MAHAFFEY, ERIN ROSE. Women Behind the Wheel: Anne Tyler and Jill McCorkle’s Female Heroes and Their Quest for Self-Discovery. (Under the direction of Dr. Barbara Bennett.)

This thesis examines the influence the car has on the female heroes’ quest for self- discovery. The car is a form of escape for the female characters that Anne Tyler and Jill

McCorkle create in their works Ladder of Years, Earthly Possessions, Crash Diet, and

Ferris Beach. Through the availability of the car they are able to move away from the angel in the home stereotype and toward seeing themselves as individuals who are neither angel not devil but realistically somewhere in between. While the women studied, Delia,

Charlotte, Sandra, and Kate may not know their destination, they know that they must find themselves, spiritually, sexually, and personally. Tyler and McCorkle give their female characters the option to find themselves. It is through analysis of their escape, and heroic quest for self-discovery with the car that we are able to learn a great deal and women’s cultural oppression and the strides that society, including Anne Tyler and Jill

McCorkle, is making in the progression toward female equality. Women Behind the Wheel: Anne Tyler and Jill McCorkle’s Female Heroes and Their Quest for Self-Discovery

by Erin Rose Mahaffey

A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Degree of Master of Arts

English

Raleigh

2004

Approved By:

______Dr. Laura Severin Dr. Deborah Hooker

______Chief of Advisory Committee Dr. Barbara Bennett

Biography

Erin Rose Mahaffey was born and raised in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. She graduated with a BA in English from Peace College in 2002

ii Dedication

This work is dedicated to the female heroes in my life.

To my grandmother, Anne Marie Henderson, thank you for passing your love of literature along to me. I have felt your presence throughout this journey.

To my mother, Susan Henderson Olesen, this wouldn’t be possible without you. Thank you for listening, loving, and hugging me.

To my baby sister, Kelly Anne Mahaffey, the high standards you have set for yourself are contagious.

Iii

Table of Contents

I. Introduction……………………………………………………………….. 1

II. Chapter I: Anne Tyler

a. Tyler Introduction……………………………………………………. 9

b. Ladder of Years……………………………………………………… 11

c. Earthly Possessions………………………………………………….. 23

III. Chapter II: Jill McCorkle

a. McCorkle Introduction…………………………………………….. 30

b. “Crash Diet”………………………………………………………… 32

c. Ferris Beach………………………………………………………… 37

IV. Conclusion………………………………………………………………. 42

V. Works Cited…………………………………………………………… 45

iv Introduction

Western society has always associated freedom and independence with the

convenience of mobility, but generally this mobility has been more of a male rather than

a female experience. Whether traveling on foot, riding an elephant, horse, or mule,

driving a tractor or as a passenger on a train or ship, and then ultimately driving their own cars, men have more often had the opportunity to set out and explore the world and, along the way, discover and define themselves through this movement. While the world has progressed and women’s roles in society have changed, the car is still socially synonymous with male sexuality and power. Where once gallant knights and gutsy cowboys jumped onto their wild stallions and rode off into the sunset, now there are numerous tall tales of middle-aged men escaping the confines of their tidy lives in flashy new sports cars often while their wives are stuck at home in more traditional roles.

However, according to Marie T. Farr, the 20th century has been a time of

transforming these gender roles: “This revolution of gender roles, as well as their linkage

with power and sex, is aptly mirrored by changes associated by a major symbol of the age

– the automobile” (157). Although changes in stereotypical gender roles are occurring,

sexual double-standards are still clearly evident. Cars can be seen as an articulation of the

way women’s bodies are seen as objects of sheer sexuality. The car is an object, which is

described by the nature of its curves, and how fast it will go, ‘features’ also used to

describe a woman’s sexuality. The curves of the body of the car can be seen as

reminiscent of the curvature of a woman’s breasts or hips. The speed at which the car

will go can also be seen as speaking of the distance that a woman will go sexually with her partner. In Laura Behling’s article, “’The Woman at the Wheel’: Marketing Ideal Womanhood, 1915-1934” she affirms such observations by uncovering the sexist nature of car advertisements and the demeaning ways that cars were thought to serve women.

Her article is a study of numerous car advertisements that shed lights on the sexual roles of the times. Behling notes that many car advertisements worked to :

reduce women to function and appearance, emphasize their status as

commodity, and draw attention to physical characteristics. That a whole

woman can only be understood by mechanically-minded men as the sum

of her parts, relegated her to the role of not the consumer, but to an object,

that is, like the automobile, consumed. (Behling 5)

The article continues with an analysis of the differences between the “attributes and features men should seek in a car and those that women should seek” (2). A 1916 edition of Ladies Home Journal housed a two page ad that worked to educate women on the ways men and women use cars differently (2). Behling describes the illustrations of the ad thoroughly. She notes that the advertisement suggests that men “can use the car as a traveling office, conducting business literally on the road” as well as a way to store fishing rods and other instruments for personal enjoyment (3). The ad depicts women using the car for much more domestic purposes. It stresses that women can “rely on the car to transport children and groceries” (Behling 3).

Instead of progressing with the times, later ads seem to objectify women and their bodies to an even greater extent. For example, in a car advertisement in a 1930’s Vanity

Fair, Behling asserts that this piece uses a mirror to represent women’s “vanity, self- absorption, self-consciousness over her appearance, and her quest for physical wholeness or completeness, the parameters for which had been socially established and had

2 governed traditional sex and gender roles” (7-8). The ad depicts an attractive woman

perched upon a pillow, with her legs stretched out in a suggestive manner, primping in a

mirror. Above her scantily clad body are printed the words, “Look to the Body”

suggesting that whether buying a car or choosing a mate, one should first “Look to the

Body” (7). While these ads may be targeted at women, asserting the idea that if they had

such a car they too could be appealing to males, the ads were most obviously intended for

men who would find the female form appealing. Even the ads that targeted women as

their main audience continued to place them in the stereotypical roles of sex object or nurturer. The sampling of advertisements that Behling studies asserts that the only reasons women need a car is to fulfill their wifely and motherly duties. The ads targeted toward males were also strewn with beautiful ladies. Therefore, it does not matter for

whom the advertisement is targeted; they all objectify and classify women.

Literature is full of the complications that arise from the traditional roles of the

sexes, as well as the power of mobility that is allotted more generously to males. The

male quest was a common literary mode long before the invention of the car. Homer

writes of Odysseus’s journey to Ithaca in what is considered to be the epitome of the

heroic quest. King Author, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Holden Caulfield all set out on

adventures which ultimately lead them to discover their own identities, and they do so

without the car. Women were very aware of all the opportunities that they were not

eligible to take part in because of their sex; this too is articulated in literature. Gilbert and

Gubar in their work, The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-

Century Literary Imagination, note that Jane Austen’s works recognized the power allotted to men with the birth of the horse and carriage: “not possessing or controlling the

3 means of transportation, each heroine is defined as different from the poorest men of her

neighborhood, all of whom can convey themselves wherever they want or need to go”

(124).

