A Woman's Perspective
Two background characters, Maybelle Mason and Lucy Garnet, add an interesting perspective to the role of women in Mayflower. In what way does each woman's tragedy affect your understanding of this town? Please choose either character and use specific examples and chapter references to validate your responses!
The tragedy of Maybelle Mason seems to fit in with the scheme of what the town is like. Maybelle Mason seemed to be a rude person when she worked at the post office. On the first page of chapter six the story reads, “Together, we duck through the heavy, half-glass door, hoping to avoid out postmistress’ evil eye.” Then on page 41 of chapter six, “Miss Maybelle stops, not having asked me if I’m interested or anything, but clearly expecting a reply. As if, in addition to the P.O., she’s the boss of the world.” How did she get to be so mean though? In chapter twelve, Marie and Vaylie both ventured in the attic to find newspaper clippings about the owner of the house named Lieutenant Richard Randall Swann. On the middle of page 90, a clipping they found said, “Lieutenant Richard Randall Swann, U.S. Army, Slain in Second Battle at River Marne,” with the date of September 28, 1918 on it. Towards the bottom of page 90 to the top of page 91, another clipping dated on September 15, 1918 had said, “In honor of Miss Maybelle Mason, who will wed the highly decorated Lieutenant Richard Randall Swann on Sunday, October 15.th.” Miss Maybelle’s fiancé was killed for no reason, just like Marvin was. The town of Mayflower seemed to fit the tragedy of Maybelle. Whenever the Ku Klux Klan would kill someone or bomb a place, they would just be adding on another loss to Mayflower. With the Klan in town, it turned Mayflower into a depressing and nearly vulnerable area with a dash of hope in between.
ReplyDeleteThe misfortune of Lucy Garnet gives readers of the novel a real understanding of Mayflower. Armetta, one of the Garnets' employees, quits her job after Marvin's murder, due to the fact that Reed Garnett is a member of the Klan. In chapter nine (pg 63-65), you see how desperate Lucy Garnet is to get Armetta back. Lucy states, "What can I say, what can I do to get you to come back to us?". May Carol, Lucy's daughter, really missed Armetta after she left, and Lucy just wanted to get Armetta back to help her daughter. Lucy pleads with Armetta, telling her that Reed is just a member in a card-playing club, instead of the murderous Klan. Even though Lucy needs Armetta back, she's still willing to lie to Armetta just to protect her husband's identity. This part in the book made me think a lot. If you desperately want something back in your life, wouldn't you tell the truth for that something to have more faith in you? Lucy Garnet made me realize that the town of Mayflower is full of women who need to protect their husbands' Klan membership, no matter what the consequences are.
ReplyDeleteLucy Garnet thought that she had lost something important to her because of her husband, but I think she lost Armetta because of her own actions. Armetta stopped working for the Garnet family because of what Mr. Garnet had done to Marvin. Lucy went to Armetta and begged her to come back and work for Lucy because May Carol could not sleep, she wouldn’t eat, and she was apathetic. Armetta asked one simple question, was Reed (Mr. Garnet) involved in killing Marvin? Lucy just simply lied to Armetta and said “You have to know that Reed had nothing to do with Marvin’s death.” on page sixty three. Reesa knew that she was lying so she said that she couldn’t work for them any longer. Lucy’s tragedy has affected my opinion of the town of Mayflower in a negative way. Now I wonder how many of those people that were talking in the book were lying about being in the Klan, a wife of a Klansman, or a child of a Klan member.
