Asch Social Critique

As other bloggers have mentioned, I also was impressed by the realism in Asch's fictional writing. His characters and situations are believable and moving to the point where the piece could serve as an impetus towards social change. Of the other possible readings of the piece mentioned in the discussion questions, the most obvious to me is the social critique. The narrator says in the beginning, "I wanted to see the most isolated, the deepest cotton country, untouched by the world not knowing the outside world" (284). Later he says, "Let's really find out how they live. What they eat and how they sleep, and what they talk about" (285). It doesn't take long for him to discover that such people suffer from abuse, low standards of living, corruption, racism, and other deplorable conditions. Asch enlightens the reader to the reality of the world, and this could serve as a call for change.

The piece explores these situations in a candid way; it does not come off as preachy. It shouldn't be too hard to convince readers that there is something wrong when it is stated that the future for these people will be "junk" (302). This is evidenced through the bar in the end. Men who hang out there "hate people that wear white collars and shirts. They take their meanness out in drink there' and when they're drunk they're dangerous' they'll think nothing of smashing you in the jaw, or of stabbing you" (305). But the tragedy is that these people are victims of their situations. The man in the end tells the narrator that in privacy he is a poet. "I'm alone a lot. And I get to thinking about things. It comes out in words, sort of" (306). Perhaps this man is writing about his unhappy condition. In terms of reading this as a social critique, I feel like the fact that the man turns to poetry is indicative of genuine problems, but it is also sort of heart-warming to learn that this rough guy confides in poetry. I am interested to hear what other people made of this ending and other possible readings of the piece.