Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison

BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA is a difficult book not because of the narration style but solely because of its contents. It is not easy to read the text when you know that a 12-year-old child would become victim of sexual abuse and extreme physical violence. On top of that, there is hardly any feel-good ending to this real-life story and one may be left with more questions than answers. Dorothy Allison's novel is autobiographical in nature with Bone representing young Allison in South Carolina. Bone was 'illegitimate' as her birth certificate indicated and together with extreme poverty and hunger, she presents the real and complete picture of a true social victim.

Apart from Bone herself, it is her mother, Anney who plays an important role in the novel, as it is solely due to her inability to take action at the right time that causes young Bone her innocence, her childhood, her happiness and her peace of mind. But Mama was not exactly a bad person; she truly wanted her child to be safe and happy but her only vice was her utter dependence on male figures in her life. Being a member of a truly patriarchal society, she was conditioned to view men as the givers and providers, which left deep emotional scars in the lives of her two young girls.

But it would be unfair to term her as a bad mother because she did want her children to grow up as honest and responsible citizens. This is evident from one particular incident in the story when Bone comes home with some Tootsie rolls. Her mother catches her with stolen goodies and tries to instill some sense of responsibility in her. This incident is important because it shows that Anney was indeed a responsible person herself and despite extreme poverty, she didn't want her children to steal. Anney was afraid that this bad habit might later turn them into real thieves and thus takes some important steps to teach her children a lesson. It is however ironic that on one occasion when she does take the right action, it backfires and does more harm than good.

When Bone is seen with Tootsie rolls and Anney discovers the truth, she takes the child to the store from where she had stolen the rolls. Her sole purpose is to make Bone understand that stealing was wrong and that if she ever did any such thing, she would have to pay the price. This action was meant to make Bone more responsible and honest. However we notice that while this step was certainly effective in the short run, it however increased her anger and fury against her own social conditions and against others. It added fuel to her desire to destroy and hurt someone as she herself had been destroyed by poverty.

From a very young age, Bone knew that poverty was the main cause of her unhappiness and domestic instability. She believed that had they been more affluent, her mother would have been a more emotionally stable person. Like every young child, she wanted to see her mother happy but lack of financial stability had turned Anney into a miserable woman who looked older than her age. For this reason, when mother makes her pay a price for stealing, it only aggravates her rage. Anney first takes her to the store and make sure she admits her fault. This goes well but the store manager is not exactly as forgiving as her mother had imagined him to be. He categorically told Bone that she was a thief and would always be remembered as one. "What we are gonna do...is say you can't come backing her for a while. We'll say that when your mama thinks you have learned a lesion, she can come back and talk to me. But till then, we're gonna remember your name, what you look like." This lack of forgiveness on his part dents her mother's ego and damages young Bone's innocent soul. Even though the real objective was to simply teach Bone a lesson, her mother was not prepared for this demonstration of utter thoughtlessness from the manager. His attitude destroys the real purpose of this action and turns Bone into a rebel.