Good Books

I like to give an update on what I've been reading occassionally. Hopefully I can help others who like to read good books. I am very discriminating when it comes to my reading time. I recently finished a book of short stories by J.D. Salinger called Nine Stories. I would hardily recommend it as a great read. I won't go into it here because I want to write a bit about the book I'm currently reading.

Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin won the Pulitzer Prize For Fiction in 1928. The story is about a Southern black girl named Mary and her journy spiralling downward morally, socially, and economically. The "scarlet" reference is to Nathaniel Hawthorn's The Scarlet Letter.

Mary's story is a classic. She is raised in the church and was taught right and wrong, but she lacked a father figure in her life. Consequently, there was no strong and loving father to keep her from being deceived by lazy, irresponible, sweet talking boys, and unfortunately, Mary chooses to wed an irresponsible, womanizing letch instead of the strong, caring, and reliable man.

I'm not all the way through the book, but I'm at a point where Mary is just beginning to really pay the price for her poor choices. July, her husband, just left her for the evening to openly cavort with another woman who he had been with many times. The woman openly flaunts her affair with July in Mary's face, and Mary stays at home with the baby Unex waiting for July's return so he can bully her. July beats her up, and fraternizes with Cinder, the other woman.

Eventually (I'm not there yet.) July leaves her, and Mary ends up having a dozen children out of wedlock with no man to care for her. Her sins are scarlet red. The story is reminiscient of Moll Flanders and her progressive descent into sin.

I guess I'll just leave this all by stating the obvious...Fathers are vitally important to the future of our civilization. Absent fathers are a curse upon their daughters, and uninvolved fathers aren't much better.