Eudora Welty and Feminism: A Research Analysis

     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.

      In contrast to many women of the twentieth century, Welty was quietly defiant of societal obligations imposed on Southern women; she sought to live out an independent life full of learning, observation, and intellectual fulfillment. Instead of choosing a life at home, Welty attended one of the few universities exclusively for women after graduating from high school in 1925.  However, the limited academic opportunities offered at her chosen university, Mississippi University for Women, left Welty “dissatisfied and bored” (Brown). Transferring out of the Southern school, Welty would attend the coeducational University of Wisconsin, where she earned her bachelor's in English, followed by a brief pursuit of graduate education at the prestigious Columbia Business School. Her determination to pursue education is evident, and Welty desired to fulfill her intellectual needs by traveling and experiencing a world beyond the regionally conservative offerings of her hometown, Jackson. This displays unconventionality and a search for independence as a Southern woman, as she broke away from patriarchal tradition to live her own life. Professional independence was a rarity in Southern culture, as women were often expected to tend to the domestic and social sphere within their household; however, Welty was insistent on breaking Southern tradition to reach her fullest potential in the academic world, where she would remain for all of her life.

     During Eudora Welty's educational pursuits came a catalyst that would prematurely force her into work: The Great Depression. Welty was forced to abandon her path to graduate school to help aid her vulnerable family amidst her father's death and the impending Great Depression (“About Welty”). She would pursue creative avenues like photography and short-story writing as the difficulties persisted, but worked various jobs to help support her family, defying established gender stereotypes. A woman working to support her family was not a societal norm, especially not in the conservative Southern atmosphere. However, even after the Great Depression’s end, Welty would continue working and writing for years to come, refusing to succumb to the typical gender roles of Southern life that would have isolated Welty to the private sphere. Through this great conflict, Welty would take on newfound burdens that would contribute to the individualist perspective she so frequently wrote into her characters. In taking on the personal responsibility of supporting her family, she is relying on her own contributions to make it through the turbulent era. 

     With a life dedicated to her literary ventures, Welty never bothered to fulfill the societal obligation to get married and have children. Reportedly only having one significant—and failed—love in her lifetime, Welty never sought to pursue any disingenuous marital agreement for the sake of fitting into society. In Southern America, young marriage was popularized and embedded into cultural norms; Weltys' nonconformity to this rite of passage would leave her “mocked for her quiet and simple life” (Biesinger). Avoiding marriage distinguishes her from the multitude of other Southerners who chose to focus on homemaking rather than having a career. Focusing on her literary endeavors proved her independence and self-reliance as an autonomous woman.  Her most authentic love was not a husband or a child, but literature itself.

      The unique women presented in Delta Wedding provide readers with expansive insight into what it truly means to be a woman of the Delta, exploring their personalities and thoughts on a deeper level, not their mere roles as homemakers. The novel begins by introducing Laura McRaven, a young nine-year-old girl who embarks on a solo trip to a family member's wedding in the deep delta of 1923 Mississippi. Laura's trip is one symbolic of a girl’s journey navigating life independently and making her own decisions in a traditional Southern world. Without the guidance of her newly deceased mother, Laura is left on her own to navigate the affairs of the Fairchild women. Laura is an observer of the wedding's events and is seen as an outsider to the tradition; she often struggles to find her place in the Fairchild family, as Welty is often noted demonstrating Laura's “strong desires to escape from the Fairchild dynamic” (Taylor 19). Laura and Welty, both of whom are Southern women, have been described as outsiders to typical Southern customs. In the novel, Laura’s futile attempts at belonging result in her understanding the flaws of the Fairfields. It is stated that, “she tried to be a part of it—she took a breath and whirled, went ahead of herself everywhere, then she would fall down, a humiliated little girl” (Welty, Delta Wedding 70). The high expectations of Fairfield womanhood proved not to be for Laura, and by immersing herself on the family plantation for her cousin’s wedding, the faults of domesticity and its standards proved to be too much for the imperfect Laura. Similar to Welty, Laura strays away from tradition and chooses her own path.

