Eudora Welty s Delta Wedding - 993 Words

The Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age describe an era of prosperity and entertainment. With fancy parties, cars, houses, and a multitude of wealth, people go about their day with frivolity. However, not all were willing to accept the social changes that goes with the 1920s. One such novel that addresses the liberal era and some reluctance is Eudora Welty’s novel Delta Wedding. Beginning with Laura McRaven travelling to visit her extended family, the Fairchilds, at their plantation in the Mississippi Delta, she experiences the turmoil surrounding her departed mother’s family: the uproar of the oncoming wedding, the tension between her aunts, and the difficulties one must face in becoming a Fairchild. Despite Laura playing the main role of the novel, Welty uses her minor character Robbie Reid to explore the compact Southern family and the polarity between precedent archetypes and the liberal woman of the 1920s. Welty uses the temporary separation of Robbie, Lauraâ₠¬â„¢s aunt by marriage, and her husband, George, to highlight how swiftly the Fairchilds will band together and turn against those who are deemed outsiders. Towards the middle of the novel, Welty introduces Aunt Tempe who, upon hearing the news of Robbie’s departure, exclaims, â€Å"‘I’d like to see her! She’ll get no welcome from me, flighty thing . . . how can people hurt George’† (139). Even Ellen, who - like Robbie - married into the Fairchild household, strides to George’s defense; â€Å"‘I don’t know. . . . Remember