Magical Realism and the Brutal Hardships of an Appalachian Childhood in Tiffany McDaniel’s Betty
In her sophomore novel Betty, McDaniel presents instances of horrific violence using heavily lyrical prose to craft a uniquely melodic medium that transcends the barriers of how tragic stories are often told. Even though its narrative is only loosely based in reality, the reader emerges from the book feeling a deeper understanding of the lives led by Appalachian women of native American heritage; a demographic that is not often represented in mainstream media, if at all.
Fantasy and reality are intertwined in a 480-page dance where it is often unclear as to which is taking the lead. The story the novel tells is loosely based on McDaniel’s own mother’s experiences growing up in the 1950s as a native American child in the Appalachian mountains, but how much of the narrative tells the real life story stays a mystery for the duration of the book. In fact, certain plot points leave the reader wondering how much of what Betty (the narrator) relays stems from true lived experience or from her own imagination. These instances of ambiguity allow the reader to step into the headspace of a little girl struggling to create a sense of childhood wonder amid her highly turbulent life.
In addition to creating a space where Betty can attempt to experience some aspects of the stable childhood she lacks, the mystical nature of McDaniel’s narrative is also heavily tied to Betty’s father, Landon Carpenter, and his Cherokee heritage. Through the Cherokee fables and spiritual practices that Landon imparts onto his children, he is able to transport them out of the tumultuous situations they often have to endure and into a space of beauty and protection offered by stories passed down through generations of the Landon family.
This amalgamation of fiction, reality, and mysticality runs concurrently with the deep struggles and oftentimes, traumatic experiences that Betty endures almost daily from the moment she is born in a bathtub to her Native American father and white mother. This culturally blended relationship sets the tone for the power structures that affect Betty throughout her life. Not only does Betty delve into the deeply scarring racism that Betty, her father, and seven siblings endure at the hands of their rural neighbours and schoolmates, it also portrays the complicated relationship that Betty has with her own mother, who out of frustration often subjects Betty to even more displays of racist and demeaning attacks than that which she experiences at school.
Interfamilial trauma lurks in the background of most of the novel and brings to light another oppressive system that Betty’s family is forced to deal with: patriarchal structures and the violence that they create. Betty’s sisters and mother represent the varied consequences of living under a system of female oppression and how this oppression can be perpetuated by even those in one’s own family.
Betty is an emotionally taxing journey through the childhood and adolescence of a young girl coming to understand her place in society, that, while dealing with serious topics, maintains a sense of poetic mysticality throughout its entire duration.
Book cover of Betty by Tiffany McDaniel