Do you attach any significance to McCarthy’s choosing Mayflower, Florida as the setting for this novel?Explain; give 2 specific examples or details (with page references) from the novel to support your interpretation.
Yes, I believe she chose Mayflower, Florida for the setting for certain reasons. One such reason is that out of all of the families in Mayflower, the McMahons were one of just two families who were not from the South. The Pilgrims on the Mayflower (the boat) were in a strange land where they were different than the natives. The McMahons were also people in a different land with different people around them. An example of this is (Pg. 31) Mr. and Mrs. McMahon were not Baptists when they moved to Mayflower. When Mrs. McMahon was pregnant with Reesa and Mr. McMahon had the Polio, the town’s Baptist church helped. They cooked for them and they helped massage Mr. McMahon as he recovered. Another example is how they feel about African Americans and other minorities in the South (Pg. 179). When asked if he would join the KKK as an inside agent for the F.B.I., he said, “Me? A Klanner? Mr. Jameson, I’m a Yankee, for starters, and a man who speaks his mind pretty clearly. Ever if they’d have me, which they wouldn’t, I couldn’t do it. It would take me — what d’you think Luther --- three, maybe four, minutes to blow my cover?” This shows Warren’s position on other races is the opposite of the Klan’s. The McMahon family shares Warren’s position and the majority of the South shares the KKK’s position. This is a similar situation to the Pilgrims, because they believed things different than others in Europe. The name of their boat (Mayflower) relates directly to them, and their situation is like the McMahon’s in many ways. This is why I believe that the plot takes place in Mayflower, Florida.
When I first started reading the novel, I found it humorous that the main characters lived in the town of Mayflower, Florida. It immediately made me think about far back in time when the pilgrims and natives roamed the land of what is now the United States of America. I would have to agree with 15gormanj about how the McMahons were just like the pilgrims venturing out to the South, which was a place that they had never been to before. It was a new land for them, and the natives would be like the southerners, who were already accustomed to their life down South. In chapter five, on page 31, the book stated, “When my parents arrived in Mayflower, they were newlyweds, barely past twenty, and kept to themselves.” The area was pretty much a foreign territory for them. People there had kindly helped them throughout the beginning stages of their new lives together. A while after the Mayflower settled its ship onto the new lands, a war between the pilgrims and natives ignited. In the novel, the Klan shot at Reesa’s brother, Ren. Luckily they missed, but the bullet hit the tower and struck him in the head. Once Mr. McMahon found out, he was quite angry that they aimed at his own flesh and blood. In order to fight back, he swam across a dangerous lake to retrieve information about the K.K.K. for the F.B.I. to acknowledge it. In chapter thirty, on page 208, the last sentence read, “”This is different, Roo,” he tells me, calm as calm can be. “This is war.”” The Ku Klux Klan would be considered as the natives, while the McMahons would be the pilgrims. The K.K.K. had started the war, and now the McMahons fought back. Just like the natives and pilgrims did. I believe that Susan Carol McCarthy chose the setting of the story in Mayflower, Florida in a very clever manner.
I personally think that the author had chosen this particular place because of the history of Florida. Florida, as stated in the Prologue on page 1, was the “skinny flat-chested baby sister to the Belles.” They had a different aspect compared to Florida, which didn’t have the “figure” of its “older sisters.” Florida was a much more diverse; on Page 2 it says “It’s socially equivalent of a Molotov cocktail.” In this, it means that every kind of person came to subside here. Jews, blacks, whites, Catholics, Northerners, and Crackers we all mixed together in a cocktail type mix. The majority of them did not get along. She chose Mayflower to show how racist it began to get, starting with the Ku Klux Klan. They could see the different people around them, and decided to do something about it. They only wanted people who were like their “sister states” to be left. The town however, was chosen due to what Doto would be proud of. She would boast about how she her family over on the Mayflower. Herself, and Reesa’s parents being Yankees, probably helped influence the decision of choosing Mayflower.
