Peculiar People and Plain Folk: Comparing the Regional Literatures of Appalachia and the Great Plains

Abstract

Negative stereotypes about the Appalachian region and the Great Plains region abound, and while some truth may be garnished from these one-dimensional depictions, larger questions of culture, characteristics, and identity remain unanswered. One method of flushing out the realities of the Appalachian region and Great Plains region involves using literature as a window into the lifestyles and values of the areas. residents. Comparing the literature of Appalachia with that of the Great Plains reveals that both groups value independence, self-sufficiency, family, stories, songs, religion, the land, and work. These characteristics appear in several Appalachian and Great Plains novels, such as Robert Morgan's Gap Creek, Wright Morris's Plains Song for Female Voices, Denise Giardina's Storming Heaven, Elmer Kelton's The Day the Cowboys Quit, Fred Chappell's Farewell, I'm Bound to Leave You, and Robert Day.s The Last Cattle Drive. Evaluating the similarities between the regional characteristics present in the novels helps to establish the contributions of the two regions to American identity, thereby contextualizing the importance of Appalachian and Great Plains literature.