of change in a short period of time. Even just the end of slavery was difficult for everyone. The South had been entirely built on this foundation and whether right or wrong, whether you agreed with it or not, it was the way everyone was raised, the only thing anyone knew. With just the Emancipation it was completely erased. Even Nannie, although she was no longer a slave, was unsure what to do, "she had all her life obeyed the authority nearest to her." (pg. 11) It is hard to just one day completely change your way of life.
It was also interesting when Grandmother was explaining her youngest son's new wife. She was basically explaining women's changing roles in society. Porter really focused on women in this piece. But all the things Grandmother disapproved of in her new daughter-in-law like independence, working on the land, and having authority are all the traits that Grandmother herself is described as having. Maybe the difference is that life events forced Grandmother into these roles where it was her daughter-in-laws choice to undertake them. But I think Grandmother would have stood out in society just as much for running a farm and raising 11 children by herself.
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I also enjoyed reading Anne Porter's "The Old Order." I thought this was different from our other readings because the women were the main characters in the story, along with being in control. Like you said, the men were portrayed as the weak characters in the story. I was also surprised by the Grandmothers best friend being black. I found it sad that she was taken away from her parents because she was sold for twenty dollars to another family.
I agree that the Grandmother was contradicting in some ways. She looked down upon her sons wife because she was to independent and taking on to many "male" roles, but she raised her family, and she worked on the farm and built her home from the bottom up. i thought it was intresting that you said the difference was that the grandmother was forced into this role. I think she always wanted to do these things, society wouldnt allow her so when she got the chance she ran with it. I think she was critisizing her because even though the grandma was doing scandalous things for a girl, she always, no matter what would place her family first. But she couldnt tell the priorities of her sons wife, and so she insuted the odvious traits when in reality she was just questioning her priorities. i think this is due to the gap between generations, and confusion when the old south meets the new south.
I definitely agree with you Porter’s portrayal of Women is a strong and positive one defiantly compared with the past reading where it is all about the man and when the woman are in the story there are an after thought faded into the background of the story. I also think Grandmother was being a little hypocritical toward her daughter in law. The only difference between the two was that the Daughter-in-law was fighting for the rights of women and Grandmother was just doing things as men did. I loved the relationships in Porter’s stories especially between her and Nannie. At times I forgot Nannie was a slave because they seemed like equals.
I definitely agree that Chopin was ahead of her time, and I thought we wouldn't be reading anything like that. I mean, I didn't think that there were many authors, let alone female authors willing to be so racy in their writings.
I felt that alot of the female characters are hyporcritical. They defy the normal gender roles, but then follow some of them. The example you used of the Grandmother hating the son's wife because she wanted to go cattle hearding. She resenting her going out in the "wilderness" but she herself farmed and made business decisions. I feel like alot of the characters were forced with this issue of wanting to be independent and still trying to stay in with the norm of the time.
I really enjoyed reading this as well. I think that reading about a story that really discusses women as the strong role instead of the men really is nice to read because normally all we hear about is the man who has to take care of the female southern belle. So it's nice to read Porter's writings because of the differnt ways she potrays the women and the roles throughout her story.
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