Contemporary literature continues the tradition of the sexual double standards

associated with mobility. Schraff notes that men’s relationships with cars can be

compared to a “’love affair,’ encompassing all the exotic and erotic and emotional

complexity the metaphor conveys” (166). Farr speak of the greatest exploitation of the car as a symbol of male sexuality in literature such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great

Gatsby (158). The relationship that Jay Gatsby shares with his car could definitely be seen as a love affair. Like Fitzgerald, many male writers employ the image of the car in their writing:

John Updike and Robert Penn Warren use the automobile and the

very act of driving as symbols of power and of the ways we live

our lives, whether recklessly or conservatively, in the fast lane or within

the speed limit. These men accept the popular myth that identifies the

automobile with male sexuality, power, and control; in their works,

driving often becomes a rite of initiation or a test of masculinity. (Farr

157)

Farr notes that many female novelists of the 1970’s and 1980’s explore the treatment of women in American society, and what she calls the “metaphorical equivalency of automobile driving with living” (Farr 159). Cars have traditionally been representative of power for both men and America. While men took the driver’s seat, women sat by passively in a congenial manner, gazing out the window. Farr observes

4 that the phrase ‘sitting in the driver’s seat’ has taken on overtones of power and

dominance – qualities long denied to women. The driver of a car possesses a kind of

control over life” (159). Many believed that women were not capable of driving,

mentally or physically because, in part, of their assumed lack of control. In The Feminine

Mystique, Betty Friedan speaks of “the problem that has no name” (15). Friedan dubbed

this condition without a true name to describe the feeling of worthlessness that many

women experienced during the 1960’s and probably for many years prior. The lives of

women consisted of making beds, making lunches, and making love to their husbands at

night. Farr notes that for women like this, “access to the automobile is not enough: it is

not the same as control over their lives” (161).

With the cultural changes brought on by the Women’s Movement, females finally

have had the opportunity to press the accelerator. Anne Tyler and Jill McCorkle are two

writers who have created female characters that have the opportunity to do the same. In

their novels, the car serves as a type of escape mechanism, allowing the female characters

the opportunity to flee the cookie-cutter worlds of Donna Reid wives and Brady Bunch

daughter. These women are able to speed off, whether literally or figuratively, to a land

of independence, free thought, and sexual freedom. Through the availability of the car,

these women, young and old, are able to create lives for themselves that differ from the stereotypical existence of making dinner and making beds, Farr describes the function of

the automobile justly:

The automobile dominated modern America: it hints at our social status

and economic philosophy, reveals our self-images and our secret desires.

Its streets and highways, overpasses, and underpasses, define not only our

5 cities and towns but also our destinies. (157)

Tyler and McCorkle create female characters that are yearning to discover their own destinies and therefore their identities. They need to be in the “driver’s seat” creating their own self-images and unleashing their desires. While neither writer would

label her work as feminist, each has definite feminist undertones. According to Elizabeth

Evans, “Tyler cannot be labeled an outspoken feminist; her novels present strong women

characters. If these women fail to live independently, they at least attempted to gain a

better sense of their lives” (x). While Tyler’s feminist statements are rather demure, they

strike against misperceptions about the female. Jill McCorkle has a stronger feminist

tone than Tyler. According to Barbara Bennett, a major theme in McCorkle’s work “is

the woman’s role in society. Her major characters are predominately female; they are

also generally feminist, though they do not always start out that way” (11). McCorkle’s

characters sometimes face oppression , and some are even strong enough and smart

enough to note the injustice. These female characters study their situations and at least

attempt to grow into powerful, proud women.

In doing so, they often follow the pattern of the heroic quest, traditionally

followed by male heroes. Joseph Campbell’s A Hero with a Thousand Faces articulates that charted course of self-discovery. Campbell outlines the process of departure, initiation, and return. While this charted course is supposedly for both male and female heroes, there is a strong masculine tone to the entire study. Pope and Pearson reevaluate

Campbell’s ideas in their work, The Female Hero in American and British Literature.

While there are female and male heroes, they seemingly follow the same path, with only

6 minor differences. Pearson and Pope speak to the paradox of the female hero who is generally taught to care for others before caring for herself:

Undertaking a heroic quest to discover the true self is less selfish

than the more traditional role of selfless helpmate. Because the

hero does not give up her life for others, she has no reason to

entrap them, make them feel guilty, or dominate them. When she

refuses to sacrifice her own self to others, she becomes more rather

than less able to aid others in their search for fulfillment. (14-15)

Female heroism, according to Pearson and Pope, is either ignored or condemned in literary studies (6). They note that historical circumstances such as the “rise of individualism, democracy, and secularism” brought with them the expectation for men to

“develop their individual identities” (7). In contrast, women were taught a “collective myth: They should be selfless helpmates to husband and children” (6). Therefore, female heroes who act like men in literature are usually condemned for their heroic actions. If a female hero demonstrates what Pope and Pearson call “the ingredients of heroic life,” which consist of demonstrating “initiative, strength, wisdom, and independent actions,” she is thought to be a villain because by doing so she must put caring for others farther down her list of priorities (6).

The female characters created by Tyler and McCorkle follow Pope and Pearson’s trek faithfully. These women walk away from their lives and are, as a result, considered a villain by numerous members of society and by their own families. However, leaving home is a necessary part for them in discovering their own identities and in turn living happier lives. “In British and American stories, the hero typically departs from a

7 confining house,” and once she is able to leave behind the “angel in the home” image, she

is able to go forth in her journey of self-discovery (Pearson & Pope 79). Pope and

Pearson speak to the restrictions of gender and the dependence on men that female heroes must shed while on their quest: “When the hero is liberated from the belief that her fulfillment will come from a man who will take care of her, she takes responsibility for her own life (144). Taking responsibility for her own life is a work in progress for

Tyler and McCorkle’s characters. Though we may not always see the final result, they strive to shed their static existences and morph into the female heroes that they yearn to become.

8 Chapter I: Anne Tyler

Introduction: Tyler Chapter

In her works Ladder of Years and Earthly Possessions Anne Tyler creates two very similar female heroes, Delia Grinstead and Charlotte Emory, who have both reached a point in their lives when they can no longer deal with their monotonous and menial domestic existences. Both women have been smothered by their fathers and suppressed by their husbands. When they reach their breaking points, these women speed away from their lives and embark on a quest of self-discovery.

Ladder of Years is a libratory novel about Delia Grinstead, who uses a car to escape her mundane existence and discover who she is. As Richard Eder explains of the novel: “Ladder of Years is the story of a fugue to change one’s life” (3). Throughout her childhood, Delia has identified herself as Dr. Felson’s youngest daughter and, after, marriage she became Dr. Grinstead’s wife. Never has Delia had the opportunity to explore her thoughts and idea, but, once that opportunity is made available to her through a ride in a van, she learns more than she could ever imagine. With this new knowledge, Delia is able to view herself as a solitary individual, no longer defined by a man. The differences between Delia’s domestic life and the one that she creates for herself are overwhelming. In Bay Borough, where she sets up a new life, Delia creates a routine based on the things she enjoys. Everyday she makes her way to the library, checks out a book and reads the entire novel that evening. In her domestic existence,

Delia never took the time to do anything for herself, especially crawl into a book for the evening. One of Delia’s favorite things about her new life is that she doesn’t cook—she

9 rents only a bedroom and eats out alone, enjoying a quiet meal. It is through a car ride

that Delia finds the opportunity to escape and find this pleasure, and solitude.

Similarly, Charlotte, in Earthly Possessions uses the car as the means to discover

her innermost thoughts and feelings. Anne Ricketson Zahlan speaks to the importance of

Charlotte’s escape: As “hostage to Jake Simms:” Charlotte is compelled to make the

journey she had longed to take to escape the demands of marriage and family and the

accumulated clutter of a lifetime spent in one house” (84-85). Charlotte turns what

would normally be a negative situation, being kidnapped, into an educational experience.

Along her journey, Charlotte realizes all the strength that she has kept inside her for

years; Jake challenges Charlotte to conquer her fears, whether he knows he is doing it or

not. He teaches her to drive and stand up for what she believes in. With Jake, Charlotte

has a partner, something she was lacking with her husband. Although she escapes in a

getaway car, Charlotte grows as an individual in a way she did not before.

