Petrified Man

Eudora Welty was a 20th-century short story writer, novelist, and photographer who became known for her nuanced ability to depict life in the Mississippi Delta region—not just her birthplace, but also where she spent most of her life. Some consider Welty an author of the Southern Gothic genre. Though “Petrified Man” does not have any particularly macabre or magical elements, Welty certainly uses irony to explore the values and characteristics of this unnamed Mississippi town. By setting the story in a beauty parlor and having the story take place exclusively in conversations between Leota and Mrs. Fletcher, Welty examines and exposes the attitudes toward beauty, sexuality, gender roles, and abortion in 1930s Mississippi. Women were expected to cultivate a beautiful appearance even during times of devastating economic hardship, and Welty emphasizes the superficiality of appearances by creating characters that are shallow and spiteful.

Welty also uses the women’s bold characters to highlight the ways in which traditional gender roles were simultaneously being subverted and upheld during the Depression. These fiercely independent, working women challenged the typical masculine role of the time, while also remaining confined to certain gendered expectations.