Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
In John BerendtÆs (1994) Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, we are pulled into a murder mystery in Savannah. The title of the book is important as is the statue in the garden that graces its cover. The title maintains that in this garden there is both ôgoodö and ôevil,ö reinforced by the cover image of a female statue balancing two plates that resemble the scales of justice. We see that in this novel, from the suave but sinister James A. Williams to the town of Savannah itself, good and evil are portrayed by the author as characteristic of all people and all places. Berendt uses this basic concept to show the dichotomy of the characters portrayed as well as the social milieu and city in which they exist.
In Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, we see that there is a dichotomy that pervades the characters as well as the town, from the drag-queen Chablis to the relationship between James Williams and Danny Hansford. For example, Chablis is a drag-queen and lives a life in society dressed as a ôclassyö woman, when in fact she is a black man. We see that James A. Williams is both suave and sinister. As we are told of him by the author, ôHe was tall, about fifty, with darkly handsome, almost sinister featuresö (Berendt, 1994, p. 3). We see that WilliamsÆ is a respected and respectable antiques dealer on the one hand, but he is carrying on a sexual relationship with street hustler Danny Hansford. Such dichotomies characterize the characters in the novel.
We see that the dichotomy that pervades the characterÆs lives and personalities also pervades the city of Savannah itself. The city exhibits this dichotomy between old money and new money, between insiders and outsiders, between southerners and Yankees and between blacks and whites. We are told that Savannah, though a participant in slavery, was one of the most segregated places in the country. This o
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