Significantly, Anne Tyler’s female characters are not in the driver’s seat as they

speed away from their families. Rather, they are driven away by men with whom they

have never before had contact. Both Delia and Charlotte have realized they are unhappy

with their existences and lack of forward momentum. Although both women have

decided to walk away from their present lives, the likelihood of their actually doing so on

their own volition is most remote. These men, though, give Charlotte and Delia the extra

nudge they need to speed away from their dismal lives. Tyler is not suggesting that these

women need men to give them strength. Instead she is saying that these men , who are not their husbands, help them to discover their true feelings. Like elements of fate, these men magically appear literally to set Delia and Charlotte free of their stifling lives.

10

Ladder of Years

Anne Tyler’s Ladder of Years offers a glimpse of how one woman struggles with the loss of her identity. Ultimately, Delia Grinstead becomes so dissatisfied with her life that she decides her only option is to run away. Because of the freedom and mobility that the car offers, Delia Grinstead is able to escape the confines of her domestic existence

and set forth on a journey of self-discovery. It is on this journey that Delia is able to shed

the confines that the men in her life have inadvertently placed on her to change into a

strong woman, secure and happy with her place in life.

While fulfilling one of her many ‘womanly’ duties, grocery shopping, Delia

Grinstead comes face to face with her future in the form of attractive Adrian Bly-Brice.

Standing beside this man on the produce aisle, Delia is suddenly reintroduced to her sexuality: “Once or twice the fabric of his shirt sleeve brushed her dress sleeve” (5).

Such a simple encounter enables Delia to notice her inner feelings. Discussion of the difference between shallots and scallions goes well beyond the ‘fatness’ of either vegetable (6), causing Delia to think that Adrian is flirting with her. Intrigued that someone could see her in any light other than mother or wife, Delia raises her head to look this man in the eye: “She would have feared that he was trying to pick her up, except that when she turned she saw he was surely ten years her junior, and very good-looking

besides. He had straight, dark-yellow hair and milky blue eyes that made him seem

dreamy and peaceful. He was smiling down at her, standing a little closer than strangers

ordinarily stand” (6). Because Adrian is young and attractive Delia assumes that he

would never be interested in her. Delia lacks a positive self-image. Engulfed in her role

11 of mother and wife, Delia has lost herself her ability to focus on Delia. Because she and her family view her as a service tool, she is unable to image herself as attractive to anyone unless she is folding laundry or serving dinner. However, she is enjoying the attention from this gentleman. When Adrian asks Delia to pretend to be with him to save face in front of his soon to be ex-wife, she leaps at the opportunity to be someone other than herself: “without even taking a deep breath first, she plunged happily back into the old high-school atmosphere of romantic intrigue and deception” (6). The urgency with which she returns to a time when she was no one’s wife or mother suggests her desire for that sense of adventure and intrigue that she possessed in her adolescence. While her role as Adrian’s partner is purely fictional, it takes Delia far away from her husband. Such an encounter stirs up feelings inside of Delia; on this mundane trip to the grocery store she gets a taste of the independence she has forgotten. Because Adrian doesn’t know Delia’s family she is able to surmise that he found her appealing because of qualities that she possesses not because of the way that she cares for her family.

After the encounter in the grocery store, Delia begins to evaluate her existence.

Soon, it becomes obvious that she has lived her life in the shadows of men, from her father, to her husband, and even her sons. The power that the men in Delia’s life hold over her, whether they are dead or alive, is made evident during her brief encounter with

Adrian. When asked about her name, Delia felt it necessary to articulate how her name was actually Cordelia and that her father had changed it to Delia after a song. Instead of simply stating her name Delia felt it necessary to explain the ‘history’ of her name to a complete stranger. Provoked by a common question about her identity, feelings of mourning swell up inside Delia and “Ridiculously, tears filled her eyes” (8). In turn, it is

12 apparent that even after his death, Delia’s father is still able to control her emotions. The

situation is very similar with regards to her husband, Dr. Sam Grinstead. When Skipper,

Adrian’s ex-wife’s partner asks if Delia is any relation to Dr. Grinstead, she hesitates:

“‘Yes! He’s my …he was my…he’s my husband,’” (11). Easily, Delia could have

identified herself without mention of her husband. Yet it is easy to note that even though

Delia identifies herself as Mrs. Grinstead, there is a part of her that doesn’t want to.

Initially, she hesitates to acknowledge her marriage and then negates her comment by saying that “he was my husband” and then finally acknowledges their relationship, proving that she is not fully committed to her husband. In not one, but two introductions in the grocery store, Delia defines herself through her connection to men. However, these conversations cause her to realize that she sees herself, as others do, as being Delia,

Dr.Felson’s youngest daughter or Dee, Dr. Sam Grinstead’s obedient wife. Seemingly,

as Delia ages, her name shortens. At birth she was named Cordelia, and her father

shortened it to Delia, a name he gleaned from a song, and Sam shortened it to Dee. As

her name shortens, so do her feelings of independence and self-worth.

Delia has never before had or taken the opportunity to discover who exactly she

is. In fact, “Even after the wedding she had not moved away but simply installed her husband among her sweet sixteen bedroom furniture” (15). Because her mother died when she was very young, Delia clung to her father, and in turn, married a man that she thought would be just like him. Delia is not conscious of her desire to mold Sam into her father; however, even after twenty some odd years of marriage she still sees Sam in a paternal fashion. For example, when Mr. Maxwell, a patient of Sam’s, calls late one evening because his wife has fallen ill, Delia decides to ride along, stating, “’This makes

13 me think of Daddy ‘” (34). A jaunt out in the night with her husband that could be

romantic, mysterious, a chance to escape their normal lives is transformed into an

opportunity to reminisce about her father: “All the house calls I used to make with

Daddy, Just the two of us! Seems like old times” (34). Sam is more satisfied with his life

because he left his home, gained an education, and a wife and a loving family; Delia, on the other hand, has never had the opportunity to do such things--to explore her desires.

She had barely graduated from high school when this young doctor swept her off her feet,

not away. Delia may have had other options for her future; certainly, her sisters left the

home and created lives for themselves. However, when Sam Grinstead came into town to

join Dr. Felson in his practice, everyone assumed that he would marry one of Dr.

Felson’s daughters. Sam was attracted to the youngest daughter, Delia, and, as the town

had predicted, they were married.

Because Delia was married at the time in her life when self-discovery usually

begins, her knowledge of herself is limited. Tyler is not suggesting that the chance

meeting with a man in a supermarket has caused Delia to realize how little she knows

about herself. However, Delia does have a moment of realization in her Plymouth on the

way home that her life has become a stereotype. Although she is adamant that she has “a

life to get back to,” it is a life that she is now sure that she doesn’t want. This charade of

adapting another identity has allowed her to take a closer look at her own. Continuing to

fool the other couple, Adrian placed “his bags in her trunk,” but as their conversation

continued, Delia forgot all about the groceries. When she realizes that she has his

groceries in her trunk she feels a pang of guilty pleasure. Delia sees this as exciting, the

fact that she has someone else’s groceries—and can continue the masquerade of living a

14 different life, one that consists of “all that pasta, those little grains of orzo” a vast difference from her normal shopping list. Delia, “was driving away with property that belonged to someone else, and it was shameful how pleased she felt, and how lucky, and how rich” (14). Excitement fills Delia’s car. She, on her own, had experienced something fun and exhilarating. In the confines of her car, with her orzo in the back,

Delia imagines what it would be like to have her own life, her own thoughts, and her own desires, but she isn’t ready to do anything drastic. Instead, she drives to the home that she has known all of her life and prepares a meal for her family. Here the unfamiliar groceries filling Delia’s Plymouth are synonymous with the feelings swelling up inside of her; these new and rather exotic groceries in the trunk belong to Delia in the trunk, just as there are new and exotic feelings that Delia had never thought belonged to her before, developing inside her body.

After the experience in the grocery store, Delia begins to question more seriously how she feels about her life. Through her unconsummated relationship with Adrian she has been able to see how others, besides her family, view her. Adrian, sees her as “sweet and childlike,” (64) always wearing “round innocent little collars” (50). Delia realizes that she has no girlfriends and doesn’t even enjoy the company of her husband. The day after this moment of self-analysis, the family piles into their car for the annual beach trip.

