2-3-4 Challenge Book Discussions #1 discussion

It’s been about 30 years since the Civil War ended and opinions of Jenny Oakes remain the same as when she first arrived in New York. Do you think that was more because of her personality and behavior than residual attitudes of those from the South?

From other things I have read about long term attitudes to the war I think it was a combination of Jenny's personality and a lingering feeling of the differences between North and South.

She was a southerner and she was an outsider. Her mother-in-law mentioned that she had no manners when she arrived 30 years ago. The city's upper crust would not have accepted her. Jenny probably didn't want to be part of the city's elite, she just wanted a safe place for herself and her family.

Here in 2019 and speaking as someone who lives in the South (though I’m no traditional southerner), they still haven’t gotten over that loss. When I was living in New York, I was surprised to learn of the stereotypes about people from the South...backwards, not very smart and unsophisticated.

So, I say all that because 30 years after the war, those opinions had to be still raging strong. And Jenny seemed to confirm all of those stereotypes by her behavior. In time, she could have changed those opinions if she’d shown up differently but she never tried. We now know why. It was a bit of both in my opinion.

I think one probably fed into the other so it's hard to say which one caused the other. I also think that the nature of the secret Jennie was keeping meant that she was likely always afraid of being found out and that reinforced her distant nature.

I think you’re right, Veronica. She would never feel comfortable embracing the role. It wasn’t something she chose to do as her mother pushed her into the ruse.

I know very little about this subject, so it's very interesting.

Going by similar situations I've seen, this kind of shunning attitudes don't die easily and unfortunately often give birth to vicious cycles that ultimately just reinforce them.

Giulia, many years ago when I lived in Naples, there seemed to be a perception that those from Southern Italy were less educated and poorer than those in Northern Italy. That’s similar to the perceptions in the US of those from the South.

These kinds of stereotypes based on locations are common in a lot of places. I live in a medium-sized town in the north of Israel and we are considered the "periphery" aka country bumpkins. People in the north and south of the country view Tel-Aviv and the center, perceived as more sophisticated and cosmopolitan, as a completely different country sometimes.

Regarding Jenny Oakes, I think the nature of her secret dictated her behavior and played into the prejudices and anger that lingered after the Civil War.

That’s interesting, Lauren. I guess every country has its own geographical biases.