Her Life
She was born on April 11th, 1949 to a 15 year old, unwed mother and raised in South Carolina, linking to her first novel Bastard Out of Carolina.
Dorothy Allison was sexually and physically abused by her stepfather for most of her childhood and adolescent years, until she moved out to go to college.
She graduated from Florida Presbyterian College with a degree in Anthropology and continued her anthropological studies in graduate school at Florida State University.
As Dorothy Allison worked day job after day job to pay her bills, she wrote short stories about her childhood abuse and poverty, as well as her love of women, all of which led to her career as a novelist, writer and poet.
Her Novel Bastard Out of Carolina was banned in schools for it's graphic nature, and was temporarily banned as a film, but the banning was appealed.
Her second novel Cavedweller was a New York Times best seller and was made into a 2004 film starring Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon.
Dorothy Allison writes primarily about child and sexual abuse, family, lesbianism, feminism, and women in general.
One of the women who helped inspire and influence Dorothy Allison was Toni Morrison and her book The Bluest Eye; this book helped Allison feel more comfortable writing about the more graphic parts of her life.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
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What themes do you feel Dorothy Allison writes about that relate to our class?
ReplyDeleteI was curious on the question that KAtie posted above too. Also, after hearing the presentation about her in class, I was wondering what you guys thought about how she posts all her emotion and feelings about sexual abuse and lesbianism in her writing. I agree 100% after reading this blog and the understanding a little more about her that the Bluest Eye I could see easily being an inspiraTion to help Allison feel a more comfortable in understanding and writing about the more graphic parts in her life. Great blog! It was a good read.
ReplyDeleteWhat, in your opinion, inspired Allison most to write? Was it her sexual abuse? Was it society? Was it a family member?
ReplyDeleteI have a response to "Bastard Out of Carolina". I just watched the movie and it what Glenn did was horrible! I cant believe that the mom would be so desperate to have a family that she would keep this monster around. She even walked in on him raping and beating Bone and she still forgave him and took him back. I think its sad how women were back in those days. So desperate to have a "legitimate" family. Whoever did the analysis on the book did a great job relating the themes we discussed in class and how they relate to the story.
ReplyDelete-Arielle Cole
I really liked the detailed description of her bio on the opening blog page. Dorothy Allison’s work seems to be very close to her heart. Her book Bastard Out of Carolina seems to give a good representation of her life. You gave me a very good representation on how well her book applied to this class and the themes seen throughout her work. I also like how you gave examples and quotes from the book to help support your themes. I do agree that Dorothy Allison is an amazing women who definetly deserves a blog. She seems very inspirational and has me now interested in reading her book Bastard Out of Carolina. Overall your blog was very good. I would have liked to see a better plot and description on the book to have a better understanding of what your quotes ment relating to the themes. What was your reaction to her novel? Did you think the movie did an adequate job of portraying the book?
ReplyDeleteKatie Hannigan:
ReplyDeleteAs stated above, Dorothy Allison writes about child and sexual abuse, which is a direct relation to Toni Morrison and what we discussed in class about her. She writes about family, which I also take to include Motherhood, which was included in one of our weeks of focus. And Dorothy Allison also writes on Feminism which is pretty much the entire reason we are taking this GWS course.
David Gerson:
Beth and I both think it's her courage to talk about the events in her own life that give her the edge to create such emotional and inspirational works.
TCasady:
Dorothy Allison grew up very poor and I think in any emotionally charged situation, like an abusive relationship, the writer in every person would come out. A piece of paper never judges your situation, and never tells your secret. So I think it was her situation and her life in general that created a need for her to write.
Arielle Cole:
Thanks =)
Alyssa Whitaker:
I enjoyed reading the book, like most people who read it, there are always parallels you can draw to your own life, feelings and events witnessed by every different character. I think Dorothy Allison is an amazing person, especially to have the strength to capitalize on her unfortunate childhood to acknowledge the atrocities that plague our society.
And I didn't see the movie =/ sorry.
Why does she deserve her own fan page? Is it all the hardships she went through in her life?
ReplyDeleteI am having difficulty with these blogs. Let me try to repost my original comment.
