Eudora welty interview full#

5 Harrison, вЂњRacial Content Espied,вЂќВ 106.ДЈThe article offers an official version of the events that unfolded over the weekend in Holden.

The Collected Stories, (New York: Harvest Brace & Company, 1982), 619. Dao reports that, at the time, вЂњ(t)he poor coverage was not a result of mistakes or oversights but a conscious strategy by the papersвЂ™ former managers вЂto play down the movementвЂ™ in hopes that it would wither away 2.вЂќ The fact that the вЂњpoor coverageвЂќ was вЂњa conscious strategyвЂќ suggests another process at work in The Sentinel article, that of вЂњa narrative construction of white identity,вЂќ as described by Suzan Harrison in вЂњRacial Content Espied.вЂќ Harrison argues that вЂњn its evident desire to depoliticize the violence of Ruby and DoveвЂ™s relationship, the article reveals the operation of politics in the official construction of events 3.вЂќ

Eudora welty interview full#

It tells about how a Kentucky daily decided to print on July 4, 2004, articles and a full page of unpublished photographs of peaceful sit-ins in Lexington which date back from the Civil Rights movement. Indeed, such an argument was brought up to the public eye in newspaper articles in the United States a few years ago, such as one published by The New York Times, вЂњ40 Years Later, Civil Rights Makes Page OneвЂќ by James Dao. One may consider that they embody the representation people had of their community and moreover of the way they chose to see the movement. The facts and quotes reported in The Sentinel reaffirm views that appear to be generally spread at the time among Southern whites. A newspaper article has the power to report on the lives of people at one time in history. вЂќ Beyond the tragedy depicted in the short story, it becomes clear that Welty is probably making a political point about the treatment of the movement by the press. In a 1978 interview with Tom Royals and John Little, Welty described the story as вЂњa reflection of society at the timeвЂќ: вЂњI wanted to show the complexity of it all 1. 3 Suzan Harrison, вЂњRacial Content Espied,вЂќ in Eudora Welty and Politics: Did the Writer Crusade?, ed (.)ДўвЂњThe DemonstratorsвЂќ remains one of Eudora WeltyвЂ™s rare stories (with вЂњWhere Is the Voice Coming From?вЂќ) written about a historical event as it was still unfolding: the Civil Rights movement.

2 James Dao, вЂњ40 years later, Civil Rights Makes Page One,вЂќ The New York Times, 13 July 2004: A1., h (.).

1 Tom Royals and John Little, вЂњA Conversation with Eudora Welty,вЂќ in Conversations with Eudora Welty (.).I will also consider how such conflicting narratives can be seen as a tool working to give readers a broader understanding of inner conflicts within a community, such as Holden, on the verge of change. I will look at how the newspaper narrative has a different story to tell and how it brings into perspective other narratives within the short story. What is interesting in my view, and which I would like to address here, is that by including a piece of news in this specific short story, Eudora Welty introduces a different narrative. It aims at being purely factual, as any good reporterвЂ™s job can be expected to be. A few days after the facts, as heвЂ™s having coffee, he reads The Sentinel, his weekly newspaper, where the article appears.

In the story, Richard Strickland, HoldenвЂ™s doctor, is asked to come and heal the girlвЂ™s wound. Ruby Gaddy, a maid, was stabbed with an ice pick as she was leaving a church gathering and apparently had the time to stab back her assailant, a man named Dove Collins. 1Towards the end of Eudora WeltyвЂ™s вЂњThe DemonstratorsвЂќ, the reader comes across a newspaper article which offers an account of the double murder that happened over the weekend in Holden, Mississippi, where the story takes place.