Crapalachia Questions

1. From the review, I learned that Scott McClanahan comes from the working class in West Virginia. Crapalachia is about West Virginia and what kind of place it is. Crapalachia explains life for Scott McClanahan growing up in West Virginia and talks about family and friends. As a southern writer, McClanahan adds comedy to the memoir to not make it sound so sad.

2. Based on the book review, I expected Crapalachia to talk about the author's grandmother Ruby and Nathan since they were mentioned often in the review. My expectation was correct. The first chapter of the novel begins with the author talking about what age he stayed with Ruby and uncle Nathan.

3. A stereotype about the working class in Crapalachia is that they are thieves. This is shown when the author's dad accidentally snitches on his brother at Kroger who was involved with robbing it.

4. Stereotypes may be presented even when one is writing about their own culture because that individual may have changed. Although they may still possess some of those stereotypes, they see it from a different perspective.

5. From the first 20 pages of Crapalachia, I was intrigued. I read the pages in a southern accent which helped me keep interest. The dialogue between characters was easy to understand. Overall, the first 20 pages of the book was an easy read.

Sex Addiction in Mama

Throughout the whole book, Mildred suffers with her sexual desires. Not suffering in the sense where she isn’t getting her needs satisfied, but she’s struggling with it as an addiction. I believe Mildred is addicted to sex and affection. Mildred correlates sex and affection to one another. Sex gives her the affection she wants. Specifically, in chapter 16, this is shown. Mildred had drunk so much VO one night however, it was not helping her fall asleep. She decided to go for a swim but after a while that got boring. Mildred stood in front of her bathroom mirror and saw that she was aging and had wrinkles. This made her sad but then she heard a car door slam and it was her neighbor Jimmy, who was married to a woman Mildred never spoke to. Mildred knew Jimmy was married but had sexual intercourse with him. Afterwards, Mildred went to the bathroom to clean herself up and when she looked in the mirror the book says “now her face had some color to it and the wrinkles seemed to have disappeared” (McMillan 264). For Mildred, sex keeps her youthful in a sense. I see this as a sex addiction but also an addiction to married men. 

Unhealthy Relationships in Mama

When the book “Mama” by Terry McMillan begins, the first sentence is “Mildred hid the ax beneath the mattress of the cot in the dining room” (McMillan). Mildred had just killed her husband of ten years. He was abusive, a drunk, and a cheater. What I wanted to discuss is how these drunkard and abusive tendencies can be passed onto the children as they hear their mother get beaten and their father doing the beating. Mentally, I feel as though it takes a huge toll on the children, they are traumatized. I also feel like it teaches unhealthy lessons to the children. If the kids see that Mildred is getting beaten by their father but then continues to stay in the relationship, they may think it is okay for a man or woman to abuse them. Also, the children may feel fear, confusion, and worry. Another topic discussed besides abuse is infidelity. Crook, Mildred’s husband goes out drinking and cheats on Mildred. Mildred puts up with it for the sake of her kids. However, Mildred begins seeing Spook, a married man. This relationship between them reminded me of a movie I watched called “Adulterers” on Netflix. A married woman and a married man are having an affair with each other. Infidelity played a role not only for Crook, but Mildred and Spooky too. Overall, “Mama” so far has shown what unhealthy relationships look like and how the children know what is going on and try to speak up about it, but are silenced because they are just “children.”

Edison, New Jersey

“It passes time, gives us something to look forward to. I close my eyes and put my hand on the map.  So many towns, so many cities to choose from. Some places are sure bets but more than once I’ve gone with the long shot and been right. You can’t imagine how many times I’ve been right. Usually the name will come to me fast, the way the numbered balls pop out during the lottery drawings, but this time nothing comes: no magic, no nothing. It could be anywhere. I open my eyes and see that Wayne is still waiting. Edison, I say, pressing my thumb down. Edison, New Jersey” (Diaz 139-140).

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After reading “Edison, New Jersey” by Junot Diaz I still couldn’t figure out why he chose this place out of any other place. In the story, he mentions Lawrenceville, Sayreville, Perth Amboy, and Spotswood. I researched Edison, New Jersey and found out the history about it and that it was named after Thomas Edison, the man who invented the light bulb and the city he invented it in. To me this story showed the narrator’s progress from being in the dark with no direction in his life, stealing from customers and even the store, reminiscing of his girlfriend to having the light turned on and realizing that he needs to do change his life. Edison, New Jersey was the special place because the author Junot Diaz may have known the history of Edison, New Jersey, thus making it symbolic to the narrator’s life.

Class in America

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Class in America: Myths and Realities by Gregory Mantsios was an interesting read. Some of the things he wrote about, I already knew, however, it furthered my knowledge. In this reading, Mantsios discussed how Americans avoid talking about class so conflict or exploitation was not brought up. Americans are aware of class differences but it is a topic that could offend people. There are four myths discussed that Americans have about class. These myths being that America is a classless society, the United States is a middle class nation, everyone is getting richer, and everyone has an equal chance to succeed. As I continued reading and read the statistics, I realized that these myths were in fact wrong and that the people born into families doing well, succeed and commence higher. Although, we may want to believe that everyone is equal no matter the race, ethnicity, or economic status, everyone is not equal. In my opinion being apart of the lower class does not give individuals the chance to succeed. Instead, it groups the people of lower class into a category of being nothing more than janitors and maids and just making the cut of being above the poverty line. What stuck out the most to me was when Mantsios connected class to education. The higher the student’s social status, the higher the student will get higher grades and College Board’s survey revealed the same thing. This is because students who have parents with well-paying jobs can afford to get their child a tutor or afford online classes that help the student score higher while lower class families cannot. In sum, from this reading, the final outcome was that all Americans do not have the same equal opportunity to succeed in life based on class and income which many people do not like to discuss and turn their backs on.