Appalachian Responsey Wonse

Write a response to what we've read so far in Sohn's book. What is surprising you? What do you like or dislike in what you've read? Any points of agreement or disagreement? Things you relate to or don't relate to? What, if anything, do you think Sohn's book adds to the conversation about how Appalachia is constructed in American culture? Women of Appalachia by Katherine Sohn focuses on the lives of three Appalachian women who have overcome stereotypes to succeed in their endeavors. What surprised us about this book is the format. Written as her dissertation, the book was organized in a very scientific manner. This made it easier to read and understand. For most English classes we read novels or articles, but reading a dissertation is new and took some time to get use to. I liked the set up of how she gave a background on each of the women and about her life in the Appalachian culture. Overall we disagreed with Sohn’s choice to pick three women who attended the same college. It is very difficult to take three accounts and generalize them across Appalachia as a whole. The study could improve if there work more participants from different regions of Appalachia. Her small sample size was not sufficient enough to disprove the Appalachian stereotype. We also found her to be very bias and in her attempts to disprove the Appalachian stereotype she failed to write about any of their flaws and chose to hide their “mountain” dialect. By not letting the reader get a better understanding of these women and how they talked was like she was embarrassed and afraid to let the reader an aspect that might contribute to this stereotype. We do not relate to Appalachia values. Besides our immediate families we don’t have much closeness with cousins, uncles, and grandparents. Appalachia has large families all living close together. To be really close with their entire family is normal for them, but strange for us. I find it difficult to relate to those who are older than me yet have lower education levels. In our society, you go to school, you finish school, and then you start a family and life for yourself. This is not the case for many of the women in this book and their family members. Also in our families the men in our family are not superior to the women. Our families have a lot more gender equality than those in the Appalachian house holds. It was hard for both of us to find any way to relate to these women, other than being in college. Written by Kieren Astall and Scott O’lone

Whistlin' and Cowin' Response

While reading this book I was very surprised by many of the things Sohn decided to include about the women and their families.  She depicted them to be uneducated, especially the men.  While these women overcame many struggles to obtain their own education it seems as if their stories almost proves the stereotype many people have about the area right.  Many of these people do not wish to be educated; many of the women’s husbands are a prime example.  The area is filled with individuals who are not formally educated and may even be completely illiterate.  So while these women overcame their stereotype they most certainly did not prove it wrong. I found it really interesting that the women seem to be the ones who want to get out of this type of lifestyle and educate themselves, meanwhile the men want keep themselves depressed of knowledge.  Sohn did convey some of the admirable traits about the Appalachian culture, for instance strong family bonds, but she did not skim over the disapproving qualities many of them have.  I found it most interesting that many of the more negative qualities were held with the men and the their old fashion view on marriage and as Lucy pointed out some of them have a lack of work ethic.  It made me question the control these men have on the women and the area itself.

Whistlin' and Crowin' Response

In my paper, I wrote about how while Sohn focuses on the women of Appalachia, she does a lot to reaffirm the gender stereotypes of men. Especially with the chart on page 30, it is easy to see that the men in these families have a much lower education level than the women. Most of the fathers and husbands mentioned in the book worked in the mines all of their lives. Lucy's husband was abusive and Sarah's didn't support her going to school. While Sohn seemed to be attempting to shed a sort of light on the people of Appalachia through this book in order to hopefully provide some information to shatter stereotypes, she instead ends up reinforcing some negative stereotypes the public has of Appalachian men.

Whistlin' and Crowin' Response

It's surprising to me how much Sohn reaffirms stereotypes for men.  The only good man in this entire book is Jean's husband who is crippled and has to rely on her for support.  Although it does well to break women's stereotypes from this region.  These women accomplish things against all odds to support their family. They are all saintly women. I do like how Sohn has had all of these women in her class as students, it really brings a better perspective on how well she knows each woman.  I think Sohn really stresses how hard working the people of Appalachia are.  How the people of this area really have a dedication to their family and to provide for loved ones.  She also does a good job at showing the neighborliness of these women and the people surrounding them.  Although again she does a poor job in general of showing anything good about the male population.

My Take on Whistlin' and Crowin' Women of Appalachia

After reading Whistlin’ and Crowin’ Women of Appalachia, I have to say I was surprised by the lives many of these women were living.  That was the most surprising factor of the book to me because it’s not a normal way of living from where I live.  Clearly, you’re going to have a different lifestyle based on where you grew up, but it was interesting to see how these women grew up in ways where education was so commonly not recognized.  I can’t imagine living a life where men prefer I don’t go to school so I can be by their side to provide for them around the house and our children.  I couldn’t handle that lifestyle.  I need more than that and education should be strongly valued, I would think. 

As for the reading, I enjoyed hearing the women’s stories from them.  It was a nice addition to the book.  It broke away from the feeling that this was a study as well.  I enjoy being thrown into someone’s story, and hearing about their lives from their own accounts really helped me as a reader.

