Wake Up Society

For many realist writers the way in which a story is taken by the reader ultimately resides in the hands of the reader themselves. Realism allows readers the opportunity to learn a lesson or moral if they so choose. “The Petrified Man,” written by Welty, demonstrates this aspect of Realism for the reader as it gives the reader the opportunity to decide for themselves the intentions of the characters depicted in the story. The story itself takes place in a beauty parlor where we find ourselves among a group of women gossiping. Most of the story is told through the stories of their gossiping. While the ladies are gossiping there is constantly a little boy by the name of Billy, who as we will learn is the son of a Mrs. Pike of whom we learn about more and more solely through the gossip which is ever-present throughout the story. Leota who is the beautician seems to be the gossip monger of the beauty parlor and mainly attends to a Mrs. Fletcher, a women who seems to resist the norm of what her particular society has prescribed for her. During the dialogue we learn that among the gossip Mrs. Fletcher is prenant and is appalled to learn from the flighty Leota that a certain Mrs. Pike was informed by her own beautician Leota. As the story moves forward we seldem hear comments from the little boy Billy although it seems that he is soaking up all that he hears as Mrs. Fletcher makes a remark unknowingly regarding Billy’s mother saying that she would get even with this lady to which Billy responds, “Why, what are you going to do to her?” Billy is immediately pacified and told to pay no mind to the conversation, demonstrating the ill advisement and treatment of one so young.
We learn a lot from this piece of Realism as it offers a sort of wake up call to society. We as a whole affect others around us and just as Billy is learning from the adults around him we too in society learn and see what is going on in the world around us. Billy plays a central role in the story and illustrates the culminating fall of society as he is surrounded by squawking hens engulfed in their own miseries and misconceptions of life. Although the moral or morals that are in this story are not definite we can see the affect of any society and the impact all that live in a given society have on eachother. The women in this story are working women embittered by the lack of provision and care they receive from their husbands. IF the women do not know it their snide comments about their husbands and backstabbing remarks concerning other characters in the story are all heard by that one little boy Billy.
There is much to say concerning the affect the gossiping and other actions these women have on Billy, but allows the reader to see in a bery realistic way how our personal character can affect others, especially the youth of any society. I believe that much of societies problems start with us as people and the message we send to younger generations is definitely heard and acted out as they see it. “The Petrified Man,” allows us to see at least this particular society in a negative light. The affect and interactions although portrayed negatively in this story allow the reader to learn for themselves this affect and can essentially lead the reader to decide to make that negative affect into a good affect as both are reflected in society.