The thought of returning to her world, of having to look at her family is more than she could stomach, but, like the dutiful wife she is, the next morning, Delia continues fulfilling the only role that she knows, that of caretaker, and packs for a day at the beach with her family.

15 On the beach, a place full of memories for her, Delia returns to the happiest time in her life--a time filled with hope and passion and possibilities because “she and Sam had come to this beach on their honeymoon” (72). Like their honeymoon inn that is now torn down, the passion and delight in their relationship too has ceased to exist. Watching her husband wade in the ocean now “filled her with irritation” (75). Sam has turned into an old man--an old man that she resents for the loss of her life that might have been.

Watching Sam in the ocean in his sneakers and comparing her feelings to those that filled her on their honeymoon is the breaking point: “She snatched her tote bag from the blanket, spun on one bare heel and stamped off down the beach” (75).

For once, Delia decides to take charge of her life, to act on her emotions and leave the world she feels is smothering her. Her inclination is to take the car, the quickest way out. However, she worries that “some of the others might want to come with her, and so she decided against it” (76). Not taking the car is a strong sign that Delia is determined to leave her life and all the symbols within it of her domesticity. This is the car that she transports her children in, loads with groceries she must cook to feed her family; she had had her fill of being the perfect mother, and by leaving the family car behind she is also leaving behind a constant reminder of what society tells her she niche in life should be.

She decides not to return for the keys because the family car is just that – a car for the family, a family that she is trying to escape. Although she might not know where exactly it is that she is going or what she is going to do, she knows she must escape her predictable world.

Fortunately, a van is waiting at the beach house to set her free. Vernon, a repairman, shows Delia the luxuries of his brother’s van, and we can see the wheels of

16 her mind turning: she finds the compact nature and speed of the van alluring. She

describes the attractiveness of the van with words hopeful of independence and freedom:

“I’d have nothing rattling around, Delia said, nothing interfering, so at a moment’s notice

I could hop behind the wheel and go. Travel with my house on my back, like a snail.

Stop when I got tired. Park in whatever campground caught my fancy” (79). Not yet ready for such a total escape, Delia is overcome with desire and states: “Maybe I could just ride along for a little tiny part of the way” (80). A “tiny part of the way” turns into

Bay Borough where Delia begins a new life. Delia may have relied on a man to drive her away, but the choice is her own. By her own power, she walks away from her family at the beach, asks Vernon for a ride, and tells him where to drop her off. Delia is fully responsible for her actions, and while she may not know what will come next, she has the power to determine it.

The van is the driving force that allows Delia to leave her life. However, after her escape to Bay Borough, it is the lack of a car that allows Delia the luxury of discovering who she truly is. Because she cannot hop in and return to her role as wife/mother so easily, she must only focus on herself. On her own, Delia rents a room, gets a job, and creates a life for herself – a new independent life. Her transition is quick and interesting,

“Delia had managed in just three days to establish a routine for herself. Breakfast at

Rick-Rack’s, over the morning paper. Lunch in the square – yogurt and fresh fruit purchased earlier from the Gobble-Up Grocery. Always on the southeast park bench, always with the evening paper” (100). In this new life she is no longer Mrs. Grinstead; instead, she slips her wedding ring off her finger and becomes Miss Grinstead.

Everything from the dress she chooses to buy, to the book she checks out for the evening,

17 and even where she decides to eat is a decision that she makes for herself and by herself.

While it could be argued that Delia’s life has simply fallen into a different rut, such an

argument would disregard the importance in the shift from the pattern her family has set

for her and the pattern she has set for herself. Her pattern may seem equally monotonous

as her old life, but the sense of power it gives her makes it different. The pattern is hers

alone and if she wants to make a shift here or a tweak there, no one is there to challenge

it.

Delia’s main goal is to make her life in Bay Borough as different as possible from

her life in Baltimore. She revels in her solitary existence, is proud of her accomplishments and excited about what the future holds. Climbing the steps to her boarding house room, she thinks: “Here comes the executive secretary, returning home from her lone meal to the solitude of her room” (96). She is quick to note that such thoughts are positive: “It wasn’t a complaint, though. It was a boast. An exultation”

(96).

Delia does not allow herself to believe that she is really going to stay in Bay

Borough. It is her goal to make her family miss her--to make them realize all that she is to them and make them want to appreciate her more. She wants them to yearn desperately for her return. However, when she reads the Missing Woman Report in the paper and sees how little her family knows her both physically and psychologically, she changes her position. Angered, Delia wonders if her family “ever looked at her?” (100).

How could Sam have made her sound so weak and childish. Her family describes her eyes as “blue or grey or perhaps green” (100). Out of this comes Delia’s strong determination to continue her new life, and that night, “It amazed her that she slept so

18 soundly” (109). Her family’s description of her, or lack thereof, allows Delia to cut the

final ties she has to her past. The guilty feelings that were secretly eating away at her

disappear and she is able finally to relax.

It is when Delia is reintroduced to the car, through a new job, that she is able to

notice all that has changed. Because Delia feels that her boss, Mr. Pomfret is

disrespecting her, she decides to search for a new job. Delia feels that her husband, Sam,

had never respected her, and so she is not going to continue the pattern by letting Mr.

Pomfret treat her as though she were a “piece of office equipment” (170). Searching the

classifieds in the Bugle, Bay Borough’s newspaper, she notices a job for a “Live in

Woman” (160). Delia feels it is a position she can perform well. While it may seem that

Delia is again disregarding her happiness for the happiness of others, she is not. Before

Delia takes this position she has proved to herself that she is able to survive on her own.

In a way, this position allows her to ease her way back into motherhood. It will give her the opportunity to learn how to love and nurture her children without losing herself along the way.

It is interesting to see Delia in the car again. On her way to the Millers, her new employers, for the first time Delia has her friend Binky drive her:

It was months since Delia had ridden in a car. The scenery glided past so

quickly, and so smoothly! She gripped hr door handle as they swung

around the corner, and then zip! zip! zip! went the dentist, the dime store

the Potpourri Palace. In no time, they were turning onto Pendal Street and

parking in the Millers’ gravel driveway— (172)

19 In the Miller’s home, Delia has her own space, a place for her to relax once her

work is done. Mr. Miller and his son Noah take great strides to make Delia feel as

though she is part of their family. However, the affection that Noah freely offers Delia causes her to miss her relationships with her own children. In the Miller’s home, Delia’s

mind wanders back to her family a great deal more that is did when she was living on her

own, and she wonders why her children don’t miss her but does not try to contact them

(176). Strangely, Delia fills the void for Noah that his mother made when she left. Delia

drives him to school, to his activities, and to visit his grandfather weekly. While Noah is

much younger than her children, it is odd for Delia to try to make up for the hurt that

Noah’s mother caused when she also left her child. Because Delia has created a life for herself outside the home, she is able to realize that she misses her children. In taking care of Noah, Delia realizes that she can be a mother, wife, sister, daughter, but most

importantly, she can be herself.

Like most men, Delia is finally able to take the opportunity to leave her home and

discover the world. Never seizing the chance to go off to college or even leave her

father’s home, Delia had been living a stifled and boring existence. At forty years old

Delia decides that it is her time to leave home and follow the course that many heroes

before her have. However, the third phase in Campbell’s pattern is the Return--and Delia

experiences this also when she returns home with her newfound self-knowledge when she

learns of her daughter’s impending wedding.

