Reordering The Old Order : a woman's response to Porter's Miranda stories.

In Katherine Anne Porter's collection of short stories The Old Order, a young female character, Miranda, progresses through steps of maturity and self-realization. This same character appears in many of Porter's later works as a more mature woman. Because Miranda has played a central role in many of Porter's stories, critics have speculated about the autobiographical nature of Porter's Miranda. Miranda appears in all of the stories within The Old Order, a collection of seven short stories, although she dominates only three of the seven stories, "The Circus," "The Fig Tree," and "The Grave." Most critics agree that these three stories detail Miranda's important discoveries. Few critics, however, consider Miranda's personal search for identity in these stories; instead, they focus on her discoveries. That is, most critics focus on the product of Miranda's search, but few consider the process through which she goes. A female reader of the texts reexamines Miranda's discoveries, recognizes their significance, and identifies with these personal identity searches in a way that traditional critics have not. As contemporary feminist reader-response criticism proposes, often only when read by a woman can a piece of literature written by a woman be understood fully. Because these works from The Old Order revolve around symbols, images, and events whose meaning can only be comprehended fully by the woman reader, Porter's Miranda stories exist as at least two different texts--the text read by the male critic and the text read, understood, and identified with by the female critic. In this thesis which offers a feminist reader-response to these three stories, chapter one provides a context for these stories by considering not only their place among Porter's other works, but also their relevance to Porter's past. Because Miranda appears as Porter's autobiographical character--Porter admits that through Miranda she tries to relive her own past--a brief comparison of events in Porter's life to those in Miranda's provides a broad context for the stories. In addition, chapter one contains a review of secondary work and a defense of the feminist theoretical foundation. Chapters two, three, and four are each rereadings of one of the Miranda stories. The stories are handled in the chronological order of Miranda's life rather than in their sequence in The Old Order. That is, although "The Circus" appears before "The Fig Tree," the latter should be the subject of chapter two because the Miranda of "The Fig Tree" is younger than the Miranda of "The Circus." The age of Miranda is significant and affects the ordering of the chapters because Miranda's experiences show a progression, a maturation process, through which Miranda, and ultimately the female reader, is taken. As the woman reader studies the meaning of these texts, the progression of Miranda's initiation, the reader finds a reflection of her own induction into womanhood. Chapter two provides a female reader's response to Miranda's interactions in "The Fig Tree." In this story, Miranda first becomes aware of oppositions between the traditional female role, manifested in her grandmother, and a liberated female role, that of her great aunt. Miranda and the female reader recognize stereotypical differential treatment of genders. With this recognition and with the alternative role which Great-Aunt Eliza exhibits, Miranda is initiated into a world unfamiliar to the Southern society with which she grows increasingly uncomfortable and dissatisfied. Chapter three is a rereading of "The Circus." This chapter assesses Miranda's experiences, and her encounters, this time, with strangers. These encounters include young boys beneath bleachers trying to see up her dress, a trapeze artist blowing her a kiss, and a male clown touching her as she tries to exit the circus tent. For the first time Miranda recognizes that she can be seen as an object, and she finds no escape from this role. Rather, she alters her own actions rather than confront the threat of sexuality. Finally, chapter four reconsiders "The Grave." This story serves as the logical development from Miranda's final encounter in "The Circus." In "The Grave," Miranda again tries to find an identity apart from that which society offers her, and in doing so she learns of perhaps the most frightening expectation in the role of women, that of childbirth. The story provides details of Miranda's internal and external struggles with femininity. Therefore, Miranda's most significant realization, her own capability to give birth, provides an appropriate conclusion to the progression of experiences within the three stories. The female reader's response to each of these interactions is considered within each chapter; each chapter will demonstrate the female reader's identification with Miranda's experiences. Because the stories seem to reveal the steps in Miranda's search for identity, the three chapters assigned to the stories will also show the development not only of Miranda's search for identity, but also of the female reader's response. Although scholarship and criticism of the three Miranda stories is considered, if only to provide a context or alternative reading, the primary text, The Old Order, is used to support much of the information in chapters two through four.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Grantor

Baylor University.

Year dc:date.issued

1992

Author dc:creator

• Garrett, Paula K.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Barcus, James E., 1938-

• Porter, Katherine Anne, 1890-1980 -- Criticism and interpretation.
• Feminist literary criticism.

Statement dc:rights

• Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2104/14777

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:baylor-ir.tdl.org:2104/14777