Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

In between trials for murder in jail, at one point in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil we are told of Jim Wilson that he will not accept the idea of his incarceration: ôItÆs a matter of survivalàI hypnotize myself so that, in my own mind at least, I am not hereö (Berendt, 1994, p. 447). If there is one thing I love the most in this novel subtitled ôA Savannah Story,ö is the authorÆs portrayal of Savannah and its inhabitants as living in a world of their own, one where outsiders are not welcome. We see this over and over again in a novel that is populated with a large collection of assorted oddballs from all walks of life. There is the wealthy, new money Wilson, and the wealthy old-money AdlerÆs. There is the black drag-queen Chablis and the cheap street hustler Danny. There is even Minerva, Voodoo Priestess, who leads the narrator through a voodoo ceremony at midnight in a graveyard.

In order to reveal the psyche of Savannah whose inhabitants define their own reality, Berendt employs a number of elements to enrich this story of Savannah. We see that Jim Wilson is honest about himself and others,

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Some common words found in the essay are:
Jim Wilson, Jim Williams, Danny Hansford, Savannah Storyö, Empress Savannah, Garden Evil, Voodoo Priestess, Mercer Houseàbecause, Jackie Onassis, berendt 1994, Jacqueline Onassis, midnight garden evil, midnight garden, garden evil, danny hansford, savannah inhabitants, environment savannah, jim wilson, jim williams, killed danny, main character, killed danny hansford,
Approximate Word count = 778
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page)

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