Returning home, Delia is very uncertain how she will be received, but

immediately, her daughter Susie needs her, and Delia is able to share her new, liberated

knowledge. Susie is no longer sure that she wants to be married. While others encourage

20 Susie to cast her feelings aside, Delia encourages her to do what she thinks is right.

Delia’s newfound knowledge enables her to trust her instincts and to be true to herself— she is trying to pass this knowledge on to her daughter. It is through this wedding incident that Delia and Sam are able to see each other as Sam and Delia and not Dr. and

Mrs. Grinstead. With the wedding postponed, Delia has the opportunity to become reacquainted with her family. Now that Delia knows how to respect herself and her needs, so does her family. She enjoys that they appreciate and have welcomed her new and improved self. Delia‘s thoughts about her return and the changes she and her family have made are articulated with moving words:

It had all been a time trip-all this past year and a half. […], hers

had been a time trip that worked. What else would you call it when

she’d ended up back where she’d started, home with Sam for good?

When the people she had left behind had actually traveled further,

in someway?

The entire Grinstead family works to re-evaluate their existences. Not only did

Delia’s heroic journey allow her the opportunity to grow into the person that she had always dreamt of being, it caused her family to notice her abilities and desires as well as their own. Through Vernon’s van, Delia was able to escape not only her husband and her children but also the existence that she helped to create for herself. Walking away from her family was the first step, but jumping in to the van with Vernon was the first time in years that Delia followed her gut. She left to discover who Delia is, not who Sam’s wife or Susie, Carroll, or Ramsey’s Mom is. The car gives her the opportunity to leave and

21 change as well as the opportunity to return. In this situation, the car is not only a means of escape but also a means of gaining independence.

22

Earthly Possessions

Anne Tyler’s novel, Earthly Possessions, offers another clear example of how the car allows women the opportunity to escape their mundane lives and gain a fuller, more satisfying understanding of who they are. Unhappy with her life as wife and mother,

Charlotte Emory decides to run away; however, Charlotte is unable to drive, and so it is harder for her to make her escape, but, at the bank, making a withdrawal to fund her escape, Charlotte is fortuitously taken hostage during a bank robbery gone wrong, and therefore gets her free ride out of her old life.

In between chapters about Charlotte’s capture, Tyler fills in background about

Charlotte’s life up to the point of the bank robbery. From this, it becomes apparent that growing up, Charlotte never feels as though she belongs; in fact, well into her adulthood she is positive that she has been switched at birth. Unfortunately, her repressed childhood leads directly into a repressed marriage. Her union to Saul Emory brings pangs of passion but also feeds the desires to escape she has had her whole life. Such feelings are quickly squelched after Saul is called into the ministry. Instead of escaping

from her parents’ home with her new husband, Charlotte is held captive in her childhood

home where she feels even more penned in by people and possessions that seem to

accumulate around her. From the time she is a young girl, Charlotte’s first priority is to

get away from the house she is raised in. When she marries Saul, she envisiones them

living in a new beautiful house of their own: instead, because of her sickly mother and

little money coming in, Charlotte continues to live in her childhood home.

23 This escape is not Charlotte’s first attempt to flee her life. Thankfully, the car

serves as Charlotte’s salvation from the constant madness of her existence. Previous

attempts to leave Saul have proved futile because she is unable to drive. Her mother once

warns her that if she doesn’t treat Saul better she would “drive him off,” (106) and

Charlotte responds by saying: “This hopeless, powerless feeling would vanish like a fog, if I could just drive him off” (104). When Charlotte’s mother uses the expression “drive him off,” she is speaking of pushing Saul away, causing him to leave Charlotte. On the other hand, with this statement Charlotte is articulating her desire to jump in a car and literally drive off from the unhappy world in which she lives with her husband. Uttering these words builds confidence inside of Charlotte, and she realizes that if she could speed away from Saul, she would be “free then of his judging gaze” and free to begin “learning

who [she] really is” (104). Keeping these thoughts to herself, Charlotte leaves, “swinging

her purse” with excitement, and walks to buy a bus ticket for New York City. Joy fills

Charlotte as she imagines the excitement that lies before her. She describes this moment

as the “clearest, happiest moment of all my life” (104). Saul is able to track Charlotte

down, though, while she is waiting for the bus to depart, and he convinces her to come

home. Because Charlotte is pregnant, Saul manipulates her into believing that it is her

duty as a woman to return home to be a submissive wife and new mother. She is simply not yet strong enough to break from his controlling grip

One morning, Charlotte finds a “Keep on Truckin’” badge in the cereal box and

sees it as a sign that now is the time for her escape. This badge is not only a symbol that

Charlotte will find the strength to leave her husband and family behind, but that she will

speed away in an automobile. Interestingly, she finds her freedom in an automobile.

24 While some critics see Charlotte’s capture by Jake as strongly anti-feminist, it can also be

seen as empowering. Alice Hall Petry, in her article “Tyler and Feminism” asserts that

Tyler is only placing Charlotte in another situation where she is manipulated by a man.

Petry notes that it is “Jake the male who drives--and Charlotte the female who is forced,

at phallic gunpoint, to accompany him passively wherever he goes” (37). Seen another

way, this capture can be empowering for Charlotte because it allows her to do what she wants to do without feeling the guilt that might thwart her flight. Was she actually afraid or was she thrilled because she knew that this was really a way out? Tyler is not suggesting that Charlotte needs the aid of a man to gain the courage to leave her husband.

She is simply suggesting that she needs a ride! She is not a victim; in fact, Charlotte does not seem to fear Jake. “I could look out the window see my own reflection gazing back at me more interesting-looking than in real life. Beyond was the outline of the bank robber,

constantly shifting and fidgeting” (19). Jakes body language suggests that he is much

more uncomfortable with their situation than Charlotte. Already, Charlotte sees herself

differently. Her reflection in the bus window is freer, more powerful, and more

interesting than the one she sees in the mirror that morning.

This kidnapping turns into a trek of self-discovery that is greatly sped up when

Jake steals a car at a gas station. Charlotte leaves behind a life she despises and learns to

assert her control while she and Jake are in the car. When Jake judges her because she

cannot drive, “Only a whiffle-head would not know how to drive” (47), he is also posing

several other underlying questions: Why have you never left your husband? and Why

don’t you take more control? The two seem to form a bond, not of lovers and not really

even one of friendship, but one of understanding and empathy. Neither is happy with

25 his/her life, and the confines of the car allow them to share their burdens, something that

Charlotte has never been able to do with anyone else. Jake speaks of how he has many

problems, but his greatest problem is that he is a “victim of impulse” (43). Like the

fiasco that he is in now, Jake acts on his instinct without considering the repercussions.

However, he is also quick to note the negative aspects of Charlotte’s life: “You’re shed of that Frankenstein husband at least and that cruddy flowered sofa. Shed of that spooky little old lamp with the beads hanging off of it” (51). Having noted the shabby nature of

Charlotte’s home and husband on the news, Jake tries to encourage Charlotte that things can only get better.

In the car Charlotte learns about herself and her capabilities. Speeding down the road in this confined situation, Charlotte discovers more of herself; she begins to take control. Jake needs Charlotte, he needs her encouragement, her intelligence, and her consent for almost every decision that is made, giving her a new confidence but also a sense of responsibility similar to the one that she felt with her family, but with less duty and more power. She also feels a connection with Mindy, the woman that Jake wants to

“rescue” from the home for pregnant teens. Jake, in fact, frees all of them from prisons of various kinds. Mindy likens her experience in the home for wayward mothers to a prison. Jake says that he made the trip to “get a baby out of prison” but after seeing where she was staying, he feels that Mindy was lying to him: “’Ha! Some prison. Seems you told me a bald-face lie.’”(123). Jake takes the meaning of prison literally, a room with bars, a place that one is unable to escape from. Jake does not realize that like

Charlotte’s situation, someone can be in prison mentally and emotionally, free of bars--

26 yet still unable to escape. Mindy articulates this type of emotional prison when she says,

“it really is a prison if you got no place else to go to” (125).