ReplyDeleteI think authors like Dorothy Allison illustrate how powerful a writer's work can be when they really write about things that they truly know. I also think it is important that Allison was inspired by Toni Morrison's ability to write candidly about themes/issues such as child abuse/incest that are often conroversial. As a writer, authors like these two women have encouraged me to finally write the stories that I was afraid to tell, which leds me to conclude that these two women are critical to the development of literature for both men and women because they push the envelop and encourage/demand people to write candidly.
Because Dorothy was sexually and physically abused, is that a reason why she had started to write and did that influence her to write the works that she did?
ReplyDeleteAnd can you give me a deeper analysis of "Bastard Out of California" and "Cavedweller" because of what you wrote in your post, i do not know too much about these novels and what themes it relates to in our class. Thanks.
In reguards to the book Two or Three Things I Know For Sure, you should include a more in depth summary. For instance talk about what it was like for her growing up? As well as how she discovered herself and was able to find true happiness in her life? What and how are the themes in the book related to the themes we discussed in class?
ReplyDelete- Jackie Ruyle
I admire Allison’s ability to write about topics, such as sexual abuse, race and lesbianism. There are many individuals who feel afraid or ashamed to discuss these topics and Dorothy Allison provides them with the support and knowledge that no one is alone in these battles. She allows women to feel empowered and to have a voice. Allison is an great example of becoming the best person she could be, even though she faced so much hardship and abuse. She is an inspiration to all young girls and women who have the chance to experience her works.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to see that Toni Morrison’s, “The Bluest Eye”, acted as such a large influence on her works. If it was not for that novel, Allison may never have gained the courage to share the stories that would change so many individuals’ lives.
Overall the Dorothy Allison Blog was very organized and well done!
In reguards to the book Two or Three Things I Know For Sure, you should include a more in depth summary. For instance talk about what it was like for her growing up? As well as how she discovered herself and was able to find true happiness in her life? What and how are the themes in the book related to the themes we discussed in class?
ReplyDeleteI feel as though you touched on each part of her life. I am curious about if you think that her writing was most influenced by her past. Was her writing her only outlet for the abuse she received when she was younger? I am happy that you added in that her novel Bastards Out of Carolina was banned from schools, because I feel as though that is something that is essential to her writing and the passion she has in everything she has done. Lastly what do you find so amazing about her that you chose her to create a fan page about her?
ReplyDeleteLauren Brous
Good job on sharing her information with us. I could see that her childhood influences her a lot on either personalities or writing themes. We all familiar with her book The Bluest Eye, but I am not familiar with her other books. Could you please tell me the other themes she has in her writing?
ReplyDeleteThank you.
I really enjoyed the opening of the blog. Really nicely laid out. I like how the blog represented her life. I see how her childhood influenced her writing in the way that it did.
ReplyDelete-Sylvia Martinezs
Michelle and Michael:
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Dorothy Allison is not worthy for a fan page because of the hardships she encountered throughout her life but rather because of the way she handled those hardships and the way she chose to live her life. Instead of allowing those horrifying experiences to defeat her she conquered both her fears and those negative experiences by bettering her life and also spreading a message for herself as well as others that may have experienced the same sort of lots in life.
Karen Quach:
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to say whether or not the abuse she endured was a main influence and determination of the beginning of her writing but I would say that it is a large factor among others. If anything her strong will and different way of looking at the experiences she had in life are a large part as well. Where exactly her determination came from is slightly unknown but one can assume that she wanted better for her and those she would become involved with so she took the necessary steps to do so, writing being one of them, so she could let out the dark and painful secrets she had been harboring for some time.
Jackie Ruyle:
Life for Dorothy Allison growing up was an up hill battle. Born as an "illegitimate child" to a poor young 15 year girl(Ruth Gibson Allison), she was automatically pigeonholed into the low-class with small amount of opportunity or respect. To add upon that abuse that begun at the age of 5 and continued intermittently for majority of her teenage years. She attended school and helped out the family in various ways, which I believe called attention to the life associated with poverty and lead to her emmense want for something different. There was not only bad experiences, mixed in where memories made with her sisters and mother whom she later grew closer with. This leads to one of her themes tied with the intricate web that a family weaves with both love and hate. She also speaks of love; what love is to her, how her family members are treated when they are being "loved" and also what love can do to one's life. Lastly the main theme of her work is sexual and physical abuse. She seems to use this a lot to really drive a message home, to draw attention and hopefully cause some to aid those whom they know deal with those specific issues.