     In Delta Wedding, Eudora Welty is seen once again mirroring her personal experiences through her manifestation of Shelley Fairchild, the sister of the bride. Shelley, the oldest Fairchild daughter, believes in a form of nontraditional Southern womanhood that Eudora Welty also identifies with. Shelley's priorities do not lie in marriage like her younger sister Dabney; they lie in adventure, independence, and intellectualism. The differences between Shelley and her traditional sister lead readers to associate them as foils. Welty writes the two differently to emphasize the uniqueness of Shelley's academic and adventurous inclinations. This is compared to Dabney’s adherence to the traditions of their aristocratic Southern family, where women take on domestic roles. Shelley feels that fulfilling her familial obligation to marry and conform to Southern womanhood would be like “a door closing to her” (290), representing the limited freedom she would have as a traditional matriarch on her family's Southern plantation. She feels great opportunity would be lost. Similarly to Shelley Fairchild, Welty was also a Southern woman raised in an idealistic household. However, both women wanted to experience the adventure and uncertainty of the real world beyond the traditional role of matriarch. When Shelley rejects the path of marriage her family has chosen for her, she’s exercising her independence as author Welty also did during her lifetime.

     In The Ponder Heart, the importance of Edna Earle Ponder lies beyond her role as a narrator; the role she takes on as a career woman sets an overarching feminist tone. The novel's events are presented chaotically, following Edna and her family members through dramatic events including court cases, family arguments, and murder. Welty ensures that through the many events and characters, Edna's voice as a narrator and her personality as a character are conveyed to the readers. Despite the novel revolving around crime and comedy,  important details are placed throughout the book to distinguish the independence of Edna Earle Ponder. Ponder manages the hotel Beulah in Mississippi, taking on its various burdens and stating that her agreement to take over the hotel began “fifteen long years ago”  (Welty, The Ponder Heart 12). She goes on to say, “I don't know what it would have done without me” (12). Throughout the novel, Edna's role in the hotel is consistent, underscoring her independence and autonomy within the establishment. Her subtle accomplishments are mentioned throughout the book, countering the subordinate female role many women of the South played in early twentieth-century America. By including strong female characters in her novels, Welty incorporates early feminist-based ideology to prove a woman’s capabilities outside of the household. Edna Earle Ponder is reminiscent of Welty herself, as they are both Southern women taking on significant roles to support their families. This assertion of female empowerment is not typically included in Southern novels of the 1950s, which is a reminder of Weltys' dedication to including unconventional female characters in her novels that both challenge societal standards and reflect her independent way of life.

     Responsibility comes naturally to Edna Earle Ponder, but there is more depth to her role in the Ponder family than hotel manager. Going beyond her basic responsibilities, Ponder finds herself looking out for and caring for the men in her life. This is not a typical Southern custom, as male figures typically assume defensive familial roles. She assumes a unique caretaker role, watching out for and often grounding her eccentric and childlike relative, Uncle Daniel. By assuming this authoritative role around the men in her life,  Edna further embodies the individualist tendencies Welty writes so often about; Ponder says, “I would be trying to hold Grandpa down and account for this whole hotel at the same time.” (10). Her responsibilities exceed those of the hotel, they include taking on a dependable yet assertive role to keep people like her Uncle and Grandpa in line. More specifically, Uncle Daniel is referenced numerous times throughout the novel and is written in a way that makes him the foil to Edna Earle Ponder. One writer puts it, “She [Edna] is the person her grandfather and uncle have counted on to look after them” (Eichelberger 140).  In contrast to her responsibility and authority, Daniel is reckless and untrustworthy; Edna Earle equates giving money to him as “giving matches to a child” (Welty, The Ponder Heart 58) due to his carelessness. Watching over her Uncle in her hotel is among the indications of Edna Earle Ponder's strength and capability, a capability that can be traced back to Eudora Welty. When her own father passed away, Eudora had to assume a similar caretaker role to support her family, which is similar to the work of Edna Earle Ponder. Both women have assumed roles in supporting and taking charge in their families. This driven nature, mature demeanor, and self-sufficiency would separate Edna Earle Ponder from the Southern women of the period who often relied on men of the house.

     For years, Southern femininity was characterized by domesticity, subservience, and fragility. However, Eudora Welty writes a different kind of woman: free-thinking, witty, and independent—she writes about the type of woman she was known to be. Delta Wedding and The Ponder Heart are only two of many Eudora Welty novels that explore the burdens and aspirations that go along with being a Southern woman experiencing the particularly strict societal expectations. To some Southerners, her unconventionality may be considered improper and isolating, but without her will to defy these societal standards for Southern women—and pursue her career in writing—her loyal readers would not have her influential novels.