Page 17 - 名媛直播 - Knighted 2019

lady鈥� (O鈥機onnor, 鈥淕ood Man鈥� 250). Mitchell Owens asserts that 鈥淪he is very conscious
throughout the story of what people are wearing, because to her it is through such things as
clothing that one can externally reflect internal worth鈥� (102). To highlight the grandmother鈥檚
focus on appearances, the children鈥檚 mother is described plainly as 鈥渁 young woman in slacks,鈥�
showing that in the eyes of the grandmother, she is diminished in value and loses status as a lady
(O鈥機onnor, 鈥淕ood Man鈥� 249). In addition, the self-aggrandizing view that the grandmother
holds of herself because she does view herself as a lady correlates to the cultural standard present
in O鈥機onnor鈥檚 South during that time. There was a notion that people were good based on what
they wore and how they appeared to be.

Despite the outer appearances of being a Southern lady, her attitude is condescending,
continuing to defy the archetypal model of a grandmother. They pass a 鈥渟hack鈥� and the
grandmother exclaims, 鈥淥h look at the cute little pickaninny!鈥� (O鈥機onnor, 鈥淕ood Man鈥� 251).
June Star comments that he wasn鈥檛 wearing 鈥渁ny britches,鈥� and the grandmother replies, 鈥淗e
probably didn鈥檛 have any . . . . Little niggers in the country don鈥檛 have things like we do鈥�
(O鈥機onnor, 鈥淕ood Man鈥� 251). The grandmother鈥檚 comment of not 鈥渉av[ing] things like we do,鈥�
indicates that she obviously thinks her station in life is better than this child鈥檚, and the pejorative
slur establishes her superiority.

Further revealing the grandmother鈥檚 condescending attitude is the scene in which she
describes Mr. Edgar Atkins Teagarden, a suitor from when she was young, who brought her
watermelons every Saturday with his initials, E.A.T, carved into them. One Saturday, a young
black boy ate a watermelon that was left on her front porch, inciting a snide, racist comment
from the grandmother: 鈥淸I] never got the watermelon . . . because a nigger boy ate it when he saw
the initials, E.A.T.!鈥� (O鈥機onnor, 鈥淕ood Man鈥� 251). As the grandmother carelessly mocks those

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