Nicole Ashley Shutt:
Thank you very much, Amy was a giant help in creating the blog because I knew absolutely nothing about creating these things. We're glad we could help with your understanding of Dorothy Allison and her work.
Lauren Brous:
ReplyDeleteWriting both fiction and non-fiction as well as poerty were major outlets to Doroty Allison, however I do not believe those are considered the only ones. In my opinion education and activism seem to be other ways Dorothy allowed herself to grow and voice her opinions and thoughts. Being born into a lower-class family can limit your choices of careers and sometimes education but she did not let this statistic determine her life goals. To me, her education is what gained respect for herself and also from others; it allowed her to create and let out her strong hearted voice for many of us to hear. She is deeply involved in feminist, lesbian and safe sex activism to this day. She takes issues or concepts she is passionate about and puts her energy into that, instead of allowing her horrible experiences to take that energy from her.
What I find exceptionally amazing about Dorothy Allsion is her outlook and how she chose to handle the things she went through in her life. Many people would have found the abuse, social constructs and circumstances she faced unbearable and succumbed to fate society had chosen for them, but Dorothy did not. Yes she allowed herself to be angry, sad, hurt but she did not let these emotions control her and I find that extremely inspiring.
Fionali:
Some other themes that are found in her writing are family: Touching on the impacts that a family has upon its counterparts. The intertwinging of lives can both nurture as well as hurt. Love: What was love to Dorothy Allison or her characters? How did everyday people experience love? Was it something that she even wanted? Basically as complex as love can be. Femism: Woman and men have been ebbing and flowing through the affects of gender roles and set standards and how did this effect everyday lives.
Sylvia Martinezs:
Thank you so much, I appreciate your very positive feedback and I am glad that we were able to give you the tools to understand all related to our chosen author.
You did a very nice job illustrating several things that she has accomplished in her life. It was a nice overview of Bastards out of Carolina and Two or Three Things I Know for sure along with good quotes. I would have liked to learn maybe a little something about skin, and the rest of her works however. But nice job! I have a few questions regarding Bastards out of Carolina and Dorothy in general though.
ReplyDelete1) I have read Bastards out of Carolina and there is some debate on to why Glen might have abused Bone so much. What are some reasons you may feel he abused?
2) Do you think the mother really feels like a successful mother just because she got the certificate signed? Or do you think it has to do more with the fact that her mother is trying to show Bone she will always love her and cares deeply?... keep in mind that bone has almost developed a hate for her mother for going back to glen and will no longer live with them.
3) Do you think there is a certain progression that people must take to deal with their abuse? For Allison it seemed that she wrote to escape her pain, then she was able to write about her life but in different characters, then she was able to truly tell “her story” in Two or Three Things I Know for Sure.
You did a very good job in introducing the author's achievement , however I can not figure out how did you relate her story to the knowledge we gained from this class. Did she include her miserable experience in the childhood in her novel too ?
ReplyDeleteThis is a very neat blog. I like the layout and it is very easy to navigate through. I also was trying to figure out how you relate her story to what we have been learning in class..?
ReplyDeleteI found this blog very organized.. it was very easy for me to find info about Dorothy Allison such as her life, the books she's written, quotes, etc.. so thank you! :) however, I had a question.. Although I find it very bold and interesting that Allison relates her life to the books she writes, is there any book she got great recognition for that doesn't necessarily relate to her life? if so, which book?
ReplyDeleteTaylor Freeman:
ReplyDeleteI do strongly believe that there is a progress one must go through after they have experienced some sort of abuse and for each individual it is different. For some their way of dealing can be very hurtful and destructive while others will use the bad experience as a driving source behind better their life. Dorothy Allison, used writing to release her feelings, experiences and the many secrets she had been holding on to for so long. Its hard to assume how exactly writing helped or hindered her way of dealing but I do believe it was a large counterpart in her process of healing and moving on.
