Character Clues
Character Analysis
Actions
In the world of A Year Down Yonder, actions speak much louder than words—especially when you have someone like Grandma Dowdel, who doesn't speak all that much to begin with. And when she does speak? Well, let's just say she's not exactly forthcoming.
When Mary Alice laments that her costume for the play consists of "a sheet shawl and drapings," while "Carleen Lovejoy looked straight out of Hollywood" (4.61), it seems as though Grandma Dowdel isn't paying attention. As Mary Alice says, "Grandma naturally took no interest, even when I complained to her about Carleen Lovejoy's halo" (4.62).
But then, when Mary Alice comes home from school one afternoon, Grandma D tells her to pick out a fashionable pair of shoes from the Sears catalog. Could this be Grandma understanding her granddaughter's plight? Showing care and concern? Empathizing? Not according to Grandma Dowdel.
When Mary Alice asks if her grandmother is getting her a Christmas present, Grandma Dowdel brushes it off as a matter of practicality.
"You need shoes," she said. "Otherwise you'll be binding your feet in rags to get through the winter, like Valley Forge." (4.66)
Likewise, when Mary Alice asks Grandma Dowdel about her friendship with Effie Wilcox, who it is clear—from Grandma D's actions—is very important to her, Grandma Dowdel minimizes her feelings toward her friend. "We neighbors" (7.70), is all Grandma D is willing to admit to in words, even though her actions tell another story.
Clothing
It stands to reason that in the post-Depression era, the clothes that people wear would be a good indicator of their social status and, to some extent, their ingenuity.
When Mary Alice first arrives at her school, her classmates make numerous judgments about her based on her clothing. According to Mary Alice, "Mildred Burdick looked at my puff sleeves like they ought to come off. Then she dipped down for a look at my feet. I had on my Easter shoes with open toes, and bobby socks" (1.61).
A few paragraphs later, Mildred demands a dollar from Mary Alice. In a matter of seconds, Mildred has decided that Mary Alice must be rich, based solely on her clothing.
Later on, Mary Alice's clothing again plays a role in how she is treated by her classmates. As Mary Alice says:
If there was one point in my favor, it was that I wasn't as well dressed as they'd feared. I had two wool skirts. One had been Mother's. The other belonged mostly to the moths. With my three sweaters, I could get through the week. But I was hurting for shoes, and my winter coat was a disgrace. (4.4)
Carleen Lovejoy, on the other hand, is quite well-equipped in the wardrobe department. She "had five different outfits top to toe for every day in the week," and "her sweater with drawstring neckline and pom-poms was much admired" (4.5). Carleen is the wealthiest girl and best dressed girl in school, which inevitably makes her the most popular.
And of course it's Mary Alice's clothing on that first day of school that sets her up as Carleen's rival. If she'd shown up in less flattering clothing, who knows? Carleen may not have seen her as a competitor and felt the need to ostracize her. She may even have welcomed Mary Alice and become her friend.
Ha! We're kidding. That seems like a long shot from over here in Shmoopville. In fact, we're willing to bet any new girl would be seen as competition by Carleen, but still—Mary Alice's wardrobe was definitely a contributing factor.
Of course, clothing in A Year Down Yonder isn't just about status. The outfits people wear also help to show us their priorities. When Mary Alice first encounters her grandmother at the train station she comments that "Nobody had told Grandma that skirts were shorter this year. Her skirttails brushed her shoes" (1.7).
Immediately we understand that Grandma Dowdel has more important things to concern herself with than this year's fashions. Likewise, the first time we see Mrs. L. J. Weidenbach, she is decked out:
Mrs. Weidenbach's hat spilled black artificial cherries off the brim. Her upper arm clamped a big pocketbook, and her coat featured a stand-up muskrat collar. (5.4)
Mrs. Weidenbach, who has deceived others for years about her family lineage, is very concerned with outward appearances. Her clothing reinforces this aspect of her personality, just as Grandma's long skirts show that she places more value on a character than fashionability.
Family Life
A great deal of the interactions in A Year Down Yonder are centered around family relationships.
Mary Alice starts her year with her family fragmented. Her brother, Joey, is headed to California, her parents are moored in Chicago, and she's headed off to stay with Grandma Dowdel. It makes sense that at the end of her first day away her thoughts turn to her brother.
In this busy day I hadn't had time to be homesick. But I thought about my brother. Joey. Always before, he'd come down here to Grandma's with me, and stuck up for me. Now he was out west, planting trees, living in a tent. (1.129)
Of course, Mary Alice and Grandma Dowdel grow closer over the course of the year, emphasizing a new aspect of Mary Alice's family life: her relationship with her father's mother. It is this relationship that best shows how Mary Alice is growing up, moving from being a child in her grandmother's home to being a young adult, as capable of offering care as she is of receiving it.
Mary Alice recognizes this change in herself when she goes out fox hunting with Grandma D.
There were little changes stirring in me. I began to notice how old Grandma was, how hard she worked herself, how far from town she'd roam in the frozen nights, across uneven ground. I began to want to be there with her, to make sure she'd come safely home. (4.60)
At the end of the story, when Mary Alice learns that she can finally return to Chicago, she is reluctant to go because of her concern for Grandma Dowdel. Mary Alice knows that she'll worry about her grandmother if she leaves, and we find that she's willing to sacrifice her own freedom for the sake of taking care of an aging grandparent.