I think that Susan Carol McCarthy chose Mayflower Florida because of its location. The Ku Klux Klan started doing its main bombings and terror attacks against the blacks in Florida. For example on page five the author starts talking about the murder of Marvin. If Susan chose a different location, the story and plot would not work out. I think she also chose Florida because that is where Susan grew up and she knows this state inside and out. Susan could describe what Florida was like and where everything is in a heartbeat because she is so familiar with it. Even though no one is quite sure why Florida was chosen as the location for this novel, I think that she chose the right location. Susan Carol McCarthy chose Florida because it is the area where the terror attacks originated.
I think that the town Mayflower was chosen because it’s name is symbolic. The Mc Mahon family is making their way into the community during a time of racial unrest, similar to the Pilgrims coming to America seeking their freedom. On page 14, Doto says, “we are strangers in a strange land. The Klan’s been around here for years…” which reminds me of the Native Americans living here long before the Pilgrims. The word Mayflower also makes me think of a new beginning, which in terms of the book would be the beginning of the end of racial prejudice. In the Revelations (pg 268) the book states, “Some people say the Klan disbanded because of Emmitt Casselton’s say-so. The old man got tired of it”. When the Klan disbanded that helped to do away with racial discrimination in Mayflower.
I think McCarthy chose the town of Mayflower, FL for a few reasons. A large one is that the people of the Mayflower (the ship) came to a new country where they didn't belong and decided to try and adapt. The McMahons did something similar. They were one of the few families in Mayflower that were not originally from the South. They felt out of touch sometimes with the culture in Mayflower, but they do their best to adapt. “Because our family seems so different from other people's in Mayflower, Daddy's always joked that we were strangers in a strange land.” (page 226). On page 31, the book talks about how Reesa's mom was expecting her first child, and her father got polio, a lot of the town went over to help. They treated the strangers with hospitality and everybody got along. In the book, there was unrest with the strangers because of the KKK. The Ku Klux Klan was a cultural thing in the south that the McMahons couldn't get used to, and so a fight broke out. The pilgrims did something similar when they arrived in America, they were happy, and everybody was treating them nicely, but then a fight broke out over land (more or less. They both could quite adapt to some of the things in their new homes, so fights started and things changed.
I think she chose the mayflower because she wanted to use the metaphor of the pilgrims and the McMahons. The McMahons were one of the two families that weren't originally from the south. The Pilgrims coming to Amercia on the Mayflower. They both needed to adapt to there new land. The McMahons had to gets used to the KKK, which was cultural in Florida. Or the entire south. The pilgrims, when they came, eventually had an argument over land. The McMahons had the same thing happen to them but in a different way. I also think she chose Mayflower because the KKK was a huge part of the city. Everyone that was in the courts, and government in Mayflower was also a part of the KKK. She wanted to pick a city that had a history. A history of things done by the KKK. I did some research on Mayflower, and it was just as bad as it seemed in the book.
There is much significance in Susan McCarthy’s choice of Mayflower, Florida as the setting for her book. There are many reasons as to why she may have chosen to have the story take place in Mayflower, Florida. One reason is that in the About the Author segment at the end of the book, page 282, it states that Susan McCarthy grew up in central Florida. Choosing a city that could have been located in Central Florida is very important to the plot of the book Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands, because of its inclusion of authentic people in history such as Thurgood Marshall. Thurgood Marshall had at that time not only been part of the NAACP but also had won his first case against the supreme court ten years earlier, a case that had originated in Florida. Having Thurgood Marshall visit Mayflower in the book would have made the book less realistic had the town not been in Florida. Another reason that Mayflower, Florida is a significant setting for her book is that many of the geographical accounts and details of her book are those authentic to towns in central Florida. On page 86, Reesa explains how a rattler race works to her new friend, Vaylie. Many species of rattlesnake, including the Eastern Rattle Snake, can be found in and around central Florida. Florida also has more sinkholes than any other state. A sinkhole plays a major part in the ending of the book on page 266, when Reesa’s father blows one up with dynamite. Sources: http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/guide/sinkholes.html http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/eastern-diamondback-rattlesnake/ http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/hill/marshall.htm
The ship, the Mayflower, carried Pilgrims from a land were they were persecuted for their religious beliefs, to a land of freedom. Just like the ship was on a journey to freedom, so was the town of Mayflower on a journey to freedom from the Ku Klux Klan. Other connections between the town and the ship include Warren McMahon's name. Warren was named for Richard Warren, whose company paid for the original Mayflower journey (p. 14), who was also known as "the Stranger." The McMahon's were considered strangers in Mayflower, Florida because they were from the North and because they were not Baptists. The journey of the town Mayflower ended when Emmett Casselton, the Exalted Cyclops of the KKK, disbanded the organization (p. 268) and when the McMahon family was fully accepted by the community. Reesa says on page 272, "We were no longer strangers in the strange land we called home." Just as the Mayflower carried her passengers to a new world, so did the town of Mayflower carry its citizens to a new world free from the oppression of the Ku Klux Klan.