ReplyDeleteLucy Garnet fit perfectly into the scheme of Mayflower, Florida. Lucy Garnet is the wife of Reed Garnet who is in the local Klan and played a part in Marvin’s death. She also has a daughter named May Carol. After the tragedy of Marvin’s death, Armetta, his mother, stops her work at the Garnet household. During Chapter 7, on page 48 through 49, Luther visits the McMahon household in order to find a temporary job for Armetta. She later, we learn in Chapter 9 on page 59, begins to work in a showroom, cleaning shelves and such. As the day progresses, Lucy arrives to persuade Armetta to come back and care for her daughter. This occurs on page 63 and continues until page 65 during Chapter 9. Like 15humphreyg stated, Lucy really is just trying to cover her husband’s identity. I think of it as a protective instinct; I don’t think she would ever want her daughter or her husband to be hurt or ratted out. If I was in this situation, I don’t know if I would have had the courage to approach Armetta while having a husband involved with The Klan, knowing that he was part of something destructive. Why didn’t Lucy pause for a minute and think of poor Armetta’s position? Mayflower is a dangerous town existing in dangerous times. The wives of Klan members don’t want their families, mostly husbands, to get hurt or arrested, even though with our modern-time views we know there should have been repercussions to the Klan’s’ actions and situations.
ReplyDeleteLucy’s character adds to the perspective of the town of Mayflower because she represents the weakness of the white women. On pages 227-228 Joan Ellen says that Lucy will never be able to hold her head up in this town again if Mr. Reed winds up in jail. Lucy will be ashamed if this happens so she gives up; she loses all hope. Lucy solves her problem with death. “When her knock on the door went unanswered, she let herself in and found, to her horror, that Miz Lucy, aided by the bourbon and her barbiturates, had rested herself into peace and quiet of the most permanent kind.” (pg231) Armetta deals with Marvin’s death by just moving on. This helps the reader understand the town because it shows that even though the white women think they are stronger, the black women are actually more independent.
ReplyDeleteLucy Garnet adds an interesting background flavor to the novel. Lucy Garnet’s situation is, indeed, a terrible one. In chapter 33 on page 231, she had decided to end it all with bourbon and barbiturates. She had been struggling with the stress of her husband’s Ku Klux Klan involvement all over the news, and raising her daughter without Armetta to help them in to get over the pain. In chapter 25 on page 175, Luther states, “You know, Armetta could tell you some tales ‘bout Miz Lucy… that woman is high strung!” She wanted to portray the perfect family, despite so many issues she had going on. With Armetta gone, May Carol devastated, and her husband’s involvement in the KKK causing it, was racking her brain day and night. The wives of the KKK members had tried so hard to draw no attention to themselves in any manner, they were married southern belles and nothing more. Lucy gave us a brief, but deeper, outlook into the lives of a KKK member’s family. May Carol even believed her father was just out playing cards in his outfit. The wives were the stressed out individuals of the family. The children could have it all sugarcoated to them, the husbands had no need to care, and the wives had to keep everything looking normal, no matter what it took. After her world came shattering down with the release of her husband’s involvement, she had probably felt that everything she had tried to protect her family from was happening. All together, she decided she couldn’t take anymore and ended her life.
ReplyDeleteMaybelle Mason adds an interesting perspective to the role of women in mayflower. She is not what she seems to be. In chapter twelve at the beginning Reesa and Vaylie think she is "a witch." Reesa complains about how Maybelle has an "ornery old attitude." When, in reality, she is actually heartbroken. Reesa and Vaylie find that out later when they look through newspaper clippings. She lost someone she loved like Armetta. While Armetta moved on, Maybelle Mason kept all her emotion inside and let it impact her daily life. Which shows, that although the women of Mayflower appear to be alike, there's more to it than what it seems.
ReplyDeleteTragedy in Mayflower started long before the Klan stirred things up in 1951. There was the tragedy of Miss Maybelle Mason. When we first meet Miss Maybelle it's on page 25, chapter 3: "the town postmistress and perpetual old biddy." All the comments about Miss Maybelle are negative until Reesa and Vaylie find the box with the newspaper clipping from 1918 about Miss Maybelle and Lieutenant Swann (chapter 12, p. 90-91). After reading about Miss Maybelle's horrible loss, Reesa changed her attitude toward Miss Maybelle. At the very end, when Reesa points out that the carving is still on the tree ("Revelations," p. 270), she's letting Miss Maybelle know that she knows what happened all those years ago and why Miss Maybelle acts the way she does. Miss Maybelle chose to carry her loss with her and keep her tragedy alive. The women of Mayflower are individuals, handling tragedy in the way that works best for them.
