Southern Food for Thought

In reading and discussing the piece The Swallow Barn by John Pendleton Kennedy, I found it extremelydescriptive, almost too descriptive, yet there was something about the author's style that made me want to keep reading. The picture that was painted for the reader of the plantation using the wording "... with the air of a grenadier recruit, posted behind a testy little veteren corporal" was so explicit that one simply could not ignore it. If one has ever seen a grenadier, not only are they extemely imposing {as demonstrated by their huge bearskin hats which were part of their uniforms} but they stand tall and proud, never turning away from battle. The grenadiers and the plantation especially are used as a comparison between the political and societal unrest that was occuring during the time that this piece was written. The grenadiers were used heavily during the Revolutionary War and won several battles, so in my opinion the author is using the two to epitomize the past which was being shattered by the war. As a reader, I also found that there were many sterotypes that the author broke through- the picture of a typical southern plantation, described in the delapitated and strangly shaped buildings, and even the portrayal of the of Frank Meriwether's character as he waffles back and forth. The authoe highlights his behavior as the "perfect southern gentleman" however as he makes choices and goes back and forth it breaks the stereotype of the ironwill and stubborness of the South that eventually lead to the Civil War in the first place. The author even pokes fun at the makeup of the family in The Swallow Barn by depicting the loss of the Walter Hazard plantation to Frank Meriwether and their relationship, as well as the usage of slavery on the farm. This piece was so well formed in using many different facets to describe one picture of the American South.