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C H A P T E R l O Aborted Rage in Beth Henley' s women ALAN CLARK E S H E P A R D Beth Henley' s tragicomedie s stud y th e effect s o f th e feminis t movemen t upon a few , mostl y proletaria n wome n i n rura l Mississippi , wh o ar e more likel y t o rea d Glamour tha n Cixou s an d Clement' s The Newly Born Woman. 1 W e ar e invite d t o sympathiz e wit h isolate d heroine s whose fantasie s demonstrat e th e difficult y o f conceivin g femal e subjec tivity whil e entrenche d i n patriarcha l epistemes , whos e resilienc e i s ex pressed in their canny, survivalist compromises with the codes of passive southern womanhood. 2 Thei r compromise s ma y b e precisely locate d i n the recurrin g imager y o f homicid e an d suicid e tha t pervade s Henley' s scripts. Take Elai n i n The Miss Firecracker Contest (1979), 3 fo r exam ple , a n agin g beaut y quee n i n fligh t fro m a suffocatin g marriag e an d motherhood. Whe n he r estrange d husban d worrie s tha t sh e ma y kil l their children i n a fit of fury, Elai n answers him b y quashing the idea of her repressed rag e spiraling murderously ou t o f control: "Oh , fo r God' s sake, Franklin , n o one' s goin g t o bak e the m int o a pie!" 4 Franklin , borrowing fro m classica l tragedy , bait s Elai n t o circumscribe , eve n t o annul her anger and her flight. One subtext o f his inflammatory trop e of filicide i s tha t Elain' s bi d fo r greate r autonom y threaten s t o incit e a domestic "tragedy " (50) . Yet the word "tragedy " i s Elain's ow n assess ment o f impendin g doom . Thoug h Frankli n make s he r "ill " (24) , without him she is "feeling nothin g but terror an d fear an d loneliness!" (50) . And so , afte r a fe w minute s o f "reckless " infam y unde r th e wisteri a bushes wit h a n alcoholi c carniva l hand , sh e expect s t o retur n t o he r "dreary, dreary life" (101) . No Mede a she , Elain occupies the peripher y Reprinted b y kind permission o f The Journal of Psychohistory 6 (Fall 1978) : 273-84. 179 180 A L A N C L A R K E S H E P A R D of Miss Firecracker, bu t th e ar c o f he r brie f rebellio n illuminate s a paradigm o f femal e surrende r runnin g throug h Henley' s plays . Th e southern heroines populating her tragicomedies frequently erup t in anger toward thos e (includin g themselves ) wh o enginee r o r sustai n th e emo tionally impoverishin g circumstance s o f thei r privat e lives ; an d jus t a s often, the y retrea t fro m th e scheme s o f violenc e bre d b y tha t anger . They relis h murderou s an d suicida l fantasies , the n repudiat e them . Th e problematics of their rage is my subject . The shado w o f violen t deat h i s diffuse d acros s Henley' s landscapes . At times it is treated wit h the sprezzatura o f black comedy. Accidents of nature abound, wacky in their studied randomness: Carnelle's father ha s died chasing "th e Tropica l Ic e Cream truck " {Firecracker, i) , her Uncl e George fel l "t o hi s deat h tryin g t o pul l thi s bird' s nes t ou t fro m th e chimney" (12) ; Popeye' s brothe r ha s bee n fatall y bitte n "b y a wate r moccasin dow n b y th e Pear l River " (12) ; Lenny' s hors e Bill y Bo y ha s been "struc k dead " b y lightning;5 Jamey Foster has been fatally "kicke d in th...

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