ReplyDeleteMaybelle Mason goes through a terrible tragedy that not many people know about. Most people, especially Reesa, think that Miss Maybelle is mad at the world for no reason at all. She never lets the kids sit on the benches before school and she is always so strict! However, when Reesa and Vaylie find out about the tragedy in Miss Maybelle's life, they start to act kinder towards her (p 90-92). Chapter 12 shows the mean version of Miss Maybelle, but it also shows why she is so mean, as said above. This affects my understanding of the town in many ways. First of all, it shows that not many people know the truth about everyone. For instance, not everyone knows about Miss Maybelle's tragedy and not many people no if the four Negroe boys really raped the white lady getting help. Also, it shows that maybe people don't really know what blacks have to go through. Everyone just assumes that they should be mean to blacks, because that is the way that they were raised. They don't try to find out the true story behind everything. Miss Maybelle's tragedy gave me a different understanding of Mayflower.
ReplyDeleteIn Mayflower, Maybelle Mason adds an interesting perspective to the role of a woman. She seems to be mad at the entire world. In chapter six, she stops Ressa and Ren demanding an answer on why they are not in school. (page 40) Miss Maybelle also sets Resse up on a play date with her niece’s daughter, without even asking her. But when Vaylie comes to town, they hit it off. And in the search through Reesa’s
ReplyDeleteattic, they find interesting details about Miss Maybelle.(chapter 12) They find in an old newspaper clippings, Lieutenant Richard
Randall Swann, U.S. Army, Slain in Second Battle at River Marne and Miss Maybelle Mason to Wed Local Hero. After looking at dates they realize that he died before they wed.(page 90 and 91) Which would explain why Miss Maybelle is so angry. All in all the tragedy of Miss Maybelle adds perspective to the role of women in Mayflower.
Maybelle Mason definitely is an exciting role of all the women in Mayflower. She is hiding her true personality under a mean, cranky and bossy shell. Starting in chapter 12 Reesa and Vaylie think she is beyond bitter, but we=hen they find out the secret she is hiding they start to understand. All their thoughts change when they come up upon some stray papers. Instead of Miss.Maybelle taking her Husband's death like Aremetta did, she keeps all her emotions tight and on the inside. Miss. Maybelle adds an interesting perspective on the Mayflower women. She shows they have character and emotion they just do not let it shine through their dark shell. As 15cramerg said, "Although all Mayflower women appear to be alike, there's always more than what it seems."
ReplyDeleteMiss Lucy Garnet gives a real perspective and flavor of what the white female population in the town of Mayflower is like. Lucy acts pathetic and desperate to get Armetta back to work in her family. On pages 63-65, Lucy walks into the showroom and talks to Armetta, asking her to come back and work for her because her daughter is suffering without her. She has to lie about her husband, Reed, just to protect his identity in the Klan. However, Armetta loved Marvin as her son, and she refused to step in the house of a Klan member after the Klan murdered Marvin. Armetta asks Lucy if Reed had anything to do with Marvin’s death. Lucy pleads to Armetta that her husband is a member of a card club, not the Klan that kills. She says that Reed did not have anything to do with Marvin’s death. Lucy is lying. She has to cover up about Reed not having anything to do with Marvin. Miss Lucy Garnet gives us a real perspective of what the white women are like in the town of Mayflower: selfish and desperate for safety.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dan Wilcko on his post I truly believe that Mrs.Garnet represents the weakness of the women of Mayflower. She is like the embodiment of weak dependent rich woman, who can't take charge and do a thing for themselves. I think that Mrs.Garnet starts to show how weak she is when Armetta leaves, she shows that she can not be a real mom. Instead of trying to raise her daughter herself, she spends her time complaining to Armetta in attempts to get her back as shown in pages 63-65. Another sign of her weak dependency is the suicide she commits after her husband is convicted of being a Klan member (page 231). Here I really think that she shows her true weakness. The idea of the shame, and her future financial situation hits her. I also think the suicide was selfish of her to though, because when she was doing it she was only thinking of how she would be affected, and not her daughter. They don't talk about it in the book, but the daughter must have been very emotionally tramuatized after losing her father, and two mother figures in a short period of time, at such a young age.
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