Mindy’s talk of imprisonment causes Charlotte to realize that she has escaped one

prison only to enter into another. While Jake does not smother her hopes and desires that way that Saul does, he is still a man that controls Charlotte. Indeed, Charlotte grows

immensely within the confines or the car, but it is a car that she is forced into, and is

made to stay in because of a chained door. While Charlotte has not enjoyed portions of

her adventure, it only gradually registers that she has been captured and imprisoned, and

Charlotte eventually thinks of the car in terms of a prison. Jake warns her, “’Don’t try no funny stuff, I got it [the passenger side door] locked with the men’s room chain’” (41).

Not only is Charlotte basically chained inside the car, she seems to fear cars in general because they are so enclosed: “Cars are closed-in spaces too, even without locked doors, and this one could smother a person” (41). When Jake forces Charlotte to take the driver’s seat while he pushes them out of a ditch, she talks of escaping: “I guided it a few feet down the road, wondering what I would do if the engine roared up and took off.

Freedom!” (46). But these few thoughts are as close as Charlotte comes to realizing that she holds the key to her own escape. In that moment Charlotte realizes that with a little more work, she would be ready to go out on her own. Although Jake has to force her to drive and she has a little accident, the fact that she actually drives the car is terribly empowering for Charlotte.

When she finally does realize her own power, she says simply: “’I’m leaving now,’” (196). Eventually, Charlotte’s new sense of power and determination to follow her own path keep her from turning around when Jake threatens to shoot her. Like any

27 other hero, she has completed a journey and slain her personal dragon, and while on that

journey learned a great deal about what she needs and wants in life. Walking away from

Jake, Charlotte contemplates her journey: “I had glided through so many dangers and

emerged unscathed.” She says these words with pride, yet then changes her mind,

“Come to think of it, I wasn’t so unscathed after all” (198). It was the “scathing” that

makes her the person she is. Charlotte does not walk away from this life altering event

unchanged, it’s the ‘chagne’ that made her journey successful. The difficult situation causes Charlotte to evaluate her life and realize that she is a terribly unhappy woman pretending to enjoy her lifestyle. However, through altering herself and her personality to deal with such challenges, she becomes a mature and self-confident woman.

When Charlotte returns home, she realizes that not much has changed externally, but a great deal has changed internally. She returns to her husband, her family, her home--all the things that she had fled. Charlotte realizes that the things that she left were not the problem; rather, she was the problem. Because she felt it was her job to care for her elderly and sickly parents, never before did she have the time or the opportunity to

learn about herself. Maybe if she had been able to leave home earlier she would have

grown independent earlier, but for her, “escape couldn’t be so easy” (55). Because of the

journey in the car, she has finally had her long overdue adventure and is ready to live her

life as an independent woman. The change in her being is obvious when Saul suggests

that they take a trip, to continue the whirl wind adventure she has just experienced, but

she rejects the idea: “I don’t see the need, I say, We have been traveling for years,

traveled all our lives, we are traveling still. We couldn’t stay in one place if we tried”

(200). Charlotte has realized that while there may be trials and tribulations throughout

28 life she can learn from enduring such situations and become an independent, vivacious person. Appreciating her life and taking advantage of all that it has to offer is what makes the journey worth taking. Knowing oneself and abilities makes all of those travels, whether mental, physical, or emotional all the more rewarding. Her time as a hostage forces her to look inside herself and discover her strengths and desires.

29 Chapter II: Jill McCorkle

Introduction: Jill McCorkle Chapter

In her collection of short stories, Crash Diet, and novel, Ferris Beach, Jill

McCorkle creates two very different heroes, Sandra Barkley and Kate Burns. Sandra

Barkley is a middle-aged woman who has come to a point in her life where it is necessary

for her to reinvent herself, and Kate Burns is a young female contemplating how best to

exit childhood and work towards becoming the type of woman she wants to be. Women of all ages reach plateaus in their lives where it is necessary for them to discover things about themselves that they never knew before as well as rediscover old wants and needs.

While these females are questing for different things, the image of the car is an integral part of their journeys in McCorkle’s fiction.

“Crash Diet” is a story of reinvention for Sandra Barkley. After her husband leaves her, Sandra uses the car to escape her loneliness and sets out on a mission to re- discover herself. According to Elinor Ann Walker, the characters of McCorkle’s Crash

Diet “succeed in defining spaces for themselves that are not contingent on a family or a community. Out of these potentially desperate circumstances, these women are able to seize upon their own worthiness, no matter what their ex-husbands, children, in-laws, or co-workers have called them” (11). Sandra uses the car to drive away from her life and reinvent herself. The car takes her from one manic attempt to hide her pain to the next.

Ultimately, Sandra must literally “crash” in order to discover her own strength and escape the need of having her husband in her life.

Self-discovery is also a very important theme in McCorkle’s Ferris Beach, as

Kate Burns, a budding young woman, attempts to uncover the multiple layers of her

30 identity. By observing the plethora of female personalities around her, Kate learns the

type of woman that she wants to become. Watching how these women close to her use their cars, she is able to surmise just how powerful a car can be. She realizes that if used properly, the car can transport her from one opportunity to the next. However, if the car is used improperly, the car can be harmful—even fatal. Barbara Bennett notes in her work, Understanding Jill McCorkle that Ferris Beach is a “female bildungsroman of the most classic kind. Kate moves from innocence to experience, from childish illusion to mature realization, and from ignorance about romance and sex to an understanding of true love and acceptance” (76).

Unlike Tyler’s characters, McCorkle’s characters are not really suppressed by men as much as they are hindered by the situations in which they find themselves.

Tyler’s character’s must escape their husbands and families in the car before they lose all sense of themselves. However, McCorkle’s characters use the car as a tool to learn more about themselves and their futures without escape. The symbol of the car still plays a central role in the heroic journeys of all these women. Whether their quests are literal or

figurative, this symbol of power, the car, helps them uncover the many layers of their identities. With the strength these women find through the car, they are able to discover

the truths in themselves and see their own potential.

31

“Crash Diet”

As Sandra Barkley’s husband speeds away from her, all she can focus on is his shiny red Mazda, symbolic of their relationship. Kenneth drives a “flashy red Mazda”

that his wife was against him getting in the first place. Sandra, in contrast, drives her

grandfather-in-laws “old Ford Galaxy, which still smelled like the apples that Kenneth’s

grandfather used to keep in it to combat his cigar smoke” (1,5). Kenneth sees himself as

flashy and cutting edge. He needs the trendy car to keep up his image. Not really

concerned with the way his wife feels about herself, or the way that others view her,

Kenneth sticks Sandra with the inherited clunker. Symbolically, then, Kenneth is

interested only in himself and what makes him feel good, while, Sandra is like the

Galaxy, an old reliable. So, when Kenneth leaves Sandra for Lydia, a younger woman,

she decides to get him where it hurts--his prized car. Sandra takes the blow of Kenneth leaving in stride when she:

went to my [her] pocketbook and got out the title to that Mazda that had

both our names on it. I poured a glass of wine, since it was summer

vacation from teaching sixth grade, painted my toenails, and then, in the

most careful way, I wrote in Kenneth’s handwriting that I (Kenneth

I.Barkley) gave full ownership of the Mazda to Sandra White Barkley, and

then I signed his name. (3)

Because the car serves as a symbol of power for Sandra, she wants to take power away from him and use it for herself. Kenneth has caused Sandra an enormous amount of pain throughout their marriage, and when he leaves her, Sandra looks for a way to expel

32 all of her anger and to create a new life for herself. This need is embodied in the car. It

is her plan to have the letter giving her ownership of the car notarized and then report the

car missing. However, after she “had driven by Lydia’s house fourteen times-the first

four of which the Mazda was out front and the other ten parked two blocks behind the

fish market” (6), Sandra realized that she is “too tired” both physically and emotionally to hurt Kenneth; she needs to place all of her energy in going on with her life.

