Posts from The Feminist Forum

     Despite winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 and a number of other awards, Eudora Welty is a name not often heard in conversations about classic Southern literature. Although the popularity of her novels is waning, her legacy endures in her various works that center around the events of Southern America—more specifically, from a female perspective; without creating brash and rebellious characters, she wrote of realistic women, women who did not have to relinquish their femininity to challenge Southern gender roles. Her novels Delta Wedding and The Ponder Heart explore the societal standards associated with Southern womanhood in the early twentieth century by including individualist female characters. Welty’s unique insight into this society is influenced by her experiences growing up and living in Jackson, Mississippi, as an unconventional woman challenging Southern customs. This perspective is reflected in her characters that embody characteristics of her own independently driven identity.