Bastard Out Of Carolina Analysis

Perception is a way of understanding or interpreting something. An individual’s perception can change or be influenced for many reasons including age, gender, education, and social status. The writings School Days of An Indian Girl, Bastard out of Carolina, Border Culture, Muslim Women: An Identity Reduced to a Burka, The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria, and Don’t let stereotypes Warp Your judgement all have a common theme of perception. Perception is affected by what we know, what we believe, and who we are. An individual’s perception alter from others based on differences in experiences. How an individual is brought up can directly affect the decisions he or she makes. In the novel Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, Bone’s experiences while growing up directly affects the decisions she makes. Bone’s experiences being beaten as a child directly relates to her perception of violence. “When Daddy Glen beat me there was always a reason, and Mama would stand right outside the bathroom door. Afterward she would cry and wash my face and tell me not to be so stubborn, not to make him mad” (110).
A wealthy and upper class individual often perceive things differently than poorer and lower class individuals. Often blue collar workers perspectives are different then white collar workers. Social status of a particular group, an example being one countries overall wealth vs another’s, also creates different perspectives among people. The article Border Culture by Marjorie Miller and Ricardo Chavira, is about American and Mexican cities culturally diffusing on each of their individual borders. “The border region is the wealthiest in Mexico but one of the poorest regions of the United States” (139). Mexico perceives these border towns better then America because of the overall difference in the each of the country’s overall