I believe the Susan Carol McCarthy chose Mayflower Florida for all of its history with the Ku Klux Klan. On the top of page two of the prologue it is explained about how diverse Florida is: “Later on the scandalous orgy of profit-taking, her lesser parts were tendered, cheaply, placing liberal Northerners, orthodox Jews and Devout Catholics cheek-by-jowl amongst the grandchildren of Confederate aristocrats, raging crackers and dirt-poor black who sought work where ever they could.” Also on page two of the prologue she compares the diverseness of Florida to a cocktail, and explains that when the cocktail finally combusted, everyone felt the harshness of racism. As 15christensenc said, Florida is where the bombing of blacks mainly took place. As well as the bombings of Coral Gables Jewish Center and Hebrew schools. The KKK only wanted people like them, and their sounding states left. Mayflower Florida was a good choice for the setting of this book, because of the diverseness of people, therefore, the racism that took place there would easily be understood.
Actually I attach a lot of significance to the town of Mayflower, Florida. I see this significance for a few main reasons. The first of these reasons is concerning racism. Most people associate racism with the south, and for a reason. Since Florida is about as south as you can get while staying in the U.S., it is a good place for this story to be set. This can be proved on page 24 when Warren says, “The Sheriff, the Commissioner, the Opalakee Chief of Police, they’re all Klan members. Even goddamn Governor Fuller Warren is one of them”. Also in the end of the book (page 274) the author tells us that the inspiration for Marvin comes from Melvin Womack who was murdered in central Florida. It is only natural then that the setting of the book would be in a town in central Florida. Another reason I found is in the very back of the book, under the words About the Author, it tells us that the author was born and raised in central Florida. Who knows, her home town might even be Mayflower.
I feel she chose Mayflower because it's name shows a new beginning. The McMahon family need a new beginning just like the Pilgrims. They used that to show the reader that they did not belong, but they needed to adapt. The Pilgrims also had to do that when they came to the New World. Explained on page 31, The McMahon's were not Baptist's when they came to Mayflower, but Baptist associations still helped them. The other reason i believe Susan Carol McCarthy chose Mayflower is because it was where the roots of the K.K.K started. The K.K.K became a very big threat because of the city. She wanted to show the reader all the distress the people went through because of the Klan. In the Prologue, McCarthy compares diversity to a cocktail and when it combusts everyone feels the racism. (As Allie Knouse said.) McCarthy picked a great setting, no doubt about that! It shows the comparison between the Pilgrims and the McMahon family which was very clever on McCarthy's part. The setting explains the racial tension and violence than any other setting.
