Sarah Sullivan

Course: English 102

Instructor: Heather O’Connell

Assignment: Literary Analysis

Thumb through the pages of Ron Rash’s collection of short stories, entitled Burning Bright, and one is plucked from the comfort of their la-z-boy and deposited into the lives of characters facing hard times most of society cannot begin to imagine. Having spent the majority of his life in North and South Carolina, Rash’s writings mainly focus on the lives of people in rural southern settings (“Ron Rash”). Inspired by the Appalachian Region’s people, history, and culture, Rash covers a broad spectrum of disturbing topics in his stories, ranging from the great depression to methamphetamine addiction (“Q and A on Burning Bright”). His use of vivid detail to describe unpleasant happenings highlights his familiarity with the region and makes the reader cringe due to the tangible brokenness of his characters. In my time spent reading Burning Bright I stumbled upon two jewels in a sea of depressing characters, Marcie from the title piece, “Burning Bright” and Jesse from “Into the Gorge.” Theses characters are elderly individuals who refuse to be shuffled into the norms of old age. Jesse and Marcie embody a quality that most young people lack: spunk.

When I near the ripe age of fifty, I like to imagine I will be a woman like Marcie. She is a strong, intelligent widow who refuses to conform to the pattern of accepted elderly behavior. After her husband Arthur dies, Marcie’s town expects her to hole herself up in her house until her death, like a good old lady should: “Because she knew what was expected from her-to stay in this place, alone, waiting for years, perhaps decades, to pass until she herself died” (Rash 120). Marcie flaunts her buoyancy as she not only continues go on with life, but remarries a younger, attractive man. When Marcie ventures to the grocery store, the town gossip Barbara comments, “Must be worrisome sometimes to have a husband strong and strapping as Carl” (Rash 113). Marcie’s romantic demeanor is somewhat surprising. Today’s society does not like to envision the older generations having any romantic feelings. Marcie goes against the grain once again when she engages in a sexual relationship with her hired help, making love on numerous occasions before Carl eventually proposes to her. Her cougar status is a slap in the face to the accepted norm of an older woman. Continuing, Marcie embodies what some would call a strong backbone. This woman of nearly fifty shows more gumption than most twenty year olds. Marcie demonstrates this quality when she is questioned about Carl’s whereabouts on an evening arson was committed. Even though Marcie herself suspects Carl, she protects him by lying to the police. In her conversation with the sheriff, Marcie tells him that Carl was home at five thirty, even going as far as to offer to “sign something” for the officer (Rash 121). One does not normally associate lying to the police with an elderly woman. Again, going against the accepted norm of the elderly and highlighting her fearlessness and loyalty.

In contrast to Marcie, Jesse from “Into the Gorge” is a widower who never remarried, but what Jesse lacks in romance, he more than makes up for in spunk. Jesse comes from a line of interestingly uncharacteristic elderly, having a great aunt who spent the end of her life engaging in delusional hoeing, and was later found naked and dead in the forest bordering her farm (Rash 134). Unlike most of the older generation, Jesse does not rely on others to support him, but makes money by harvesting ginseng. At the ripe age of 68, Jesse hikes into the gorge to illegally dig up ginseng to sell for profit, which is simply not a feat one can picture an older man accomplishing: “Jesse’s arthritic knees ached as he made the descent. They would ache more that night, even after rubbing liniment on them. He wondered how many more autumns he’d be able to make this trip. Till I’m seventy, Jesse figured. Giving himself two more years” (Rash 137).

Jesse not only ventures into the gorge, but plans to make the trip two more times, insinuating that he is not content to settle down and let old age take its course on his body. When the park ranger caught Jesse harvesting the ginseng, Jesse was handcuffed and informed that he would be serving time in jail. Jesse personifies a reckless type of resourcefulness in his reaction to the arrest. “The ranger paused too, and was about to reply when Jesse took a quick step and shoved the ranger with two hands towards the well” (Rash 142). Jesse’s old age awards him an element of surprise. Who would expect a wrinkly old man to outsmart a young ranger? Most of the younger generation assumes the minds of the elderly are slow. Jesse displays an exact reversal of this stereotype. He spends the night running from the law, throwing younger and more able bodied men off of his trail and outsmarting blood hounds. “Jesse stepped into the creek, hoping that doing so might cause the dogs to lose his scent. If it worked he could circle back and find the gun” (Rash 149). Jesse is a quick thinker, but lacks the wisdom most older individuals manifest. He has a youthful thought process, creating short term solutions rather than considering the big picture. He wonders why he is not respected as most older people are: “It seemed so wrong to be sixty-eight years old and running from someone. Old age was supposed to give a person dignity, respect” (143). His thought process is youthful in this sense due to his feeling that he is deserving of respect simply due to his age and ignores the fact that he pushed a ranger down a well.

In Ron Rash’s Burning Bright, the elderly are a force to be reckoned with. Marcie and Jesse exemplify characteristics that are routinely associated with younger individuals, such as romance, resourcefulness and strength. They go against the stereotypical norm of an old person, refusing to spend their days knitting quilts and drinking prune juice. By analyzing these stories together, I have learned that age has little to do with spunk and dexterity. Maybe youthfulness does not depend on how many years one has spent on earth? Maybe old age is simply a concept we have come up with and conformed to? Regardless, I am taking my cue from Marcie and Jesse. I think the world could use a few more geezers with gumption.

Works Cited

Rash, Ron. Burning Bright. New York: HarperCollins, 2010. Print.

“Ron Rash.” Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.

Rash, Ron. “Q and A on Burning Bright.” Southeastern La. University., Hammond, LA. 17 Mar. 2011. Reading.

Instructor Comments: Sarah Sullivan’s literary analysis, “Geezers with Gumption in Burning Bright,” was a delight to read. Sarah compared and contrasted two elderly characters from two different stories in the collection in both an insightful and amusing way. She uses a variety of details from the short stories to develop her original analysis and show how these two characters defy the stereotypes of seniors as weak and feeble.