Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English Fall 12-12-2010 The Southern Gentleman and the Idea of Masculinity: Figures and Aspects of the Southern Beau in the Literary Tradition of the American South Emmeline Gros Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.edu/english_diss Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Gros, Emmeline, "The Southern Gentleman and the Idea of Masculinity: Figures and Aspects of the Southern Beau in the Literary Tradition of the American South." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2010.edu/english_diss/64 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact scholarworks@gsu. THE SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN AND THE IDEA OF MASCULINITY: FIGURES AND ASPECTS OF THE SOUTHERN BEAU IN THE LITERARY TRADITION OF THE AMERICAN SOUTH by EMMELINE GROS Under the Joint Direction of Thomas McHaney and Jacques Pothier ABSTRACT The American planter has mostly been presented as the epitome of the romantic cavalier legend that could be found in the fiction of John Pendleton Kennedy to Thomas Nelson Page: a man of chivalric manners and good breeding; a man of good social position; a man of wealth and leisure (Concise Oxford Dictionary).1 A closer scrutiny of the cavalier and genteel ethos of the time, however, reveals the inherent ideological inconsistencies with the idea of the gentleman itself, as the ideal came to be more and more perceived as an illusion and as challenges to traditional gender stereotypes came to redefine the nature and role of the Southern Gentleman.
This study hopes to complicate the traditional delineation of hegemonic manhood with the aim to better understand how precisely the Old South‘s masculine ideals were constructed and maintained over time, especially in times of crisis, and how southern elite males (re)defined, enacted, and/or maintained a distinctive Southern model of masculinity while others resisted, modified, or flouted those ideals. The work undertaken by this 1 "Planter." Concise Oxford English Dictionary. dissertation can thus be situated within the broad rubric of masculinity studies and its central axiom—the interrogation of the structures of power, domination, and hierarchy. Enriching masculinity studies of the Old South, this critical study of Southern American fiction attempts to respond to the invitation of historians like Stephen Berry or Craig Thompson Friend in striking a commendable balance between conceptualizing larger historical questions and narrating the intimacies and complexities of Southern men‘s individual lives.
Taken collectively, these novels continue to explore this fertile field by moving outside the ―confines and confidences of elites‖ (Peel 1).2 Because it complicates any simple equation between honor, mastery, and manliness, and because it seeks to revisit traditional conceptualisations of gender, I hope that this study will open new ways of thinking about the privileges and wounds of a masculinity that has been considered by most as the normative, invisible, and unquestioned referent from which to measure marginalized others—foreigners, women, or non-whites. INDEX WORDS: American South, Antebellum and Postbellum South, Civil War, Masculinity, Planter, Southern gentleman, Southern belle, Southern manhood, Gender studies, Gender performance, Gender resistance, Hegemonic masculinity, Southern beau, Elite boys. 2 Mark Peel, The Unsteady Quest for Manhood, review, Southern Masculinity, Perspectives on Manhood in the South since Reconstruction, eds. Craig Thompson Friend and Lorri Glover (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2004) H-South (January 2006): 1-2.
THE SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN AND THE IDEA OF MASCULINITY: FIGURES AND ASPECTS OF THE SOUTHERN BEAU IN THE LITERARY TRADITION OF THE AMERICAN SOUTH by EMMELINE GROS A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University & Université Versailles St Quentin-en-Yvelines 2010 Copyright by Emmeline Gros 2010 THE SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN AND THE IDEA OF MASCULINITY: FIGURES AND ASPECTS OF THE SOUTHERN BEAU IN THE LITERARY TRADITION OF THE AMERICAN SOUTH by EMMELINE GROS Committee Chairs: Thomas McHaney Jacques Pothier Committee: Ineke Bockting Pearl McHaney Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University Université Versailles St Quentin-en-Yvelines December 2010 iv DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my wonderful family from whom I have learned the value of patience, diligence and the pursuit of academic excellence; particularly to my understanding and patient sister, Camille, who has put up with these many years of research, sharing with me every risk and sacrifice required to complete it. I must also thank the gentleman I found along the way, Guilhem, who has given me his fullest support and has been patiently bearing with my hectic schedule. Finally, I dedicate this work to my late grandfather, Lucien Pujade and my late grandmothers, Simone Pujade and Suzanne Gros, both of whom would have loved to see this dissertation accomplished. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My first, and most earnest, acknowledgment must go to my advisors, Dr.
Thomas McHaney and Dr. Nearly eight years ago, a scholarship from Rotary International, the Georgia Rotary Student Program, led me to Dr. With great difficulty, I managed to understand his Southern accent, and I remember saying ―Yes‖ to the question: What about signing up for my class? This class started me on the path I traveled at Georgia State University and later, at the University of St Quentin en Yvelines. Thomas McHaney has been instrumental in ensuring my academic, professional, and moral well being ever since.
In every sense, none of this work would have been possible without him. I am heartily thankful to my French advisor, Dr. Jacques Pothier, whose encouragement, supervision and support from the preliminary to the concluding level enabled me to develop my dissertation in its current shape. From picking me up at the train station to showing me around the University, I would never have been able to finish my dissertation without his guidance.
