The Voice at the Back Door by Elizabeth Spencer

The Voice at the Back Door
by Elizabeth Spencer

This is the story of rivalries, of alcohol in a dry county in Mississippi, of bygone racism in pre-segregation times, & of course, the confusing nature of love. It is also haunted by past violence, murders in fact, of local “negros” (yes, “n*ggers” is also used, quite often, in this book by both side of the race line) by ignorant & uncompromising rednecks.

Even though I don’t like the N-word, it seemed appropriate in its use here because such a crippling word uttered to undermine & reduce a people for the sake of maintaining the status quo of the ruling Caucasian Southerners, along with its use by American-Africans themselves, was frequently employed during these times. By its fluency, Elizabeth Spencer captured people, generally unthinking, who accept injustice on a daily basis. This was especially significant after local young men of the suppressed portion of the population had experienced freedom, were commonly treated as equality, in Europe during World War II. This was the same dilemma “Negro” veterans found when they return after World War I & that ended in their massacre (i.e., the haunting murders by rednecks).

Mrs. Spencer wrote this in Italy as a kind of home-sick love letter to the Mississippi she was raised in, to the South & its apparent contradictions. It allowed her to hear their voices once more, to wrap the warm southern tones as a comforter about herself. There is a kindness in a Southern accent I personally never heard until I moved to the South & now, love.

The main characters are Duncan Harper, ex-college football hero & local grocer & eventual sheriff pro temp & husband to Tinker; Jimmy Tallant, bootlegger & ex-boyfriend of Tinker, who still loves her; Tinker, the sun between these two rugged men; Kerney Woolbright, senatorial candidate & a good friend to the others; Marcia Mae Hunt, Duncan’s high school sweetheart, who ran off to marry a Marine suddenly, ever confusing Duncan; & Beck Dozer, the lone representative of the segregated people.

I would grade this story 4 out of 5. One I might come back to in older age & read again.

Finished October, 4, 2011.