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Sharon

The short story Sharon is one that drips with Southern tradition, from the fragrant flowers and dripping magnolia trees that provide a natural shelter for dozing to snuff, greased skillets, and slavery. The narrator of the piece is a young girl nearing her womanhood named Marilee (soon after to be called Miss Marilee because of her age). Sharon is the name of Uncle Hernan’s place, a place that bustles with the commotion of busy slaves and their children but for all its activity is “a still place” (Spencer 802). This is significant because Sharon holds a secret in its bosom, a secret that makes the off-limits-unless-invited whisper of its dry leaves “the apple in the garden” to Marilee (Spencer 806). Marilee is routinely invited to Sharon, where her Uncle Hernan is lord of the manor, attended to by the maid of his deceased wife, Marilee’s Aunt Eileen. Marilee’s is intrigued by Uncle Hernan’s because of its plush landscape and myriad treats it offers her in the form of good food, good books, and good company. Uncle Hernan reads passages from his favorite books, like Les Miserables, to Marilee but the main thing it reveals about him is his definition of character, “He knew what he liked and why, and thought that knowing character was the main reason for reading anything” (Spencer 806). As Uncle Hernan tells Marilee regarding the main character of Les Miserables, Valjean, in spite of all his obstacles and challenges is “a man…and one you came little at a time to see in his full stature” (Spencer 806).

The revelation of character, revealed a little at a time before viewing the entire nature of the being, is significant to Sharon because this is how Marilee comes to know the “full stature” of her Uncle. By bits and pieces we have the secret of Sharon and the full stature of Uncle Hernan revealed to us in the narrative. He is revealed to us physically and through his habits (c

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Sharon. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 16:18, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1686288.html