"First Person Rural": Cadow's GATHER, and a few other works to think about...

I finished Ken Cadow's YAF book titled Gather. I liked it quite a bit, and I noticed that it covered some of the same social issues/ family issues that S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders confronts, but in a more relevant way to today's young people, especially those who live in our area of the country. Extreme poverty, classism, adult drug addiction, non-support from absentee parents, and a young person having to navigate this mess while being emotionally unready... all too familiar, I'm sorry to say.

I hope I can get approval to put a few copies on the shelves at school. I know there are kids who would read it and love it, who would root for the main character and who would feel real empathy for him due to their own experiences. When people say that kids need to "see themselves" in a text, this is what we can do for them. There will be those people who object to the "salty" language, but I'd argue that the language is appropriate to the character and his situation. He's struggling, he's managing the best he can, but sometimes it's overwhelming. We need to acknowledge that an authentic character speaks like most people would in those types of situations. 

Which brings me to the minor revelation I had while reading an interview with the author that was published right after the book came out, but before it won some big-time prizes. Cadow referenced another author, Noel Perrin, who had coined the term "first person rural." Yes! That's what it is! The character telling the story is speaking authentically; his speech is particular to his circumstances and his location and it is deeply rooted in place. This is not the same as dialect, but that device may be part of it. Phrases, not merely pronunciation, are hallmarks of "first person rural," -- and this is not a new notion. A believable character who speaks authentically to and of their experience, and of a place that is deeply ingrained in their life, can only have come from that particular place, time, and circumstances. One of my favorite NEK authors, Howard Frank Mosher, is a master at "first person rural" characters. I would posit, many of Robert Frost's narrative poems employ this idea as well (think: "good fences make good neighbors")-- as I said, I've had a revelation. 

Some of my own poems (apparently) use this POV, the ones where the speaker is a persona (not me!), or there is a character that is a persona. I read two poems yesterday at The Frost Place, and one of them has a character that is of a particular type, speaks with the authentic diction of a person who is quite comfortable in his own ignorance and unwillingness to learn anything new. The title of the poem, "When Bubba Learned that Corona's Not Just a Beer," employs a stereotype, it's true. The character is at a cookout/ solar eclipse watch party, and just doesn't get it: he confuses the corona with the beer, with Covid, and ultimately disses both China and Mexico while demanding a Budweiser. Clearly, that character is not me. He is a composite of so many people I have heard speaking, and his mannerisms and ways of willfully misunderstanding things is familiar to me as well. It's funny; when I got home from the open mic, I had an email from a journal-- they have accepted this very same poem. 

I have others that have been accepted for publication; one is from the POV of an aging woman who is fighting her loneliness by working extra hard to be "sexy" and available, for example. Clearly, not me. But it's interesting to slip into those personae, to speak from their experiences, to find the common darkness under their speech. They are all a facade, right? We are all prone to a little loneliness and disorder, and how we work with it and through it becomes a big part of who we are. Working with characters is a good way to walk in someone else's shoes, to maybe develop some empathy for a person we don't really like, but we know from association. 

I know so many fine writers who use this device, but I have never heard it so clearly named. I'm glad to have a term to use in order to describe it for both students and for my own writing. The danger, of course, is the pull towards caricature, towards stereotyping, and thus, making a mockery. "Camp" is not authentic in any way. "First person rural" can, and should, be used with tenderness and respect, even if the character is intentionally unlikeable. 

Have a good day, friends.

C