Dec 31, 2009
Bastard Out of Carolina | Bastard Out of Carolina
At a glance:
- Author: Dorothy Allison
- First Published: 1992
- Type of Plot: Domestic realism
- Time of Work: The 1950’s and 1960’s
- Setting: Greenville County, South Carolina
- Principal Characters: Ruth Anne (Bone) Boatwright, Anney Boatwright Parsons Waddell, Reese Parsons, Glen Waddell, Granny Boatwright, Raylene Boatwright, Earle (Black Earle) Boatwright
- Genres: Long fiction, Bildungsroman, Domestic realism, Family literature
- Subjects: 1950’s, Girls, Maturation or coming of age, 1960’s, Family or family life, Mothers, Parents and children, Adolescence, Teenagers, Sex or sexuality, Abused persons, South or Southerners, Poverty or poor people, Child abuse, Rape, Violence, Illegitimacy, Stepfamily
- Locales: South (U.S.), Greenville County, SC
The Novel
Bastard Out of Carolina is the story of a young South Carolina girl’s childhood,
which, though blighted by illegitimacy, poverty, and her stepfather’s abuse, is made bearable
by the love of her extended family and even by the love of the mother who seemed to have abandoned
her.
The novel is organized chronologically, taking the narrator, Ruth Anne Boatwright, or
“Bone,” from birth to her thirteenth year. While her own experiences provide the
narrative thread for Bastard Out of Carolina, much of the book’s thematic content can
be found in...
[The entire page is 3178 words long]
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