feeder 3.1

The True South
In analyzing all of the literature and films that have been provided I have come up with a thesis for what seems to be portrayed as the south in these literary works of art. I have picked three pieces of work that all symbolize the basis of my thesis. These pieces of work are Cats of the Confederacy, and Dying for Dixie. In these literary pieces when the characters discuss what southern pride is to them they show certain aspects of racism. Southern pride seems to be portrayed as a hidden racial battle between blacks and whites. Southern pride is shown as a nice way of covering up true racist activity.
In the literary piece by Horowitz called Cats of the Confederacy you see some symbolization of this hidden racism. He talks to the civil war activists who seem to have a pride for the south because of the ancestors that fought in the civil war. When he talks to these people they do not mention racial problems or anything dealing with race, but it is later pointed out in the story how you rarely see , if at all, African Americans in their meetings. They are also very secretive about their meetings when it comes to other races besides whites. Horowitz also highlights this problem when he talks to the African American preacher about the way he feels about this southern pride among the whites in his town, and he makes a brief statement that says so much. He says that if there is no racial tension between the whites who celebrate their southern pride then why are they so secretive about it, and why do you see white people in this black church but you never see black people in the confederacy meetings.
In the piece called Dying for Dixie a lot of racial tension is protrayed. A man is killed for his display of southern pride. In this story you see the real side of southern pride. The hidden racist battle between blacks and whites is clearly shown in the piece of literature. A boy named micheal dies because he was hanging a confederate flag on his truck. His reasons for hanging this flag were totally different from the reasons he was killed for hanging this flag. He said that he hung the flag because it matched his truck. This may have been an incinitive to hide his real reason for hanging the flag whether it be for southern pride or racism, but either way he was killed for it. The boy that killed him was a young black male who did not really know the history of the confederate flag, because he was originally from the north, but he had heard about this flag from other blacks in the south who seen it as a form of hate towards blacks. This kid was not a normal black kid, but a rather troubled kid, who did not mind doingg bad things. When he saw this man driving in a truck that displayed a flage that he had been told was a symbol of hate towards his race it enraged him, and he killed the man. When the boy died he was seen as a martyer for southern pride, but the irony of this was the fact that he himself was not flying the flag for southern pride. As a result of his death the hidden battle of racism was unleached and blakcs and whites became more and more hostile towards one another.
In both of these pieces you can see the symbolization of southern pride being a hidden battle between blacks and whites. One thing that differs between the two of them is the extremity in which this symbolization is shown. In Cats of the Confederacy you see the hidden battle but the whites and the blacks have very little interaction with one another, and this is also a result of the racism hidden in southern pride, because the preacher argued about this interaction between them and how it resulted from southern pride. But in Dying for Dixie the blacks and whites do interact with one another it is just in a violent way. I believe that both of these pieces prove my thesis in different ways and aspects. This portrayal of the south is accurate, because there has always been a racial battle between blacks and whites when it comes to southern pride for years. Every year the intensity of this battle can be shown through violent interaction, or hidden through no interaction at all.
The south has always been portrayed as a region of racial tension between whites and other minorities, and these pieces of literature have further confirmed that. The south has been seen as a place that holds great pride in what and who it is and thet also is portayed in these pieces of literature. When you put those two things together you get southern pride along with a battle of racism. That is how the south is protrayed and that is how it ruely is when it comes to southern pride. So the question is answered southern pride is just the name for a hidden battle etween blacks and whites.