History has had a way of placing certain preconceptions onto women. We can’t be too sexual or too intelligent or too opinionated, but we should be sexy, smart, and educated. Society has told us that women are supposed to be pure and free from the tainted condition of the world. I think that Margaret Ripley Wolfe’s idea about southern women rang true for many years, but those ideas are changing. Women are becoming more comfortable with themselves; emotions, thoughts, ideals, and beliefs are changing to allow the southern woman to be free from previous constraints brought on by society and tradition. Reynolds Price seems to present the more current state of attitude of southern women. Over time, we’ve realized the power that we hold, whether we’re writers, doctors, mothers, teachers, etc. Ideas are morphing with the passage of time and I believe southern women are powerful forces. It is important to recognize that southern women shouldn’t be tied specifically to one characteristic or another. Women are complicated beings. Humans in general can be both good and bad, bold and shy, terrified and courageous. There isn’t one specific category that women fall into.
Idgie Threadgoode
We’ve seen it in many of the works we’ve read this semester, as well as those we’ve watched. The first thing that came to mind when I read Price’s statement was Idgie Threadgoode in Fried Green Tomatoes. From her first scene, she’s fighting back against her sister and mother. She’s a small, blonde girl in the beginning of the movie and that doesn’t change as the story progresses. Her stature is tiny, but her demeanor is anything but. Her brother’s attention and patience has a major affect on Idgie, but I don’t think he’s the only reason for her uncompromising personality. The scene in which she meets Frank Bennett demonstrates exactly how bold she is. Frank looks at Idgie and says, “I must say, you are looking mighty fine today,” Idgie responds, “Are you a politician or does lying just run in your family?” I think this is where we really see who Idgie is as a woman; she doesn’t swoon at the sight of a handsome gentleman, rather she immediately recognizes how scummy he is and wastes no time in telling him to his face.
Idgie Threadgoode isn’t afraid of disrupting male ideals of how women should act and react. Her avoidance of Grady Kilgore’s wanting displays her blatant lack of interest in men, which was not popular in the time period this story takes place. Women were supposed to court, fall in love, and get married. The scene shows Idgie, small in stature, but large in opinion, staring up at Grady, and him gazing down at her. He tells her, “You are absolutely, unconditionally, positively the most stubborn person I’ve ever known in my life!” Her refusing him goes directly against Margaret Ripley Wolfe’s statements of women being chained to a pedestal and demonstrates the “mack truck” idea that Reynolds Price offers. While the movie seems to give hints that Idgie is homosexual, we don’t get any obvious signs, but I think it could be argued that she wasn’t interested in men. Idgie might not be as big as the men in the movie, she might not be as feared or respected, but she is unafraid to fight back or voice her thoughts.
In the courthouse scene, we see Idgie is put on the stand to answer questions about the disappearance of Frank Bennett. Although she remains calm and collected for most of the interrogation, she doesn’t find it hard to call the prosecutor out when he steps over the line. In a world that didn’t respect people of color or women, Idgie Threadgoode makes it her mission to stay true to herself and those that she loves. She’s a protector.
Idgie fights back against popular opinions of the time by being a friend to the social outcast Smokey Lonesome. Even though people see him as a drunk and a fool, she takes the time to look at him. Idgie doesn’t buy into the idea that people of color are below whites. One of her bestfriends is Big George, who comforts her when her brother dies and sticks by her side when Frank Bennet shows up in Whistle Stop. Idgie is loyal and unafraid to stand by those who society has deemed unworthy.
Celie Johnson
While I thoroughly enjoyed Fried Green Tomatoes, I think The Color Purple, hit harder for me. Watching Celie Johnson go through hell as a child, being raped by her father, then giving birth to two children that she didn’t get to keep, then being married to a cynical, miserable excuse for a husband, gave her personage that much more triumph. She starts the movie as a child and is soon married to Albert, who is like most men of the time and doesn’t think women are good for much more than cooking, cleaning, and making babies. As the story goes on, Celie proves to be a good homemaker. She keeps the place clean and looks after the children, but she’s still quiet, awkward, and uncomfortable within her own skin, which comes from years of being told how ugly and worthless she is. While I don’t think she’s held to a pedestal in the same way that Margaret Ripley Wolfe would say, she definitely is made to feel useless and unwanted.