I mentioned in my paper, and I will here as well.  I think it would have been good to find a way to shed a little more light on the men in a positive way if possible.  Unless if this is how most of them are, then you can’t really do so.  It’s hard to imagine that every man would be like this, and this book made me feel as though the men are all close-minded toward these women except a select few.  I have trouble accepting that.  In the end, this book’s focus is on the women of Appalachia so it’s not a critical factor.

I was able to relate to the way these women felt when it came to finding their own independence through college.  I have always liked to consider myself as a pretty independent person, but I really didn’t start to feel that way until I came to college.  It has helped me find a role I want to pursue in life and made me learn more about what is important as well.  Leaving home behind and coming to college helped me discover a lot more about myself, and I can tell it did the same for these women in this book.

Whistlin' and Crowin' Response

When we first were assigned to read Whistlin' and Crowin' I thought that it was going to be very boring. As I began reading, it was interesting to learn about the culture in Appalachia. In my previous schooling I had never in depth studied or learned about Appalachia. Sohn's book was able to give me a different perspective on Appalachian life other than what is portrayed through the media. It was surprising to see how important education was in the lives of some people and not others. Also the different types of support that each of the three women received or didn't receive from people in their lives. If it weren't for the support that some of the women had I don't believe they would have pursued education as passionately as they did, as with Sarah and the support that she had from her mother. I thought that Sohn did a great job appealing to her readers emotions by showing the hardships and obstacles that the women had to deal with in order to better themselves by receiving a college education. I thought by her doing this it created a way for us as readers to connect with the lives of the women.
A stereotype of Appalachia that I have heard and seen in the media is that the people there do not value education and are illiterate. With many people in America not being correctly educated about the culture of Appalachia we are left to believe what we hear and see. One aspect that I picked up on in the book was how some of the men view education towards women and their view on how women should behave. Two of the husbands in particular believed that their wives should be at home with the children, cooking, and cleaning. They felt as if they should be the breadwinners of the family and if their wives became educated then they would outgrow and rise above their way of living. I found it interesting that the women, especially Lucy being abused physically and mentally, stayed with their dreams of finishing school even though they were being abused by their husbands. I agree with their choice of sticking with schooling throughout their hardships and fighting to better themselves for them and their families. I also liked the fact that each of the women greatly valued being a mother and never let their own schooling get in the way of helping their children succeed with their education. I value the strength and courage that Lucy, Jean, and Sarah had to follow their dream despite their overwhelming obstacles. Overall I thought that Sohn did a very nice job with her analysis and study of the education and culture in Appalachia.

Reflections on Whistlin' and Crowin' Women of Appalachia

            I thoroughly enjoyed reading Whistlin’ and Crowin’ Women of Appalachia by Katherine Kelleher Sohn.  It was interesting to see someone focus and write about an area of land that people say negative things about, but really know nothing.  It was more than just a study that Sohn did.   It was showing me as a reader the hard lifestyles of a woman in Appalachia and their goal to becoming literate.  Being able to explore the lives of these women and how far they came and what they went through to becoming literate was really moving.

            What surprised me most was just how Sohn portrayed these women’s lives to me as a reader.  I felt like I connected with what Sohn was writing about these women.  She was able to describe them so vividly, I felt like I knew these women in real life.  The things that happened in each woman’s life, while they were striving to better themselves and get their degrees also surprised me.  The women’s passion for education really makes someone like me reflect on how much some college kids don’t care about education.  They want to get insanely drunk and smoke their brains out.  These women care enough to get the education while taking care of their children and husbands. 

            The only thing I would disagree with is the part where she relates the women to flowers; it was really corny to be honest.  I also disagree with the fact that she didn’t use the actually women’s words.  I understand that it was a scientific study and Sohn should write in proper English, but I feel that actually having the women’s real voice come out would of enhanced the book.  Just look at Huckleberry Finn, the language in that book enhances the geography and the way things were said back then.

            If I had to pick something that I could relate to from this book, it would be seeing older people go back to school.  Before I transferred to Ohio University I went to a community college and saw people in their late thirties to late seventies coming back to school to better themselves.  Most of the people I met were out of work because of the struggling economy and they wanted to take a positive step forward to enhance their education and improve their lives for not only themselves, but for their families especially.  Some were also in college and cracked under pressure and had to dropout and some had children in school and didn’t get the opportunity.  Every person I met encourage me to not fall into the situation they did and always encouraged me until I graduated with my Associate of Arts.  I don’t know what kind of student I would be today; if I didn’t get some guidance and advice from those people I met.  These people are just like the women in the book, they care about their education and are willing to do what they can to better themselves. 

            I think that Sohn’s book helps to support feminism and provide a voice for women, who’s voice seems to go missing in the American culture where we don’t seem to value them as much.  It helps to fight the stereotype of people from Appalachia and the perception that they’re stupid and uneducated.  Finally, the book states that we shouldn’t look down on a particular area based on preconceived notions of said land.  More and more judgmental people should read this book.