Summary Of Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out Of South Carolina

Dorothy Allison’s femininity novel, “Bastard Out of South Carolina” has to do with a young girl’s transition of childhood to adolescence while coping with constant abuse. Conclusively, though, the novel’s strengths come from the use of unreserved imitation of life for women in the 1950’s through the eyes of a child. The books connotation is reminiscent to the emotional and physical atmosphere in the south during this time period and is still important today as this time period is widely discussed in and out of classrooms.
Dorothy Allison was born in Greenville South Carolina where women suffered through loss of identity and conflicts with loyalty. In this time period, the South was going through a period of rebuilding from a destructive civil

Bone’s whole childhood consisted of continual abuse from Glen. As it escalated, Bone felt demeaned and a disappointment to her family. These abuses lead to Bone losing her identity throughout the story. The beginning of the novel showed Glen’s anger starting to arouse. As the story progressed, Glen become more violent and his abuses were more destructive and filled with envy. When Glen abused Bone the first time, it was sexually. They were in his car and Glenn was waiting for Anney to come out of the hospital from having Glen’s first child:
It made me afraid, his big hand between my legs and his eyes glittering in the dim light.
He started talking again, telling me mama was going to be alright, that he loved me, that we were all going to be so happy. Happy. His hand was hard, the right of his wrist bone pushing in and hurting me. (Allison

The middle of the book consisted of more physical abuses.“What did I tell you?” he shouted, and lifted me high, shaking me back and forth till my head rocked on my neck. “You bitch. You little bitch” (Allison 106). This quote was the second time Glen had assaulted Bone. Bone was chasing her little sister around the house. Glen warned them not to do it, but like most kids, they didn’t listen the first time. Instead of a second warning, Glen picked up Bone and took her to the bathroom to be whipped by his belt while yelling at her. Bone’s little sister, Reese, did not get in trouble and was refrained from any sort of punishment. The book continues with a series of more abuses. This leads to Bone feeling ashamed and discomfited of herself. According to the book, Bone states a line in the story which contributes to her loss of identity. “Everything felt hopeless, He looked at me and I was ashamed of myself. It was like sliding down an endless hole, seeing myself at the bottom, dirty, ragged, poor, stupid.”(Allison 106). Snodgrass also adds that on top of what Bone was already feeling, she thought she was evil because she required so much physical discipline even though she was being targeted by her own step father. This is how loss of identity is expressed as a major theme throughout the