Oral History Quiz-Question 3

The main character in Oral History is Jennifer. She is the person that asked the questions and brought the tape recorder that caused everyone to tell here their stories. Also, the book begins with her first arriving at the house and ends when she leaves the house. At the same time, however, she is also only mentioned in the beginning and the end of the book. Some may see this as a reason to suggest that Jennifer is not, in fact, the main character of the story. On the other hand, it is necessary to notice that the only reason that this story is told is because Jennifer had to do an oral history project. Some of the sections are even specifically directed at Jennifer, especially Granny Younger’s section. When Granny Younger says things like, “I know moren I want to tell you, and moren you want to know,” (27). There are other characters that people might say are the main characters of Oral History, but there are certain aspects of each that disprove this point. The main reason that Granny Younger is not the main character is because she dies during the story. Even though she is still mentioned throughout, she no longer significantly affects the direction of the book. This is basically the same reason why the other characters are not the main characters of the story. They have parts, some of them are relatively significant, but none are as important as Jennifer’s.

Oral History Quiz-Question 1

Lee Smith writes about the residents of Appalachia in a poor light that might not be excused if she was not from the region herself. However, because she is a native of the region, I feel that she should be excused from writing like she does about Appalachia. An educated reader knows that the characters that Smith portrays in this story do not represent the entire population of Appalachia. I also think that any people from Appalachia that read this story understand that she is not trying to stereotype the entire Appalachian region. I also do not think that natives of the region would take offense to any of the characters in the story because for one, most readers should recognize that this is a work of fiction and people should not take offense. In addition, I think that at least some of the characters readers can relate to, or they have had some relatives that are like the characters in the story. For instance there are definitely grandmothers like Granny Younger that know all the gossip about everyone in the neighborhood and they really are not afraid to share that information with the rest of the neighborhood. Overall, I think that Lee Smith is allowed a pass because she is from the region. However at the same time she should not go too far and write several books that include a lot of stereotypical characters. I think that Oral History is an appropriate balance and I do not think that anyone from the region or anyone else for that matter should take offense.