The Role Of Counterstories In Marcia Gaudet's Carville

In Marcia Gaudet’s Carville: Remembering Leprosy in America, the idea is presented that “counterstories seek to alter the dominant group’s assumptions as well as the oppressed person’s perception of herself,” serving as “narrative acts of insubordination” (Nelson qtd in Gaudet, emphases in original). Counterstories have been used throughout history to share and pass the experiences of multiple folklorist groups, to ignite insight into individual’s plights and to ensure justice will be seen/brought at some point to the oppressed groups. Counterstories affect the dominant group by reducing their social and political power and they also provide an alternate identity to oppressed individuals who are seeking retribution for their mistreatment from …show more content…
“Part of the reason Hurston takes an indirect approach to race stems from her dependence on white figures who exerted considerable control over her work” (Meisenhelder 268). Hurston depicts counterstories throughout Mules and Men in an entertaining forum, so as not to offend the dominant group that controlled her profession and thus restrict the opportunity to illustrate the counterstories of individuals who had been forced, for no other reason, to live an oppressed life due to the color of their skin. Using the African Americans she encountered and their counterstories as an avenue to get others in the dominant society to realize their idiocy and change their views towards African Americans, was very subtle and slow. If Hurston would have written from the point of view of an enraged African American, then the dominant society would have “tuned” her stories out. Realizing that entertaining the dominant group was the way to reveal stories of hurts and misunderstandings through humor, provided opportunities for Hurston to share the counterstories to a larger audience. Also Hurston reveals through the many characters portrayed in her narratives that the dominant group (white people) can relate to the trials and frustrations of the African Americans. Hurston’s counterstories created a mirror into the lives of African Americans for the whites to realize they shared more than they imagined. One such story that sticks out would be the narrative of Rachel Roe (Hurston 240). She had been rejected and scorned by a man whom she had invested time and money into; just to be left for a younger woman. Her resentment towards her ex lover, John Doe, was so deep that she was even willing to kill the man to gain solace. “But if he were dead she could smile again, yes-could go back to her work and save some more money, yes. Perhaps