Guo JunLiang:
First off, thank you very much. In my opinion the misterable experiences Dorothy Allison went through were very much alive in her writing. Bastard out of Carolina seemed to be her first steps into allowing herself to speak of her unspeakables. Later on in Two or Three things I know for Sure she finally came out with her own story and allowed us as readers to really hear first hand what her childhood and life after was like.
Michael:
We can relate Dorothy Allison's stories to what we've been learning in class in many ways. To start gender roles could be a possible explaination of why the mother figure in Bastard out of Carolina chose not to stop the abuse from stepfather to Bone. Men were the head of the households, while the woman was there to be compliant, and this could possibly taken as extreme as the example I am presenting. Secondly Dorothy Allison herself had to learn ways to work through things such like social constructs put upon her due to poverty and being a woman, she dealt with hegemony for this same reason. There is a large handful of themes that we spoke of in class that can be tied to Allison's life as well as her many novels and poems.
Georganne:
As far as I know of, no. She usually found inspiration through her own experiences and shared through many kinds of expression. If I am wrong I apologise.
I found this very well written. The only thing I would have added would have been more information on the actual writings of the author. Overall, nice job!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Christopher!
ReplyDeleteI liked the different layout of your blog. I can clearly see your perception of Dorothy Allison's autobiographical writing style and how it influenced you. I enjoyed reading the blog and thought it was well written. The themes of her works were stated in the blogs but I thought you could have better related them to the themes in class. Because the works were separated in different pages, the set up of the blog was easier to navigate and I liked it better than some of the other blogs, where the pages ran together. To make the blog more diverse, I would have recommended video clips, interviews, or more pictures.
ReplyDeleteIgnore my posts, the only blogs that are working for me are this one and Alice Walker so I'm just posting anywhere I can and hopefully getting credit.
ReplyDeleteMaya Angelou -
This comment is to Regan, but I am not able to post on her section:
I really liked your blog. I thought it was very well written and it seems you really enjoyed learning about her. Reading your interpretation and how you incorporated information about her personality beforehand helped me understand Angelou better. I also liked how you tied the poems together with class themes. I also would have liked reading information on her civil rights activism and education.
I loved how Angelou wrote Letters to my Daughter based on personal experiences; I thought it made the work more special. It was more interesting to learn about her and her inspirations than to just read a story summary. You did a great job at relating Angelou to the class, and incorporating Pecola.
Isabel Allende -
I really liked your blog and thought it was very interactive with videos and pictures. Your biography was very detailed and it helped me learn more about Allende than the short presentation in class. I thought you did a great job summarizing City of Beasts and it looked like a very interesting novel. I would have liked to see more about her novel House of Spirits. I've read it and really enjoyed how she took political issues and wrote a fictional story around them.
Your blog is a little harder to follow then the rest, but dare to be different! I like the biography information you give in the opening of your blog, gives good background to the reader. My question is, do you think the sexual and mental abuse Dorthy Allison went through is directly related to why she became a writer? And if so, do you think she would still be a writer today if she had had a different, better, upbringing?
ReplyDeleteJuliana
Kara O'Hara-Hanley:
ReplyDeleteGood luck! and Thank you for the advice about our blog :D
Juiliana Perez:
It is hard to say whether or not Dorothy Allison would still of been a writer if she had a different childhood experience but her writing can be directly connected to an outlet of hers but its truly unknown if that was really the only one she turned to. In my opinion I think she would definitely be a very different kind of writer if she had not experienced the horrible things she did and her themes would definitely at least be a tad bit different but I think that he talent at writing is definitely alive and she would still be a talented writer if anything.
Looks like your blog became a sound board for a whole bunch of people! I think it may have been more manageable for you (and for me) if you had allowed comments on your two blog posts. Odd that students used this blog as one to post the comments for OTHER blogs on! How is that helpful to the students' who's comments they never see?
ReplyDeleteI like the format of your blog too; it is nice that each page was a little bit different. Although I would shy away from center aligned text on a website unless it is for a poem.
Thank you for providing in text citations and a works cited. This was a well organized and thoughtful blog.