Petrified Man

Eudora Welty was a 20th-century short story writer, novelist, and photographer who became known for her nuanced ability to depict life in the Mississippi Delta region—not just her birthplace, but also where she spent most of her life. Some consider Welty an author of the Southern Gothic genre. Though “Petrified Man” does not have any particularly macabre or magical elements, Welty certainly uses irony to explore the values and characteristics of this unnamed Mississippi town. By setting the story in a beauty parlor and having the story take place exclusively in conversations between Leota and Mrs. Fletcher, Welty examines and exposes the attitudes toward beauty, sexuality, gender roles, and abortion in 1930s Mississippi. Women were expected to cultivate a beautiful appearance even during times of devastating economic hardship, and Welty emphasizes the superficiality of appearances by creating characters that are shallow and spiteful.

Welty also uses the women’s bold characters to highlight the ways in which traditional gender roles were simultaneously being subverted and upheld during the Depression. These fiercely independent, working women challenged the typical masculine role of the time, while also remaining confined to certain gendered expectations. Mrs. Fletcher exemplifies this when she voices her tentative desire for an abortion but ultimately decides she cannot go through with it, now that others know about the pregnancy. For this, she blames the gossip, which Welty utilizes as a vessel to demonstrate not just the nature of these women, but also of southern society and its tacit codes of behavior. Though not overtly violent, as it would be in a typical Gothic piece, the tension between the women is characterized by their subtly aggressive actions toward each other (Leota nearly “choking” Mrs. Fletcher with a towel, Mrs. Fletcher letting the swing-door hit Leota). The aggressive behavior is amplified when paired with the farcical southern charm and politeness.

Welty’s style of the Southern Gothic does make use of the grotesque, though not in a fantastical way; she dramatically juxtaposes the salon next door to a freak show, where Leota and Mrs. Pike are disturbed and fascinated by various biological oddities. By placing the two spaces next to each other, Welty exposes the salon as a more socially acceptable iteration of the freak show, where women go to scrutinize each other, especially based on appearance and behavior. This window into Leota’s salon exemplifies Welty’s aptitude for writing intricate relationships, ambiguous characteristics, and regional dialects.