Author: Patty Peacock Wright

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13:

Literature teems with images of the social outcast from a variety of times and cultures as it seeks to examine and reveal motivating factors that drive intolerance. Drawing from studies of American southern culture through shifting time periods, this thesis provides a historical backdrop as it explores specific social outcasts depicted in Bette Greene's novels Summer of My German Solder, Morning Is A Long Time Coming and The Drowning of Stephan Jones. Through the history and settings of the novels, Greene provides significant cultural information through which the actions of her characters can be analyzed. Alienation, bullying and discrimination are prominent factors as they relate to the idea of the social outcast. Current interest and research into the plight of the social outcast reveals that human beings are socially dependent creatures who have a strong need for acceptance and that those targeted for social exclusion are often confused and devastated by their ostracism. Greene does an excellent job of illustrating this need for acceptance as she explores the vulnerability of the social outcast and the dangers that discrimination and bullying pose to society as a whole. Greene, who herself was bullied and discriminated against as a child, uses her writing to bring awareness to her young readers about this timely and important subject. Using material collected from a personal interview with the author, close readings of her novels, and research on relevant social/historical contexts, this thesis examines the rendering of the social outcast in Greene's fiction and the effects that social ostracism has on the individual.