I agree with Sam Silver on this question. Like the Pilgrims, the Macmahons were also forced to adapt to a new culture, lifetstyle, and new beliefs. Like the pilgrims to they brought good things to like Warren helping to take down the Opalakee KKK, was kind of like the Pilgrims introducing guns to help with hunting, and what not. But the Macmahons like the Pilgrims, took some of the Indians, or people of Floridas ideas. The Pilgrims took and learned the idea of how to use fish to grow crops better, and Marvin taught Reesa how to pick oranges. Another agreement I find yet again with Sam Silver is that there were some bad exchanges also, like the Pilgrims and Indians fighting over land, compared to maybe Ren getting shot at with birdshot from a KKK member, or just the KKK killing Marvin would compare to a bad exchange between the two cultures meeting for the first time. Also a conclusion that I have made by myself of why Susan Mccarthy chose this setting for her novel was just for the obvious reason of that she needed a racist enviroment so that the readers could connect with her story more. So with these reasons this is why I think that Susan Mccarthy chose Mayflower, Florida as the setting for Lay that Trumpet in our hands
Yes, I believe she chose Mayflower, Florida for the setting for certain reasons. One such reason is that out of all of the families in Mayflower, the McMahons were one of just two families who were not from the South. The Pilgrims on the Mayflower (the boat) were in a strange land where they were different than the natives. The McMahons were also people in a different land with different people around them. An example of this is (Pg. 31) Mr. and Mrs. McMahon were not Baptists when they moved to Mayflower. When Mrs. McMahon was pregnant with Reesa and Mr. McMahon had the Polio, the town’s Baptist church helped. They cooked for them and they helped massage Mr. McMahon as he recovered. Another example is how they feel about African Americans and other minorities in the South (Pg. 179). When asked if he would join the KKK as an inside agent for the F.B.I., he said, “Me? A Klanner? Mr. Jameson, I’m a Yankee, for starters, and a man who speaks his mind pretty clearly. Ever if they’d have me, which they wouldn’t, I couldn’t do it. It would take me — what d’you think Luther --- three, maybe four, minutes to blow my cover?” This shows Warren’s position on other races is the opposite of the Klan’s. The McMahon family shares Warren’s position and the majority of the South shares the KKK’s position. This is a similar situation to the Pilgrims, because they believed things different than others in Europe. The name of their boat (Mayflower) relates directly to them, and their situation is like the McMahon’s in many ways. This is why I believe that the plot takes place in Mayflower, Florida.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started reading the novel, I found it humorous that the main characters lived in the town of Mayflower, Florida. It immediately made me think about far back in time when the pilgrims and natives roamed the land of what is now the United States of America. I would have to agree with 15gormanj about how the McMahons were just like the pilgrims venturing out to the South, which was a place that they had never been to before. It was a new land for them, and the natives would be like the southerners, who were already accustomed to their life down South. In chapter five, on page 31, the book stated, “When my parents arrived in Mayflower, they were newlyweds, barely past twenty, and kept to themselves.” The area was pretty much a foreign territory for them. People there had kindly helped them throughout the beginning stages of their new lives together. A while after the Mayflower settled its ship onto the new lands, a war between the pilgrims and natives ignited. In the novel, the Klan shot at Reesa’s brother, Ren. Luckily they missed, but the bullet hit the tower and struck him in the head. Once Mr. McMahon found out, he was quite angry that they aimed at his own flesh and blood. In order to fight back, he swam across a dangerous lake to retrieve information about the K.K.K. for the F.B.I. to acknowledge it. In chapter thirty, on page 208, the last sentence read, “”This is different, Roo,” he tells me, calm as calm can be. “This is war.”” The Ku Klux Klan would be considered as the natives, while the McMahons would be the pilgrims. The K.K.K. had started the war, and now the McMahons fought back. Just like the natives and pilgrims did. I believe that Susan Carol McCarthy chose the setting of the story in Mayflower, Florida in a very clever manner.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that the author had chosen this particular place because of the history of Florida. Florida, as stated in the Prologue on page 1, was the “skinny flat-chested baby sister to the Belles.” They had a different aspect compared to Florida, which didn’t have the “figure” of its “older sisters.” Florida was a much more diverse; on Page 2 it says “It’s socially equivalent of a Molotov cocktail.” In this, it means that every kind of person came to subside here. Jews, blacks, whites, Catholics, Northerners, and Crackers we all mixed together in a cocktail type mix. The majority of them did not get along. She chose Mayflower to show how racist it began to get, starting with the Ku Klux Klan. They could see the different people around them, and decided to do something about it. They only wanted people who were like their “sister states” to be left. The town however, was chosen due to what Doto would be proud of. She would boast about how she her family over on the Mayflower. Herself, and Reesa’s parents being Yankees, probably helped influence the decision of choosing Mayflower.
ReplyDeleteI think that Susan Carol McCarthy chose Mayflower Florida because of its location. The Ku Klux Klan started doing its main bombings and terror attacks against the blacks in Florida. For example on page five the author starts talking about the murder of Marvin. If Susan chose a different location, the story and plot would not work out. I think she also chose Florida because that is where Susan grew up and she knows this state inside and out. Susan could describe what Florida was like and where everything is in a heartbeat because she is so familiar with it. Even though no one is quite sure why Florida was chosen as the location for this novel, I think that she chose the right location. Susan Carol McCarthy chose Florida because it is the area where the terror attacks originated.