Many thanks also go to my committee members who have accepted to read and comment on my dissertation, to Dr. Bockting in particular who has accepted to jump in at the last minute. Especially, I want to thank Dr. Pearl McHaney who has been my instructor but also my mentor in so many ways.
From my very first year at Georgia State University, she has also been cooking most of my Thanksgiving dinners and has always greeted the international students in her house as if they were members of her own family. I remember her Eudora Welty Birthday parties with fondness. Studying abroad without her encouragement and her many valuable insights would not have been the same. Far too many people and friends to mention individually have assisted in so many ways during my work at Georgia State University.
They all have my sincere gratitude. In vi particular, I would like to thank Tammy Mills, Patricia Chapman, Dr. Paul Schmidt, Dr. Calvin Thomas, Dr.
Mathew Roudané, Dr. Reiner Smolinski of Georgia State University. I would also like to thank my fellow graduate students at Georgia State University: Steven Sams, Laura Barberan, John Lowther as well as several reviewers from Atlanta among them Patricia Lawson, for their help and comments that improved various chapters of this dissertation. To my friends, my former students (on and off-campus), and my roommate in Atanta; to my friends in France who have been patiently waiting for my return to France; to my aunt Gigi and my friend Dephine Méric who have been hosting me and feeding me whenever I was on my way to Versailles, I would also like to say that I am very grateful for all these precious moments we spent together.
The data, articles, and books necessary for this study were provided by the Georgia State University library, the Laboratoire Suds Amérique at the University of St Quentin en Yvelines, and Emory University. I am extremely grateful for the precious help provided by the library staff without whom this dissertation would not have been possible. This research was, at various times, supported by the English Departments at GSU and at UVSQ (Laboratoire Suds), l‘Ecole Doctorale at UVSQ, the Office of International Studies at Georgia State University and at Agnes Scott College, the French Department of Education and Rotary International for direct financial aid through fellowships, awards, and travel grants. A penultimate thank-you goes to my parents and my sister, Camille, who have been through the few ―eurekas!!!‖ and the many ―what am I saying?‖ stages of this dissertation.
For always being there when I needed them most, and never once complaining about the time spent reading or writing away from them, they deserve far more credit than I can ever give them. My final acknowledgment must go to the Rotary Club of East Cobb and the Rotary Club of Toulon-Le Pradet. Both clubs gave me the chance to enjoy my first schoolyear vii abroad. The support, encouragement, and companionship of many Rotarians from both clubs—among whom, Steve and Linda Jezerinac, their daughter and grandsons, and the McColl family—have turned my journey in the United States and through graduate school into a real pleasure.
For all that, for their support and for unconditionally believing in me, I want to thank them all. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. v TABLE OF CONTENTS. 28 Fashioning the Southern Gentleman as an Absolute.
The Hegemonic Model of Masculinity in the Old South. The Changes of the New South. A New (Northern) Theology of Manliness. The Veteran and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation.
The ‗Feminine Men‘ of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. 68 John Pendleton Kennedy‘s Swallow Barn (1832). Southern Masculinity in Crisis. What is it that Makes a Gentleman?.
122 William Faulkner‘s The Sound and the Fury (1929). William Faulkner and the Performances of Gender. The Feminine Voices. Quentin: When Nihilism Counteracts Hegemony.
Jason and the Hallmarks of Misogyny. Benjy: The Specter of White Southern Masculinity. The ―Crisis from Without‖ and the ―Crisis from Within‖. 179 Ellen Glasgow‘s The Sheltered Life (1932).
The Female Body as Collective Artifact. An Affront to Southern Wholeness. Failing the Men. 235 Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind (1936).
The Gendered Discourse in Gone with the Wind. Morselizing the Masculine Imago. New Performances of Gender. The Return to Romance.
293 Tennessee Williams‘ The Glass Menagerie (1946). The Southern Male Caught in Motion and in Time. The Overwhelming Presence of Women. Jim, the Narcissistic Redeemer.
The Failure of the Epic. Tom‘s Masochistic Desire. 335 Tennessee Williams‘ A Streetcar Named Desire (1947). The Relic of the Old South vs.
The Gaudy Seed Bearer of Foreign Origin. The Myth of Evil Womanhood. What is it that Makes a Man?. Following the Script of Patriarchy.
437 1 INTRODUCTION The image of the Old South in the decades preceding the Civil-War is still indelibly etched in the minds of most Americans. In the distance, in some unblemished countryside, stands a large white mansion with Roman pillars. It is owned by a perfectly-attired Southern gentleman and his beautiful wife in her spotless dress. Elegantly clad slaves answer the door, drive the carriage pulled by immaculately groomed horses, and cook the meals.
The fields of cotton are in bloom and the field hands sing while they work in harmony. The planter receives white visitors regardless of wealth with a grace that is unmatched anywhere in the world. He also knows each slave by Greek or Roman name and greets them by asking about their families. Sunday morning, the whole family would go to church, for solemn worship, and would afterwards have a family gathering in the dining room that would be the envy of English royalty.
The children all say ―Sir‖ or ―Ma‘am.‖ The entire image is one idyllic sanctuary into which the cares of the world rarely intrude; an image of beauty, elegance, and grace. Honor, loyalty, and truth are the moral guidelines that the Old South lives by, guidelines that Yankees are unable to understand.
