Summary Of Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out Of Carolina

I have really never read anything that compares to Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina. The author really plays with and twists the reader’s emotions and goes deep into topics that are extremely uncomfortable to discuss. She takes the topic of class and family dynamics within a poor, Southern family in the 1950s and allows the reader to get an intimate look at what goes on behind closed doors. We get to see how abuse tears into a child’s psyche and warps their life in the worst possible way. The reader sees the extent Glen’s abuse and how it affect Bone to the very core. Glen does not start off as this frightening, disgusting beast. He seems okay, nothing too spectacular about him, but Anney sees potential in him. She sees a husband and

Anney does not see anything wrong with his possessiveness or jealousy over the fact that Anney loves Bone more than him. She overlooks his intense anger and how his mood could change in an instant, where he would then lash out verbally at Anney and, behind closed doors, physically at Bone. Allison complicates how the reader should feel. While the fact that Anney continues to defend this abusive monster is reprehensible, she is caught in a very deep cycle of abuse. The more he abuses, he becomes more adept at manipulating Anney’s emotions. She is not only his wife but, in the times where she is angered and disgusted at his actions, he becomes her small child that needs to be coddled. He tells her he does not know what got into him, that he just went crazy but it would never happen again. Anney is sucked in because what she sees is the person she married, the one who wanted to care for her and her two children. She does not want to accept the fact that his abuse will not only continue but escalate the more he is around Bone. He concentrates his hatred and jealousy to the violent abuse he inflicts on