How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Aunt Louisa had cried in the pokeberry juice about how she did not know where Drusilla was but that she had expected the worst ever since Drusilla had deliberately tried to unsex herself by refusing to feel any natural grief at the death in the battle not only of her affianced husband but of her own father.... (6.1.3)
Poor Aunt Louisa. She just doesn't understand where she went wrong. She's got an idea in her head of how the world is supposed to be, and the war has really screwed it up. One of the biggest problems comes with how men and women are supposed to act. When her daughter doesn't act like a "lady," that's as big a tragedy for her as the death of her husband.
Quote #8
[W]hen Aunt Louisa told her that she and Father must marry at once Drusilla said Cant you understand that I am tired of burying husbands in this war? that I am riding in Cousin John's troop not to find a man but to hurt Yankees? (6.1.4)
Once again, the clash of the generations is all about gender roles. Aunt Louisa is trying to get her daughter to act how she thinks a lady should; Drusilla has experienced so much loss through the war that she no longer sees how traditional gender roles fit into her life. The war has changed her as well as her ideas about the way the sexes should behave.
Quote #9
Aunt Louisa…did hope and pray that Mrs Compson had been spared the sight of her own daughter if Mrs Compson had one flouting and outraging all Southern principles of purity and womanhood that our husbands had died for…. (6.2.1)
We wonder if, in a poll of dead Confederate soldiers, any of them would have said they were fighting for purity and womanhood. You never know, but we would guess they would lean more toward states' rights, property (of slaves) rights, and stuff like that. But gender roles are wrapped up in every aspect of culture, so in a way Aunt Louisa is right: Southern womanhood is a part of Southern culture, which is what the soldiers were fighting for.