Parsing Intruder

A couple of days ago, I received an email from a professor at a junior college not far from Oxford, Mississippi, a place I believed to be the hometown of author, William Faulkner. If you have been viewing my blog over the years, you know how much I appreciate blog readers' comments and participation in Union Suit Fan.

Here's another Guest Contributor I am pleased to include (it was I, rather than the professor, who added photographs to his comments)... 

Chris: My name is Tomas Washington. I am a black professor of American Literature at a junior college near Oxford, Mississippi. A student of mine brought me your recent blog posting, "Intruder," regarding two very significant southern books and films. I teach from both of these important literary classics. I appreciate your bringing forth "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "Intruder In The Dust" to your readers. I should mention that I wear union suits myself during the winter as it does get chilly here in the south, although nothing like you contend with farther north. 

After reading your posting and perusing your blog, I thanked my student and told him of my wearing winter underwear, the kind you feature in your blog, to his great amusement. Although I'm not sure he was at first familiar with the term "union suit," he indicated he knew of "onesies," that which he and others of his generation apparently call one-piece long underwear.

My purpose in writing is to parse, I suppose, a couple of items mentioned in your recent posting and hope you will forgive me for doing so. May I point out that William Faulkner, author of "Intruder In The Dust," was actually born in New Albany, Mississippi in 1897. Later, as a young boy, his family did move to Oxford. 

Chick pulls back on his recently dried 
long, wool underwear

Also, a minor but possibly important point, the teenage boy, Chick Mallison, did indeed wear a union suit in Mr. Faulkner's novel as the author wrote when the boy changed out of his wet clothes and underwear, before being wrapped in a blanket to prevent hypothermia.

In the film version, however, the young teenager wore two-piece long gray underwear, probably wool. For some reason, the screenwriter and director decided to change Chick's underwear from the original union suit to two-piece woolen long johns.

Your readers might be interested to learn that "union suit" was mentioned in Chapter Two of "To Kill A Mockingbird."  Jean Louise "Scout " Finch matter-of-factly states, "...reading was something that just came to me, as learning to fasten the seat of my union suit without looking around,..."  

She and her older brother Jem, four years her senior, most assuredly wore union suits in cooler weather in their home of Maycomb, Alabama in the early 1930's. However, except for the aforementioned, within the book and in the film, Scout wore a type of shift under her dress and Jem wore white boxer shorts under his overalls.

In Chapter Six, Jem, Scout and their friend, Dill, run from Boo Radley's house late at night, having sneaked up to his front porch, almost getting caught...

As luck would have it, Jem gets the seat of his "pants" all tangled up in wire fencing...

Rather than be caught, Jem struggles out of his pants with the help of his sister and their friend. He leaves the pants in the fencing, gets to his feet, and runs away in his boxers.

In the book, according to Scout, "He ran to the oak tree in his shorts." 

But in the movie version, Jem and the other two kids run back to the safety of their home... 

 Out of breath, Jem takes refuge on the side of his father's garage and is soon joined by the other two.  

Now then, what to do about his pants?!

 Showing up at home in his underwear isn't an option. 

He tells Scout he hasn't been whipped by his daddy since he can't remember and he isn't about to start now! 

 Despite Scout's protest, Jem decides to run back to Boo Radley's to retrieve his pants.  

Jumping over the wall and thru the fence, he's on his way....

Scout counts and prays for his safe return...

In a flash, Jem returns with his pants but only after a loud gun shot is heard across the neighborhood...

Safely back over the wall, Jem quiets Scout while he struggles back into his pants...

Now dressed, securely in his pants, Jem returns to the front yard with Scout to meet their daddy...

As shown in the scenes above, the film differs from the book in that Jem and Scout retrieve his pants on their own, shortly after he leaves them in the wire fencing. In the book, Jem shows up to greet his daddy and several neighbors in his shirt and boxer shorts. When Atticus called for the kids after hearing a gun shot, they guiltily come forward. Upon seeing Jem sans pants, Atticus asked where they are. Scout comments, "In his shorts before God and everybody, I sighed."  Jem explained he had lost his pants to Dill playing poker, but certainly not with cards, only matches which was a safer answer.  

Chris, may I mentioned one other significant book, a classic, later made into a film? It is, "The Learning Tree" by Gordon Parks which takes place in 1929 Kansas. In this coming of age autobiographical work, Newt's nemises, Marcus is chased out of his house in a storm at one point by his abusive father who happens to be wearing a red union suit. Another example of a southerner wearing one-piece long underwear..

Well, Chris, thanks for letting me add my two cents to the conversation. Giving the subject of your blog, I thought perhaps my take might possibly be worthwhile. Regardless, thanks for accomodating my opinion.

From one union suit fan to another, 

Sincerely, 

Dr. Tomas Washington.

Thanks, Professor. I do appreciate your insight concerning these remarkable, southern classics and your introducing my readers and me to "The Learning Tree."  I'll look for this book and film. Feel free to check in with me anytime.

In the meantime, I encourage anyone interested in these classic films to find them streaming on many formats... Chris