Katherine Anne Porter: Grandchild Of A Lost War

Introduction Katherine Anne Porter was born in 1890 and died in 1980. She was one of the influential authors of her age. She has won several prizes; including the Pulitzer Prize. Apart from her literary identity, she is also known as a political activist. She has been widely influenced from the literary atmosphere of 20th. century. She was born in a wealthy southern family. Her southern ancestry and childhood played an important role in her literary identity. In The Norton Anthology of American Literature it is written that , “ She herself declared that she was the grandchild of a Lost War” (1574). Surprisingly, she has a unique place in American Literature of 20th century. Her place in American literature is clearly stated in Harry John Mooney’s book The Fiction and Criticism of Katherine Anne Porter : Katherine Anne Porter is an anomaly in contemporary American literature. The amount of her published work is very small, and her reputation is extremely high with nearly all schools of modern critics (1). To summarise her heritage plays an important role in her writings besides her place among the American authors is quite different from the others. II. Political Aspects The story has some symbolic political messages in it such as the class issue. As we know there are so many theories, ideas and articles about this …show more content…
It can be said that this section is connected with class issue more than the other. We can say that our main character and her friends are living in a dream, not reality. They don’t want to accept their class condition and they act like they are ‘big artists’. They want people to see them as ‘real artists’ but they are all aware of the fact that they are not. As we mentioned before, Porter loves to create psychological confliction in her characters. Her chracaters generally live in a complex psychology and denial, this creates a confliction. In Joan Givner’s book Katherine