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Feast Of Snakes: Literary Analysis

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One of the most important aspects of “grit lit” is the violence that occurs in almost every novel. The violence that reoccurs throughout all of the “grit lit” novels allows for a more exciting plot and character conflict throughout the novel. One of the most influential and famous southern writers is Harry Crews. Crews is responsible for many different novels, short stories, and autobiographies, and almost all of his works include some type of violence. The main reason for violence in southern literature is due to the unordinary, low-life characters that the author includes to allow for a violent plot. “The “violence” that must take place in Southern literature is often a final resort of the character when all other alternatives have failed” …show more content…

In the excerpt of Feast of Snakes in Grit Lit, the main character Joe Lon is just out of high school living in a trailer with his wife Elfie. Joe Lon was the star quarterback for the Mystic Rattlers, but he was unable to go to college due to his grades. Joe Lon attends a Rattlers football game where he becomes drunk from drinking Jim Beam under the bleachers. Joe Lon decides to drive home drunk and arrives back at his trailer to see his wife Elfie. He walks inside and immediately criticizes his wife for her looks and cooking. Eventually, Joe Lon leaves his trailer to go down to the local corner store to buy alcohol in preparation for the annual Rattlesnake Roundup (Carpenter 650). The Rattlesnake Roundup is an annual event in Mystic the brings together many hunters to hunt rattlesnakes. This event brings together all the people of Mystic to compete in games such as the sac race and horse pulling contest. These events lead to many fights among the drunk people of Mystic. In addition to the alcohol, many people such as Joe Lon and Candy are often high during parts of this excerpt (Carpenter

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