With Kenneth gone, it is her car, the Galaxy, that introduces an upbeat vibe in

Sandra’s life. Driving to the supermarket she sees the power of mobility: “It felt so good

being in the car with the radio going, so I didn’t get out at the Piggly Wiggly but kept

driving” (6). In the car Sandra is in her own, small, solitary world. Feeling happy,

Sandra drives and drives. Relishing in her own world, she checks into a hotel, which becomes a symbol of her new found independence. She has so no one to call home to, no one to answer to. While we don’t know exactly what Sandra does in her room, we do know that this is a freeing experience: “I liked it so much that I stayed a week and ate coleslaw from Kentucky Fried Chicken. When I got home, I bought some carrots at the

Piggly Wiggly” (6). Never before had the Galaxy been so alluring to Sandra. Before, the

Galaxy was simply a mode of transportation to get to and from Kenneth. Now the car, her car, is her ticket to self-discovery.

Because of her car, Sandra is able to make many of these escape trips fairly regularly. Her adventures do not always include overnight jaunts, but they all cost a lot of money, money charged on Kenneth I. Barkley’s Master Card, which also helps Sandra in releasing her anger—thus allowing her the chance to reinvent herself. One of the items that she invests in is a new look: “I went to the beauty parlor and told them I wanted the

33 works--treatments, facials, haircut, new shampoo, mousse, spray, curling wand” (7).

There is more to her spending spree than reinvention, though. Spending Kenneth’s money begins as revenge but quickly changes to become frantic and terribly unhealthy behavior.

Sandra graduates from the understandable stress relieving day at the spa and moved on to rather manic behavior. Speeding around Revco with her cart, as she does in her car, Sandra frantically fills the cart with material possessions in an attempt to fill the emotional void in her life. Nail polish, steak knives, yarn, and azaleas, however, cannot make up for lack of self-esteem, and it takes a downward spiral, when Sandra lands in the hospital, for her to stop the mania and come to an appreciation of her own life.

Although Sandra thinks she is rebuilding her life, she is really tearing it down.

Checking herself into the hospital to get help for her excessive weight loss is the first step to getting control of her life. Barbara Bennett, in her book Understanding Jill

McCorkle, notes the importance of Sandra signing herself in the hospital under the pseudonym “Lydia Barkley.” Bennett suggests that this ‘synthesis’ of Lydia, the name of her husband’s mistress, and Barkley, her husband’s surname works to articulate the depths of Sandra’s “lack of understanding about who she will be once she is no longer

Sandra Barkley” (99). The time spent in the hospital heals Sandra not only physically, but emotionally as well. When we meet this new woman, Sandra--not Sandra Barkley-- we realize that she is healthy and strong. Sandra says she is “feeling much better” but the reader can tell that much more than her physical health has improved. Sandra goes full speed into this new challenge of starting over as a single woman. Unfortunately, she has to ‘crash’ not in a car but within herself before she really discovers her own identity.

34 As she signs her divorce papers, it is obvious that her personality has bloomed

and her new sense of individuality has flourished. With the makings of a party to

celebrate her new life behind her and her past staring her in the face, Sandra is able to

show her newfound faith in herself that allows her to ignore the wondering gaze of

Kenneth and focus on the task at hand: “I focused instead on signing my name, my real name, in my own handwriting, which if analyzed would be a script of a fat person” (14).

Sandra has clearly found her independence; however, she is still dealing with issues

surrounding her weight and self-esteem that have haunted her throughout her lifetime.

Sandra and Kenneth’s meeting shows her growth but not to an unrealistic extent.

McCorkle is suggesting that Sandra still has to work on some aspects of her life while

simultaneously highlighting all the strides that she has already made. Sandra has gained

knowledge on her journey and she is putting that knowledge to work. On her trek to

independence, Sandra has learned that she can depend on herself and that she must value

herself.

The car helps Sandra release a great deal of the anger that she had been carrying

around inside of her and grow. The fact that Sandra is conscious of her mistakes and

decides to repay Kenneth for some of the damage that she did to his credit and switch the

title of the Mazda back to his name is proof that she now values herself and is responsible

for her actions. After this long and very eventful journey, Sandra has come to realize that

it is the past and the present, her strengths and weaknesses, that make her a complete

person--not material possessions like a flashy red Mazda.

The car serves as a metaphor for Sandra’s journey. She hops into the car and

speeds away from her recently altered life. However, she must “crash” to really change.

35 Before the “crash,” Sandra was simply trying to cover up her pain with make-up and a new hair-style. Her crash forced her to face her pain and heal not only physically, but emotionally as well. Once she is well, Sandra is able to speed forward into a new life.

36

Ferris Beach

In McCorkle’s fourth novel, Ferris Beach, the car is synonymous with a flashing yellow hazard light, a symbol of caution. The women in the novel who use cars generally do not use them in a productive manner. Kate Burns does not jump behind the wheel and speed off in search of herself; instead, she studies the women around her and specifically the way that they use their cars.

Kate is on a female heroic quest, and in her particular case, she is searching for a suitable role model, an example of the type of women that she would like to become.

Kate has quite a choice of personalities and lifestyles from which to pick. Quickly, Kate dismisses her mother, Cleva, from the running because Kate sees her mother’s life as a monotonous existence full of tense feelings and tight hair pins. Cleva even describes her own lifestyle in a sarcastic, rather demeaning manner: “I’m just doing my same old little housewife things, just whipping up a little chicken Kiev, baking some breads, chocolate cherries and mandarin oranges for dessert” (137). Kate's view of a neighbor, Mrs.

Poole’s lifestyle is similar. Kate notices at an early age that these two females live for other people; they adopt appearances for society’s sake, whether they like their appearances or not.

Kate is mesmerized however, by two other women: her mysterious cousin Angela and Mo Rhodes ,her best friend’s mother. Kate also examines the personalities and lifestyles of girls her own age—alive as well as historical. Perry Loomis and Helen

Keller offer Kate the ability to escape as a girl, while the figures of the older women are modeling the future for Kate. Bennett suggests that Kate’s visions of these women are

37 “shattered one by one as Kate watches her idols slip off the unsteady pedestals she has constructed, and she is left without the support of her fantasies” (79). With such fantasies shattered, Kate must see each woman for what she is. It is with the help of cars that Kate is able to truly see the women that she admires most for what they really are.

Mo and Angela, for example, use their cars to escape; however, they do not escape in search of self-discovery. While they may think that they are escaping the constraints of a loving family or a line-up of boyfriends, Kate eventually realizes that what they are really trying to escape is themselves. Angela uses her car to flee one unhealthy relationship and speed into the next. She seeks refuge in man after man because she yearns to “feel” loved. The identity of her father was never known and her mother died shortly after childbirth; therefore, Angela has dealt with feelings of emptiness her entire life. Instead of accepting and loving herself, Angela uses men to fill the voids in her life. After each failed attempt to feel whole, Angela, usually, makes a

“pit stop” at the Burns’ residence to “re-fuel.” Whether Angela stops in search of financial assistance or simply to remember that someone loves her, Kate is intelligent enough to question why Angela never stays with her family to work on her life rather than worrying about where she will find her next relationship.

When it comes to trying to understand Mo Rhodes’ desertion of her family, Kate again looks st the car. Following her selfish impulses, Mo abandons her family during the 4th of July fireworks display. Kate and her best friend Misty realize something is wrong when they return to Misty’s families picnic spot:

There was a breeze high in the limbs of those summer

green trees, the smell of clover and onion grass, chicken

38 and watermelon, and when I looked back over at Mo Rhodes,

she and Buddy were gone, the tiki torches casting a yellow

glow on the empty quilt. (81).