ReplyDeleteI think that the town Mayflower was chosen because it’s name is symbolic. The Mc Mahon family is making their way into the community during a time of racial unrest, similar to the Pilgrims coming to America seeking their freedom. On page 14, Doto says, “we are strangers in a strange land. The Klan’s been around here for years…” which reminds me of the Native Americans living here long before the Pilgrims. The word Mayflower also makes me think of a new beginning, which in terms of the book would be the beginning of the end of racial prejudice. In the Revelations (pg 268) the book states, “Some people say the Klan disbanded because of Emmitt Casselton’s say-so. The old man got tired of it”. When the Klan disbanded that helped to do away with racial discrimination in Mayflower.
ReplyDeleteI think McCarthy chose the town of Mayflower, FL for a few reasons. A large one is that the people of the Mayflower (the ship) came to a new country where they didn't belong and decided to try and adapt. The McMahons did something similar. They were one of the few families in Mayflower that were not originally from the South. They felt out of touch sometimes with the culture in Mayflower, but they do their best to adapt. “Because our family seems so different from other people's in Mayflower, Daddy's always joked that we were strangers in a strange land.” (page 226). On page 31, the book talks about how Reesa's mom was expecting her first child, and her father got polio, a lot of the town went over to help. They treated the strangers with hospitality and everybody got along. In the book, there was unrest with the strangers because of the KKK. The Ku Klux Klan was a cultural thing in the south that the McMahons couldn't get used to, and so a fight broke out. The pilgrims did something similar when they arrived in America, they were happy, and everybody was treating them nicely, but then a fight broke out over land (more or less. They both could quite adapt to some of the things in their new homes, so fights started and things changed.
ReplyDeleteI think she chose the mayflower because she wanted to use the metaphor of the pilgrims and the McMahons. The McMahons were one of the two families that weren't originally from the south. The Pilgrims coming to Amercia on the Mayflower. They both needed to adapt to there new land. The McMahons had to gets used to the KKK, which was cultural in Florida. Or the entire south. The pilgrims, when they came, eventually had an argument over land. The McMahons had the same thing happen to them but in a different way. I also think she chose Mayflower because the KKK was a huge part of the city. Everyone that was in the courts, and government in Mayflower was also a part of the KKK. She wanted to pick a city that had a history. A history of things done by the KKK. I did some research on Mayflower, and it was just as bad as it seemed in the book.
ReplyDeleteThere is much significance in Susan McCarthy’s choice of Mayflower, Florida as the setting for her book. There are many reasons as to why she may have chosen to have the story take place in Mayflower, Florida. One reason is that in the About the Author segment at the end of the book, page 282, it states that Susan McCarthy grew up in central Florida. Choosing a city that could have been located in Central Florida is very important to the plot of the book Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands, because of its inclusion of authentic people in history such as Thurgood Marshall. Thurgood Marshall had at that time not only been part of the NAACP but also had won his first case against the supreme court ten years earlier, a case that had originated in Florida. Having Thurgood Marshall visit Mayflower in the book would have made the book less realistic had the town not been in Florida. Another reason that Mayflower, Florida is a significant setting for her book is that many of the geographical accounts and details of her book are those authentic to towns in central Florida. On page 86, Reesa explains how a rattler race works to her new friend, Vaylie. Many species of rattlesnake, including the Eastern Rattle Snake, can be found in and around central Florida. Florida also has more sinkholes than any other state. A sinkhole plays a major part in the ending of the book on page 266, when Reesa’s father blows one up with dynamite.
ReplyDeleteSources:
http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/guide/sinkholes.html
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/eastern-diamondback-rattlesnake/
http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/hill/marshall.htm
The ship, the Mayflower, carried Pilgrims from a land were they were persecuted for their religious beliefs, to a land of freedom. Just like the ship was on a journey to freedom, so was the town of Mayflower on a journey to freedom from the Ku Klux Klan. Other connections between the town and the ship include Warren McMahon's name. Warren was named for Richard Warren, whose company paid for the original Mayflower journey (p. 14), who was also known as "the Stranger." The McMahon's were considered strangers in Mayflower, Florida because they were from the North and because they were not Baptists. The journey of the town Mayflower ended when Emmett Casselton, the Exalted Cyclops of the KKK, disbanded the organization (p. 268) and when the McMahon family was fully accepted by the community. Reesa says on page 272, "We were no longer strangers in the strange land we called home." Just as the Mayflower carried her passengers to a new world, so did the town of Mayflower carry its citizens to a new world free from the oppression of the Ku Klux Klan.
