Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)

Studies - László Dányi: On the Bad Side of the Fence: Fiascos of Southern Ethos

to blur the clear-cut boundaries between the patterns of culture, which is expressed by Sykes himself when he writes that there are no absolute distinctions between these patterns. Myths and symbols convey ambiguous ideas and values because human life is ambiguous, and the only certainty that can be attached to them is that they offer hope for a better future and simultaneously make the individual realize the futility of their existence. Later on I will be engaged in investigating the realization of futility when writing about the significance of failure. Concurrence may be established with Maurice Boyd and Donald Worchester's concept of culture in their American Civilization: An Introduction to the Social Sciences. In their view "all cultures share certain elements because they must provide for the same basic human needs, no two cultures express these elements or meet these needs in exactly the same way" (21). This statement confirms that a people's culture is an integrated whole in which social norms, habits, laws, institutions, roles, statuses, beliefs, values and myths constitute broad patterns of thought and action, but this definition also supports the idea that the elements of the integrated whole do not appear in exactly the same way in other patterns. The patterns of thought and action unravel themselves through the characters' equivocal and impregnable multiform relationships to them. My intention is not to seek an impeccable answer to the question of what THE quality of this relationship is like. Within the confines of this essay and considering my firm belief in the ambiguity of the topic the only aim I might achieve is to examine in what ways are literary characters disposed to or/and against those patterns that constitute the Southern ethos. From among the multitude of definitions and implications of ethos, in my understanding ethos in a society contains those universal or objective elements of myths, values, norms and institutions that make societies and individuals different from each other. The term itself expresses the complexity of discourse about ethos because the universalizing tendency and the striving for uniqueness are both embedded in it. I use "ethical" as the adjective describing the qualities and the different fields of ethos. 174