Bastard Out of Carolina, Chapter 4, Part Deux

Another thing I noticed was the gender role reversal we find when Bone is the ring bearer. Interesting.

My mom was married to a crazy man named Jack, and he reminds me of Daddy Glen when on page 43 he says, "Come on, girls." He is loud and impatient for no apparent reason. He seems agitated with them because he already has a superior being on his way as Anney is pregnant with Glen's baby boy. He treats these girls like they are inferior and in the way of his happiness.

Daddy Glen is now eating cornbread and pinto beans on the regular, an inverse situation from chapter two? in which he ate "lower class" Southern food for the first time. He is branching out far beyond his upper class roots, and the roots are starting to take hold as the reader can see.

"Beau didn't like Glen much at all, couldn't, he admitted, since he never trusted a man who didn't drink." Hahahahaha. My love-hate relationship with white trash comedienne Chelsea Handler goes a little something like this. In one of her books she writes that there are two kinds of people she cannot trust, those who do not drink and those who collect stickers. I practice both of these regularly! There is something strange though about those that do not drink...sometimes...I don't drink but a few glasses of wine a year, but it is for health reasons. I've found that most people who don't drink have some strange air about them.

"Mama thought it was unlucky to choose a name for a baby till it was born." Mama chose Ruth Ann's name before she was born.

Daddy Glen touches Bone and I don't know what to write about this yet except that it is not uncommon. Uncomfortable to read, but reality is uncomfortable and I applaud Allison for being able to write about it.

Fortunately not everyone endures an older male who takes advantage of a younger female. However, when I was ten years old I was cornered by a thirteen year old friend of my cousin. It was when that huge ice storm came through in 2000 and we were out of school all week. While every single one of my relatives was taking refuge in/on my family's estate, I was on the same property becoming familiarized with things that were not cushioned by time or age. I understand what Bone feels...confused...hurt...does this mean that he likes me?...ashamed that someone would find out...guilty...like it was my fault...dirty. Although my experience did not involve a father figure, it was a male that I trusted. I completely understand what Allison was trying to convey through Bone. I too had seen my cousins naked, but seeing it in a not so jovial situation made my stomach turn.