River of names

A detailed Summary of River of names


"River of Names" is part of a collection of short stories in the book Trash published in 1988, written by Dorothy Allison. It is the basis for the later novel Bastard out of Carolina. In her powerful writing, Allison draws on her own harrowing childhood in 1950s Greenville, South Carolina: the stigma of growing up a bastard, the shame and pride she felt toward her family, and her association with her stepfather who beat and molested her. "In this story, "River of Names," Allison writes about her life as a way to come to terms with her past, honoring the attempt to make contemporary literature out of her experience as a working class lesbian addicted to violence, language and hope." Her emotionally intense tale is woven with poverty, incest and abuse is ultimately a tale of survival.

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.

In today's society people are eager to categorize what they are unfamiliar with. They perceive people who are poor, and from the south as "white trash." Their own socio-economic background of course influences this perception. Allison is from the b


Detachment is also used as a survival method in the way the narrator responds to Jesse's comments and questions.

She lies to Jesse rather than spoils her ideas. When Jesse speaks of children the narrator has all these terrible ideas and memories, yet she says nothing, even though she realizes it is condemning them. She also lies about frivolous things, such as how her grandmother smells, telling Jesse she has the fragrance of lavender when it was really a odor of snuff and sweat. All this effort to protect the innocence that the narrator and in turn, Allison clings to.

"Almost always, we were raped, my cousins and I. That was some kind of joke, too. It wasn't funny for me in my mama's bed with my stepfather, not for my cousin Billie, in the attic with my uncle, not for Lucille in the woods with another cousin, for Danny with four strangers in a parking lot, or for Pammie who made the papers."



Some common words found in the essay are:
River Names, Kenyon Review, Dorothy Allison, Names Allison, South Carolina, Bastard Carolina, Carolyn Megan, river names, story river names, writing story, stepfather beat, dorothy allison, south carolina, allison's writing, story river, allison writes,

Approximate Word count = 1459
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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