ReplyDeleteI believe the Susan Carol McCarthy chose Mayflower Florida for all of its history with the Ku Klux Klan. On the top of page two of the prologue it is explained about how diverse Florida is: “Later on the scandalous orgy of profit-taking, her lesser parts were tendered,
ReplyDeletecheaply, placing liberal Northerners, orthodox Jews and Devout Catholics cheek-by-jowl amongst the grandchildren of Confederate aristocrats, raging crackers and dirt-poor black who sought work where ever they could.” Also on page two of the prologue she compares the diverseness of Florida to a cocktail, and explains that when the cocktail finally combusted, everyone felt the harshness of racism. As 15christensenc said, Florida is where the bombing of blacks mainly took place. As well as the bombings of Coral Gables Jewish Center and Hebrew schools. The KKK only wanted people like them, and their
sounding states left. Mayflower Florida was a good choice for the setting of this book, because of the diverseness of people, therefore,
the racism that took place there would easily be understood.
Actually I attach a lot of significance to the town of Mayflower, Florida. I see this significance for a few main reasons. The first of these reasons is concerning racism. Most people associate racism with the south, and for a reason. Since Florida is about as south as you can get while staying in the U.S., it is a good place for this story to be set. This can be proved on page 24 when Warren says, “The Sheriff, the Commissioner, the Opalakee Chief of Police, they’re all Klan members. Even goddamn Governor Fuller Warren is one of them”. Also in the end of the book (page 274) the author tells us that the inspiration for Marvin comes from Melvin Womack who was murdered in central Florida. It is only natural then that the setting of the book would be in a town in central Florida. Another reason I found is in the very back of the book, under the words About the Author, it tells us that the author was born and raised in central Florida. Who knows, her home town might even be Mayflower.
ReplyDeleteI feel she chose Mayflower because it's name shows a new beginning. The McMahon family need a new beginning just like the Pilgrims. They used that to show the reader that they did not belong, but they needed to adapt. The Pilgrims also had to do that when they came to the New World. Explained on page 31, The McMahon's were not Baptist's when they came to Mayflower, but Baptist associations still helped them. The other reason i believe Susan Carol McCarthy chose Mayflower is because it was where the roots of the K.K.K started. The K.K.K became a very big threat because of the city. She wanted to show the reader all the distress the people went through because of the Klan. In the Prologue, McCarthy compares diversity to a cocktail and when it combusts everyone feels the racism. (As Allie Knouse said.) McCarthy picked a great setting, no doubt about that! It shows the comparison between the Pilgrims and the McMahon family which was very clever on McCarthy's part. The setting explains the racial tension and violence than any other setting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sam Silver on this question. Like the Pilgrims, the Macmahons were also forced to adapt to a new culture, lifetstyle, and new beliefs. Like the pilgrims to they brought good things to like Warren helping to take down the Opalakee KKK, was kind of like the Pilgrims introducing guns to help with hunting, and what not. But the Macmahons like the Pilgrims, took some of the Indians, or people of Floridas ideas. The Pilgrims took and learned the idea of how to use fish to grow crops better, and Marvin taught Reesa how to pick oranges. Another agreement I find yet again with Sam Silver is that there were some bad exchanges also, like the Pilgrims and Indians fighting over land, compared to maybe Ren getting shot at with birdshot from a KKK member, or just the KKK killing Marvin would compare to a bad exchange between the two cultures meeting for the first time. Also a conclusion that I have made by myself of why Susan Mccarthy chose this setting for her novel was just for the obvious reason of that she needed a racist enviroment so that the readers could connect with her story more. So with these reasons this is why I think that Susan Mccarthy chose Mayflower, Florida as the setting for Lay that Trumpet in our hands
ReplyDelete