Blog 2: Whistlin' and Crowin' Women of Appalachia

                                                           

            The book called Whistlin’ and Crowin’ Women of Appalachia: Literacy Practices Since College by Sohn has been a very interesting read. It lures you into the deep rhetoric behind the people of the Appalachian culture. It lets the outsider take a look into the lives of various people from Appalachia throughout the whole book that normally people would not see. More specifically, Sohn takes the reader into the lives of women and how their hardships have shaped their well-being and personality in today’s world. Each woman had shared their own obstacles and difficulties that they had to face while trying to earn a modest living and education. It was very interesting to see how different people in Appalachian culture viewed education and the way women went about their educational endeavors. 

            What was very surprising to me was the hardships that women of this region had to face in their everyday life. It was interesting to read about their journey to becoming educated and their struggle in Appalachian culture to become the breadwinner in their family. Although many of the women I have met are very intellectual and study to become something bigger in life, I figured the women of Appalachia would have been on the same boat as well but in fact, they were a little behind.

                                                 

            This book really showed me the positive attitude that Appalachians had towards their success in life. Up until this book, I only had the negative stereotypes to go by because the media and peoples’ opinions really don’t show the positive aspects of their society. I think that Americans should really open their eyes to these cultures that aren’t necessarily well known in order to have a better understanding of these specific cultures and this will in turn provide us with a different attitude towards ‘outsiders.’