Theme: In Savannah, Everything
Changes, Everything Stays the Same
“Six months after his
acquittal, Jim Williams sat down at his desk to make plans for his first
Christmas party in eight years. He called Lucille Wright and asked her to
prepare a low-country banquet for two hundred people. He hired a bartender,
four waiters, and two musicians. Then he took out his stack of index cards and
embarked on the most delicate and satisfying task of all: compiling his guest
list” (Berendt 370).
I think that this quote is a
good example of a theme Berendt repeatedly mentions throughout the book. No
matter what events occur, Savannah remains the same. Jim Williams was tried a
record-breaking four times for the murder of Danny Hansford. After he is
acquitted, does he move away? No. He chooses to remain in Mercer House.
Williams even continues his old tradition of the annual Christmas party. Other
than the absence of Danny Hansford’s less-than-delightful presence, there is
little different in Mercer House. Williams even calls up his usual caterer and compiles
his guest list, acting the whole time as if the past eight years never
happened. This attitude extends beyond just Williams to the entire city of
Savannah. The city and its inhabitants do all they can to preserve things as
they are. They remain isolated; insular and voluntarily cut off from the
outside world. Things have been a certain way in the past, so they should
always be that way. I also think Berendt is a good observer of this as an
outsider (at least initially) in Savannah’s society. He is able to describe
this characteristic in a way that other outsiders, such as myself, can read
about and better understand it.
I think what gives Savannah its charm, and by extension its eccentricity, is that nobody in Savannah wishes for change. Like you said, everybody likes things how they are and hope to preserve how things used to be, and even with big-disturbances people continue on with their daily lives because that's how they like things to be. And, as we saw throughout Midnight, that way a lot of odd people seem to accumulate within an otherwise serene and secluded town. But I thought it was also very interesting how in your theme you also mentioned "Everything Changes" even though you talked about the people of Savannah wanting to keep things the same. Because no matter what they do, things do and will change in Savannah- for example, while they still brandish the Confederate flag during the (I think) St. Patrick's Day Parade, there isn't a lot of noticeable hostility between blacks and whites, and homosexuality, although still considered abnormal in Savannah, isn't something that people get sent to jail or beaten up for. So I think it's cool to draw a parallel between both the absence and inevitability of change in Savannah- they kind of oppose yet lead into each other, and that's how gives form and character to Savannah.
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