Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' The yearling - UFDC Image Array 2

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MARJORIE KIMNAN RAV/LINGS' TUI: YFARLING:
A STUDY IN THE RHrTORICAI ^FFECTIVE^ilESi 01-"A NOVEL
EDN'A LO'UiSE SAPFY
A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE CO-JNCIL Oi
THE UNr\'T:R5ITY OF FLORIDA
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Copyright 1976
Edna Louise Satfy
To G'^iadij EoJiZ Jokn-bon, Juyvion.
[lla n.a.{^lk haycutl makabatzyi abadiyah]
. .
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish 10 acknov;ledge those individuals who con-
tributed to the accoTTiplish'rient of this document.
Without Dr. Ronald Carpenter, a scholar, a gentle-
parson, and T.)' iTcentcr, this dissertation would neither have
come into existence, nor have reached coT.pietion. He
gave not only of his wisdom but also of his faith. In a
house divided, only by his example was the profession
defined.
The dissertation itself serves as an acknowledge-
ment to another, that "Canadian Serpent" v/ho both sus-
tained and nurtured me, for without Grady Earl Johnson,
Jr., there v.ould have been nothing.
The work of this volume reflects the composition
cf av corrjaitteo and to each of the mem.bers T am grateful :
to Dr. Lcland Zimmerman for. his introduction tc the gradu-
ate st'jdy of speech; to Pr. Donald KLiliams for liis knowi-
ed{;e; to Dr. Patricia Schmidt for her direction; to Dx
Vincent McCuire ^os hLi p!?r.Tpe',.ti\e.
T would like tc acknowledge the others In rhe
Speech Defarcinent of t'i-3 Jniversity of i'Lorida, witliout
who.s':? aid t'l^s •voi'k ^hs i'.';<.cmpi.:'s.'.^d
Since a dissertation is never wi-itten alone, there
are so many o::hers to tnank; Dr. Laura Monti, who guided
ir.e through the freasures of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Collection; Dr. Harry Sisler^ Dean of the Graduate School,
viho gave me his friendship; Dr. Cal VanderWerf, Bean of
the College of Arts and Sciences, and Dr. Ruth McOuov/n,
Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, who
both gave me their support.
And rhere are iiiore to v,hoTn I am grateful; to
a group called Bloomsbury; to a small friend V'jb,ose name
belied her value; and finally to the person with whOiTi it
all began—my mother, Sadie Daumit Saffy.
i
\'\BLE OF COiMTZNTS
-ase
ACKNCWLEDGE^IENTS iii
ABSIRACT vi
CHAPTER
ONE INTRODUCTIGN 1
URneigvieornsaallismTheansicaofSymTbhoeliYcearBal~isnTgJ of -. . . 5
Universality 6
Regionalisn as a Rhetorical Response
to a Crisis 11
The Study of Regional Literature as
Rhetorical Discourse 20
Methodology 24
Utilization of the Mariorie Kinnan
Rav/liags Collection 5C
Conclusion 31
TWO MAR.JORIE KINNAN R.A.WLING5' T[!RCRY OF
COMPOSITION 35
Biographical Sketch 36
Awareness of Audience 39
Communication of Beauty Through Reality .. 42
Definitiou of Beauty 13
Responses to Beauty i~
Sources of Beauty ParticularL)' in
The Yearling 19
Theory of Comnositicn Necessary to Achieve
Effect of Beauty Through Creation
of Reality 55
Through the Process of Characteriration. 3^>
True-to-11re character!:arion 5?
Universality in characterization tf.'
L'l'titv In ch'iract'.'.ri."•!tJ.o;"i 63
Through Ust of Facts and Details 66
Methods of Expression 69
Ghi£c-:ivit--' 71
Uic-l-v::: 72
Si'HDlicity 74
Conclusion 79
THREE RESPONSE FROM THE GENERAL READERSHIP 81
Readership Response to Effect of Beauty ... 84
Response Based Jpon Perception of
Reality as Produced b/ Mariorie
Kinnan Rawlings 86
Response to individual Elements of
Marjorie Kinnan P.awlmgs' Theory
of Composition 90
Response to the process of
characterization 90
Response to facts and details 97
Response to obiectivity 99
Conelusion '. '. 10^
FOUR RESPONSE FROM PROFESSIONAL READERSHIP 103
Professional Readership Response to
Effect of Beauty 107
•.
