Samantha Martin-Bird
Ms. St. John
AP Lang: Block 4A
24 January
Midwest Essay
Debra Marquart’s memoir The Horizontal World, characterizes the Midwest as a safe place, with stereotypes, through humor and a lighthearted mood.
Marquart attacks preexisting views of the Midwest. She quotes a comedian that characterizes the Midwest as a place that “spawns both tornadoes and Republicans.” This example of humor in her memoir characterizes the Midwest as place of horrendous weather patterns and right-wing politicians. Lovely. She also writes that flying over the Midwest is a region, “one must endure to get to more interesting places.” This is another example of humor in the memoir by Marquart. The implications of the word, “endure” portray humor through sarcasm as a description of the monotony of the Midwest landscape. She does this in order to endearingly characterize the Midwest as being easily stereotyped.
Furthermore, this excerpt of Marquart’s memoir is riddled with stereotypes, far beyond the tornado and Republican remark. She also comments that, “the most innocent female characters in movies and prime-time TV dramas” are from the Midwest. This she says, “makes their descent into ruthless behavior in places like Los Angeles and New York all the more tragic.” By contrasting the Midwest as a haven of naïvefemales, and the metropolises of Los Angeles and New York as havens of evil, with a satirical tone, Marquart characterizes the Midwest as friendly and safe. Indeed, the Midwest is so open and safe that, “you’ll only need to tap your steering wheel to keep your car on a straight-ahead path” whilst driving through the “square states.” Marquart feels this part of the country is harmless and characterizes it as such. She relates the history of the safe locationby referencing “Jefferson’s idea of a rectangular cadastral survey.” Evidently, the “countryside [was] so well behaved that it laid itself down in neat, even squares for the surveyor’s instruments.” This personification of the countryside is another example of the humor and lighthearted mood that Marquart characterized the Midwest with in order to manufacture imagery of the Midwest as a safe, monotonous place.
Stereotypes, sarcasm and a satirical humorous tone – in this way Marquart’s imagery of the Midwest is powerfully and amusingly delivered. Her memoir provides a glimpse of the Midwest; stereotypical and benign.
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