It isn’t until Celie meets Shug Avery that she starts to look at herself differently when she gazes into a mirror. Although their relationship starts off with Shug calling her ugly, it soon morphs into a loving friendship (and even a budding romance). This movie also deals with lesbian feelings. Even though it was released in 1985, director Steven Spielburg still pulled some of those traits from the original novel by Alice Walker. Themes like these weren’t explored as much during this time in history the way they could be today.
Celie’s character experiences many changes by the end of the movie. She goes from barely making eye contact in the beginning of the movie to declaring Albert’s life to be a pile of misery. As she holds a knife to his neck at the dinner table, she says, “Until you do right by me, everything you think about is gonna crumble.” She doesn’t end up cutting him; instead she walks away while he yells, “Who you think you is? You can’t curse nobody. Look at you. You’re black, you’re poor, you’re ugly, you’re a woman. You’re nothing at all.” His voice gets progressively louder as he talks as if what he’s saying can’t even be heard by himself. Albert is realizing he has no power over Celie and he cannot stand it. It’s obvious that he’s scared; he doesn’t know if she has the ability to curse him, but he is clearly scared of her potential. Albert knows he’s guilty and is reluctantly about to face the consequences. As she’s slowly pulled out of the room by Shug, Celie quietly declares again, “Until you do right by me, everything you do is gonna fail.”
Celie has finally realized the power she holds; she is no longer shackled to the metaphorical pedestal, but has regained confidence in herself and her power as a woman. In other words, Celie Johnson is a mack truck.
Evelyn Couch
Fannie Flagg seems to be hinting at something rather important throughout the movie. We watch as Evelyn tries time after time to get her husband more interested in her. She wants to save their marriage and ignite the fire that was once (maybe) there. She doesn’t have a job so her time is spent keeping the house clean, cooking for her husband, and going to classes and reading books on how to save her marriage. There is a scene where Evelyn is attending a sexual understanding class at someone’s house. The first thing the women are tasked with is to take a handheld mirror and look at their genitalia. She can’t do it; she can’t even look at her own vagina.
After listening to Ninny’s stories about Idgie and Ruth and Tawanda, she seems to awaken something inside herself that gives her confidence and comfort within herself. She stops reading marriage books and going to sexual understanding classes, and begins to look at herself a little differently. She realizes that she’s worthy of love, happiness, and confidence. She gets a job and joins a gym. One of the best lines comes after her decision to accept herself. She’s at the nursing home, visiting with Ninny and telling her about the girl’s car that she hit over and over again. She says, “ I never get mad, Miss Threadgoode, never, the way I was raised, it was bad manners. Well, I got mad, and it felt great. I felt like I could just beat the shit out of all those punks! Excuse my language. And then when I finish with all those punks, I’ll take on all the wife beaters like Frank Bennett, machine gun their genitals, (imitates machine gun) eh-he-he-he-he-he!” She starts referring to her alter ego as Towanda (like Idgie does) and says, “Towanda will go on a rampage, I’ll slip some tiny bombs into Penthouse and Playboys so they explode when you open them. I’ll ban all fashion models who weigh under one-hundred-thirty pounds! And I’ll give half the military budget to the people over sixty five and declare wrinkles sexually desirable.” Evelyn is beginning to recognize the mack truck inside of her. She’s motivated, determined, and willing to do whatever needs to be done to ensure her happiness.
I think that southern women (and also women in general) have been portrayed as being either a firecracker or angelic. We can’t be both feminine and forceful through the eyes of men and society, but that is changing. Women are noticing the difference in the treatment they receive over their male counterparts and it is causing an uproar.
For women writers, there has been a shift in the way we write about our experiences and what we want to say about the world. We no longer feel chained to higher ground, rather we accept the complexities that make up our individual identities. We can be obstinate, quiet, dogmatic, and compromising.
Both the quote by Wolfe and Price are representations of what women are and have experienced, but it is important to recognize the versatility of the female mind, body, and spirit.
Works Cited
Fried Green Tomatoes. Directed by Jon Avnet, Universal Pictures, 1991.
The Color Purple. Directed by Steven Spielburg, Warner Bros., Amblin Entertainment, 1985.
A.B. Lee Writes 