“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”
-Henry Miller
As a Senior English major, I've studied my fair share of literature from different places and time periods, all portraying characters with their own beliefs, customs, rituals, and attitudes. From Edna Pontellier's sexual freedom in "The Awakening" to Okwonko's resistance to change in "Things Fall Apart" to the Buendia family's magical reality in "One Hundred Years of Solitude," I've spent days - even years - discussing and reflecting with my peers and professors on these characters, wondering what makes them relatable, what makes them interesting, and what makes them complicated.
This intrigue is what led me here: to the study of the hillbilly as it has evolved - yet in many ways stayed exactly the same - throughout the twentieth century. What makes this character so repulsive to so many, yet so relatable to everyone else?
Throughout its long life in the media, the hillbilly has transformed into the redneck, the "white trash" symbol that so many identify with today. Many sitcoms have revolved around these characters, from the Clampett family in The Beverly Hillbillies to the Bundy family inMarried: With Children to the Conner's in Roseanne. It was this series that I chose to examine, having grown up with similar bratty siblings and seemingly disorganized parents.
I can't say I was surprised to find that my research indicated the same conclusions I already had, the conclusion that there is more to the hillbilly than the media lets us believe - and more to the working class Conner's.
All we need to do is delve beneath the surface.
-Henry Miller
As a Senior English major, I've studied my fair share of literature from different places and time periods, all portraying characters with their own beliefs, customs, rituals, and attitudes. From Edna Pontellier's sexual freedom in "The Awakening" to Okwonko's resistance to change in "Things Fall Apart" to the Buendia family's magical reality in "One Hundred Years of Solitude," I've spent days - even years - discussing and reflecting with my peers and professors on these characters, wondering what makes them relatable, what makes them interesting, and what makes them complicated.
This intrigue is what led me here: to the study of the hillbilly as it has evolved - yet in many ways stayed exactly the same - throughout the twentieth century. What makes this character so repulsive to so many, yet so relatable to everyone else?
Throughout its long life in the media, the hillbilly has transformed into the redneck, the "white trash" symbol that so many identify with today. Many sitcoms have revolved around these characters, from the Clampett family in The Beverly Hillbillies to the Bundy family inMarried: With Children to the Conner's in Roseanne. It was this series that I chose to examine, having grown up with similar bratty siblings and seemingly disorganized parents.
I can't say I was surprised to find that my research indicated the same conclusions I already had, the conclusion that there is more to the hillbilly than the media lets us believe - and more to the working class Conner's.
All we need to do is delve beneath the surface.