Response Based Upon Perception of
Reality Ill
Response to Individual Elements of
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' Composition 114
Response to the process of .
characterization 115
Response to facts and details 123
Response to objectivity 126
Response to dialect 128
Response to simplicity , 131
Conclusion 135
FiVS CONCLUSION 137
,
Sumnary 157
Perspective 151
BIBLIOGRAPHY 133
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 163
,
Abstract of Disserra-ion Preserited. to the Graduate Council
ot the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillnient cf the
Requirerie:its for the Degree of Doctor of Phiio:sophy
M-XRjORIE KINNAN RAV/LINGS' the YEARLING
STUDY IN THE RHETORICAL EFFECTIVENESS OF A:NOVEL
By
Edna Louise Saffy
March 1976
Chairperson: Ronald C. Carpenter
Major DepartT.ent: Speech
In 19.39 Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was awarded the
Pulitzer Prize in Letters for her novel, The Yearling and
,
elected to the Academy of <^.Tts ?.nd Letters. Marjorie
Kinnan Ra^'lings wrote with a preset concept of effective-
ness. Her theory of composition as evinced by her personal
papers, lecture notes, scrapbooks, newspaper articles,
and correspondence ?Loai.ed in the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Collection at the. University cf Florida Library, was based
upon the creation of a sense oF reality, which she believed
^
neces'-ary in orde:- to conxiuiiicuce beauty. Her heory_A'',:L-
corporated the proces-i cf characterization, true-to-lice
depiction, universa1it/\ unity, the use on facts .i">' .iv^r.iil-^
objectivity, simplicity, and dialect.
Regionalism was the iitera'-y vehicle Marjorie Kinnan
Rawl i.njjs chose for her novel, and in so doinj?, she responded
rhetorically to an exigence, in accordance v;ith the ccii-
straints of her personal theorv- of coinposition Region-
.
alisn, at that point in history, served as a response to
a crisis; that is, the untenable situation of a population
in the iriidst of society's ills during the Depression. Her
writing had as its purpose the communication of the beauty
which Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings found in the Big Scrub
country and its people, and by extension, of humanity in
harmony wiih the environment. That Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings'
purpose was effectively achieved has been borne out by
thorough investigation of the responses of both her gen-
eral readership and her professional critics.
This investigation places the effectiveness of
Marjorie f^innan Rav-zlings' no'vol into the broader context
of modern rhetorical criticIsmi and attempts to illume the
rhetorical interaction of sender, message, and receiver
in ^vhich the author o+' a novel determ^ines a method or
theory of composition predicated upon the effect she wishes
to acliieve.
CHAPTER ONE
INVRODUCTION
The Yearling was first publisb.ed in 195S. For
it, Majorie Kinnan Rav/lingi v/as awarded the Pulitzer
Prize in Letters for a Novel in 1939 and elected to the
Academy of Arts and Letters. Receiving universal acclaim,
The Yearling was subsequently translated into thirteen
lang'jages and cited as the most ''distinguished novel
published during the year by an American author dealing
with American lirJe."" Reissued v-ith a special ''Study
Guide" geared to secondary schools, the novel has been a
part of the curriculum tiiroughout the country; and the
book has been designated "a classic" and "a literary
masterpiece"" on a regional, national, as well as an
international level. Chosen as a Pook-ot-tho-Month Club
selection at publication, accolades wore heaped upon it
(.Mew York:R. RR., RB,ovvckoewrk,eri'.iCtformpaavnyyP,iliiz'ebs7j,andpTTThSe.i'r '>vinners
7"M. K. Rawlings, The Yearling, Study Guide by Mary
Louise Fap>' and F-dith' Ccvles rNVuTcTrk: Charii?.'? Scribner's
Sons, 19C2J.