Spaces, Structure And Significance:an Interpretation Of The Golden Apples From The Perspective Of Literary Geography

Eudora Welty began to receive critical attention ever since the publication of her A Curtain of Green in 1941. From then on, she continued to publish short stories and later long stories with her fame rising and criticism multiplying. The Golden Apples, which was published in 1949, is one of the most important short story collections of Welty and a mature one as well. The seven interrelated stories in this collection were mainly set in a fictitious Mississippian town Morgana within around forty years with detailed description of different natural scenes and human landmarks, which serve first as a fascination and inspiration and then germination for an interpretation from the perspective of literary geography or geo-criticism.Literary geography, sometimes labelled as geo-criticism, studies literary works from the perspective of landscapes, settings and space, and their influences on the protagonists and characterization. Mainly set in the fictitious southern town of Morgana, The Golden Apples presents people’s desires, dreams, desperate departure as well as their movements from low lands to high lands to pursue their freedom of geographic mobility. Such presentations of the seemingly fragmented "heterotopia" in her works certainly manifest a multi-layering significance if the reader’s attention is paid in the direction of various geographic elements to their interactions with the characters.This thesis attempts a geo-critical interpretation of The Golden Apples, focusing on such geographic elements as the natural sceneries, landmarks and their significances. The thesis is divided into four parts. In the first part, natural scenes in the small town of Mississippi and San Francisco will be viewed in detail and the relationship between main characters and the natural scenes will be elaborated. In the second part, the human landscapes of the two regions will be analyzed and the differences among them will be discussed. The third part discusses the interactions and inter-shaping between the geographic factors and the Morgana people. In the fourth part, the thesis concludes that Welty’s characters in Morgana was highly influenced and both mentally and mannerly shaped by the geographic environment of Mississippi and the influence of the "heterotopia" and the people’s pursuit for it.