During the past weeks, our class, Roots and Regions: Cultural Regionalism in American Life, has had the pleasure to not only dive into the culture of the South, but to experience it from firsthand testimonies and other sources of literature. We read the books Lookaway, Lookaway, by Wilton Barnhardt, Deep South by Paul Theroux, South and West by Joan Didion, and “Revelation” by Flannery O’Connor. Throughout the reading of Lookaway, Lookaway, we diagnosed each character and contrasted them to how a Northerner would act. This helped us in the next book to see the big picture because in reading Deep South, we were asked to identify themes of the South that were clear because of Theroux’s experiences. During the short reading of South and West …show more content…
Through examples and quotes it will be clear how racism is much more prevalent in the South than it is in the North. This theme was especially shown in the book Deep South by Theroux. Constantly referred to as the “N” word African Americans were still rejects post-civil rights movement. One even said that saying: “Poor is shorthand for black” (Theroux 21). However, the burden of being called another word for poor, is not the fault of the entire race. Another African American testified saying he felt rejected. As a high schooler, he was chased by a car full of white boys because they went to watch a fellow African American play in a predominantly white football game. He later expressed how he felt the environment of the south viewed blacks: “You know you’re in an environment where you’re not wanted, I’ll go to my grave remembering it” (Theroux 157). African Americans simply were not given a chance. Tony Horwitz describes the environment in the South in his book, Confederates in the Attic, as: ““Everywhere, it seemed, I had to explore two pasts and two presents; one white, one black, separate and unreconcilable. The past had poisoned the present and the present, in turn, now poisoned remembrance of things past” (Horwitz 208). African Americans were discriminated and looked down upon deemed not good enough for the smallest of jobs. For instance, white business owners would strictly sell their motels, gas stations, and convenient stores to Indians, in order to: “keep them out of the hands of blacks” (Theroux