Lamb in His Bosom

By: Kadie Despainand Jasmin Herendeen

Born August 26, 1903 to Elias and Levy Pafford.

Youngest of seven children. Attended Waycross High School (Waycross,

Georgia) Married high school English teacher, William

D. Miller. First Georgian writer to receive the Pulitzer

Prize. Born three sons. Studied the lifestyles of Southern Georgia Died July 12, 1992 in Waynesville, North

Carolina Inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame

in 2007

About the Author

When: Pre-Civil WarWhere: Northern Georgia

The When and where

Racial Slurs.

Slave treatment.

Women are considered child bearers and house maids.

Men are strictly providers and do all of the hard work.

Southern lifestyle.

Background Knowledge

The Carver FamilyVince – Husband of Seen – Dies of old age.

Seen- Wife of Vince. Lonzo- Marries Cean; Son of Dicie

Cean- Daughter of Vince and Seen; gives birth to twelve children.

Lias- Middle son of Vince and Seen Carver Jasper- Eldest son of Vince and Seen Carver

Margot – Marries Lias Carver.

Jacob – Youngest of Vince and Seen Carver.

Keeps the reader drawn through use of a dramatic series.

Stylistically and thematically entertaining

Use of diction and syntax

Excellent in portraying the (poor) Southern Lifestyle.

The development of each character as they go through life - how each character changes.

The Good Versus the BadThe Good

Slow start. Not very climatic – Very

stagnant story line. No clear plot. Hard to understand.

The Bad

Nothing but Hardships

“ Somewhere about her was a rattlesnake… turning she saw glittering eyes in a small, ugly head hanging there close to her eyes.”

- Caroline Miller, page 22

“The painters were after her new-born child and her… a great house cat lay stretched along the floor between her back door and her high bed.”

- Caroline Miller, page 150

“He had promised, and repromised to bear her like a lamb in His bosom, never, no, never, no never to forsake her.”

- Caroline Miller, page 208

Meaning Behind the Title

“I’ll be knittin’ ye stockin’s ‘fore cold weather.”

He watched her hands in stubborn embarrassment:

“Better knit ye some, ye own self. . . .”

She said:

“I wasn’t askin’ fer no pretty things such as these, Lonzo.”

He explained simply:

“I jes’ give ‘em to ye, to be a-givin’, little un.”

Example of Southern Diction

Critical Exclaim

“It has a wonderful freshness about it;

not simply the freshness of a new

writer, but the freshness of a new

world . . .” -- The New York Times

http://www.amazon.com/Lamb-Bosom-Modern-Southern-Classics/dp/156145074X

http://www.peanut.org/users/mike/text/Caroline.htm

http://www.libs.uga.edu/gawriters/miller.html

References