Misty is visibly upset that her mother is missing and Kate attempts to ease her pain.

Later, they find out that Mo has left her family to be with her best friend’s husband,

Gene, with whom she has been having a torrid affair. Just as spontaneously, Mo decides to bring her baby, Buddy, home to his father, Mr. Rhodes. Unfortunately, they never made it, “They wrecked” (91). Kate ponders the realization of Mo’s death and the way the town handles the news:

For thirty-odd hours that Mo Rhodes was out on the highway with her

lover, both running away, deserting homes, spouses, children, for those

hours, they were the talk at every table, on every phone – cheap and dirty

and hussy and whore, low and lousy and thoughtless and cruel, stupid and

hell bound and not worth the breath in their bodies. And then forty-eight

hours later it was as if nothing had happened: Mo Rhodes had made a

mistake and way on her way home. She was on her way home. (93)

The town condemned, Mo for abandoning her family and running away with a married man. However, once they think she is returning home, she is forgiven. The tone of the

town changes rapidly once it was known that Mo Rhodes, her baby, and lover are dead.

After these incidents, Kate begins to see the car as a vehicle for escape –but not necessarily an intelligent choice.

Ironically, it is not a female who has the greatest influence on Kate’s life. Her father, Fred Burns, teaches her that she doesn’t have to fit into a pre-determined ‘female’

39 role. He knows more about his daughter than she knows about herself. Fred Burns encourages interactions and situations that allow Kate to see various ways of life. It is his desire that his daughter know that there is no limit to the things that she can do. The symbol of the car plays a mammoth role in their relationship. Fred uses the car as a tool to teach his daughter all that is available to her. From their first trip to Clemmonsville,

Fred makes a strong effort to teach Kate the importance of developing her own identity.

He stresses, through his collections of obituaries and other random acts that one can never be certain of how much time is left. Sometimes people succeed and other times they don’t. Fred leads by example. As a father, Fred believes that it is his duty to protect his daughter from all harm but also knows he must let her experience life to its fullest.

For the majority of his life, Fred is able to protect her; however, when he and Kate visit a pond, they see ducks brutally attack one another, and there is nothing that Fred can do to protect his daughter from this violent encounter. Fred apologizes: “’Sorry you saw that,’ my father said, then and many times after. ‘And I’m sorry I couldn’t stop it all” (224).

While the encounter may seem trivial and even comedic, it is from this point on that Kate realizes that he will not always be there for her, that she must learn to care for herself.

Only she is in control of how things affect her -only she is in control of her destiny.

Shortly after the duck encounter, Fred dies and of course, his death crushes Kate.

After his death, Kate’s mother tells her that her father has purchased a car for her.

“Your father bought you a used taxi, Mary Katherine.” She said words hastily

but firmly. “He had the meter removed and the Plexiglas between the seats

removed, and he had it painted dark green.” She paused, took in a deep

breath. “He thought you would enjoy a car big enough to carry around

40 a lot of friends, so he asked that they leave the little pull-out stool. He

said it was the safest car made, built like a tank.” (249)

A refurbished green taxi cab hints at a father’s desire to protect his daughter with a ‘safe’ car even when he can’t be there to do it himself. The purchase of the car also speaks to Fred’s belief that his daughter had the power to get behind the wheel and go after the type of life that she desired, knowing he can’t follow.

While all of the tragedy in Kate Burns’ life has taught her a great deal about her emotions and desires, the majority of it could have been avoided. The two women that she admires most in the world use the car as a way to find instant pleasure. Angela and

Mo use the car to run away from their problems. While the mobility of the car is useful, it is only beneficial if used appropriately. Instead of working on their feelings of inadequacy they drive right back into the problems. Through the gift that Kate’s father leaves her, she is able finally to synthesize all of the happenings of her life and realize that her mother isn’t so bad. McCorkle uses the car to warn Kate of all the troubles that come from using the car simply to run away. After Fred’s death, Kate and Cleva take

Angela to the bus station. With Kate in the driver’s seat, it is clear that she has learned from her experiences whether positive or negative. Her place in the driver’s seat suggests her independence and strength. With her taxi and her knowledge, Kate has the ability to leave Fulton and become anything that she desires, just as her father knew that she would.

41 Conclusion

Jumping into a car and speeding away from their lives may not seem like a life changing

or heroic act to some, but, to Anne Tyler and Jill McCorkle’s female characters studied here it is just that, life changing and heroic. Delia, Charlotte, Sandra and Kate are able to look at their lives with the social blinders removed and see what their lives have become or were destined to become. Through the car, these women were able to reevaluate their existences. Their stories are different from the stereotypical “male model” of escape through the automobile. These women have not reached a mid-life crisis; purchased a sports car and left their families for new, younger loves. Instead, “these women writers connect the automobile with women positively, in order to emphasize the constraints on

how women are allowed to live and how they nevertheless manage to empower

themselves” (Farr, 159). These female characters shed their responsibilities and go after

their identities, not sexual licentiousness.

Because the societies that these women find themselves in are mandated by

traditional, stereotypical social mores where the wife is thought of as subservient and is

happy with such a role in life makes the fact that they were able to escape as opposed to

just dreaming about it is tremendous.

Anne Tyler and Jill McCorkle give their characters power and a sense of self worth.

While the obtainment of power means various things for different audiences, Farr states

that “For women, power translated into freedom and control over their own lives” (158).

Freedom is want these women desired most. Not necessarily freedom from their

husbands, children, or parents. Not freedom from their daily routines. But freedom from

42 the preconceived notion of what they themselves thought that they were supposed to do, how they were to act, dress, behave—frankly perform, as a way to prove to themselves, their families, and society as a whole that they were proper women, living proper lives.

While the mentality of being ‘proper’ have mostly fallen to the wayside in current culture it still manages to sneak its ugly head in every once in a while. In terms of cars, advertisements are still assuming that men make up their prime market. Therefore, ads for trucks, sports cars, etc. speak of speed, durability, and off-road capabilities while women are seen still as “workers”. There may be mini-vans that cater to the “New

Mom,” but the new mom is still perceived as needing a mini van to transport groceries and soccer balls. Interestingly, like the women in these novels, the women in the mini van advertisements seem content in their semi-domestic lives, however they need an outlet the allows them to go into themselves and express themselves in a manner that is totally disconnected form their families. Ads depict women cramming surfboards or canvases into their vans, they have found outlets to express themselves while the female characters studies in Anne Tyler and Jill McCorkle’s work need to first escape their situations, learn new aspects of their own identities and then focus on how to implement the expression of those newfound parts of themselves. The car gives Delia, Charlotte,

Sandra, and Kate a chance to explore themselves, find what makes them feel powerful and whole as a single entity then, and only then are they able to feel whole as part of a family or relationship.

Tyler and McCorkle also handle the immersion of their characters power, and impending freedom in contrasting manners. Tyler’s style is much more tidy. Her works read as though you are overhearing women talk over tea and cookies. The emotion is

43 there, the expression is there, but she is careful not to say too much—not to make too much of a spectacle. Delia and Charlotte yearn for a sense of self worth, hounding by the stress of caring for their husbands and families they have lost themselves. McCorkle’s work is much more chaotic, more life like. In reality, worlds fall apart and through self- exploration and time people are able to build themselves back up. This is definitely the case for Sandra and Kate, their worlds collapse and through both the availability of the car and its symbolism these women are able to come out of chaos and live stronger more fulfilling lives.

Following the path of many heroes before them these women set out on journeys, of their own volition or not, and drastically alter their life paths. Anne Tyler and Jill

McCorkle create situation where through the symbol of the car, their reader can become aware of the necessity of knowing oneself and being an independent entity. Delia,

Charlotte, Sandra, and Kate all find their strength behind the wheel. Strength that allotted them the freedom to fly, full speed ahead, into their new lives.

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