Everyone heard the idiom, “one bad apple spoils the whole bunch,” as a child. Norrell portrays a similar storyline in the south during the Civil Rights Era in his novel Eden Rise. Looking at the Southerners as a whole, they all seem bad because of the viewpoints of a few. The few carry influence throughout the south and the other Southerners feel inclined to follow suit. Tom McKee’s family received old money and power in the small town of Eden Rise. A regular stop at a country store on McKee’s drive home from college with friends turned for the worst. Shots fired at the country store lead to the showing of the true colors of McKee’s small hometown. Norrell’s portrayal of white Southerners overall shows inept racism throughout, but upon
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By using what McKee’s grandmother, Bebe, called “negro detection,” Bebe’s helper discovered plans of men within the county to dethrone McKee’s father, Buddy McKee, from his probate judge position. McKee finding trouble on his way home became the metaphorical last straw which set their plan into action. They were behind many of the crimes committed to the McKee family. The men’s crimes against the McKees shows Norrell’s view of the backwardness of the southern people. The use of “Negro detection” also shows the backwardness because the African Americans, whom the whites consider the less knowledgeable race, actually hold the most information. Bebe proclaimed as “an irony…that the people who have all the power often have only a small portion of the information” (136). To Bebe, power corrupted many of the men throughout the south, and the corruption of power led the men to desire more power.
McKee and others who leave the deep south provide the small glimmer of hope in Norrell’s novel for a change in the status quo of the south. Many people dislike change which provides reason for the lack of change in racism over the years since the Civil War in the south. The change requires southerners to leave the comfort of the deep south, like McKee, and experience similar the rest of the world. The southerners who manage to break free need to return to bring the change from the outside world into the deep
By using what McKee’s grandmother, Bebe, called “negro detection,” Bebe’s helper discovered plans of men within the county to dethrone McKee’s father, Buddy McKee, from his probate judge position. McKee finding trouble on his way home became the metaphorical last straw which set their plan into action. They were behind many of the crimes committed to the McKee family. The men’s crimes against the McKees shows Norrell’s view of the backwardness of the southern people. The use of “Negro detection” also shows the backwardness because the African Americans, whom the whites consider the less knowledgeable race, actually hold the most information. Bebe proclaimed as “an irony…that the people who have all the power often have only a small portion of the information” (136). To Bebe, power corrupted many of the men throughout the south, and the corruption of power led the men to desire more power.
McKee and others who leave the deep south provide the small glimmer of hope in Norrell’s novel for a change in the status quo of the south. Many people dislike change which provides reason for the lack of change in racism over the years since the Civil War in the south. The change requires southerners to leave the comfort of the deep south, like McKee, and experience similar the rest of the world. The southerners who manage to break free need to return to bring the change from the outside world into the deep