Prompt #3

I think that the theme of Fried Green Tomatoes is acceptance. There are many things that people have to accept in the book, like Ruth and Idgie's relationship, Stump not having an arm, and African Americans. The people in Whistle Stop have to try to accept Ruth and Idgie's relationship. It wasn't very common for two women to be together back then, and if they were they were always trying to hide it. But Ruth and Idgie were very open about that, and I think that helped the people in town accept it. Also, Stump had to accept himself. It says, "'It's just that I'm scared, Aunt Idgie. I'm just plain scared... I'm kinda scared that I'll fall on her or lose my balence because of my arm...'"(266). Stump is scared to be with a girl because he is self concious about his arm, even though he can do anything without it. He is the quarterback on the football team, and yet the thought of being with a girl scares him and makes him worry about only having one arm. Another way the books shows acceptance is with the KKK and the black people in the south. "Quietly, two black pickups had parked in front of the cafe and about twelve members of the Klan, dressed in full regalia, had slowly but deliberatly gotten ou and lined up outside the cafe"(203). The KKK had gone to the cafe because they heard that they were serveing black people there. This shows that even though they were free, black people still hadn't been accepted by everyone. This is also shown when Clarissa was in the department store. "'I'm your Uncle Artis, your daddy's brother.'...'YOU GET AWAY FROM HER!...HE WAS GRABBING AT HER!'"(296-297). Clarrissa was a very fair skinned balck girl, and she could actually pass as a tan white person if she wantd too, and she was that day. She pretended to ignore her uncle and he ended up getting kicked out of the store for trying to talk to her. This shows acceptance, or lack of, because the sales lady accused Artis of grabbing at Clarissa.

Post #3

To me the most prominent theme of the novel, Fried Green Tomatoes, is racism. This becomes evident throughout the entire novel. there are inumerous examples of racism, one being the way the African-Americans are addressed. One of the most obvious examples is how freely the word "n****r" is used.The novel is set in about the 1930's so, even though they were free, people had not yet developed a respect for the black man. Another very clear example is how some of the characters still had black maids or servants. this was still a very racist time and thorughout the novel we find people dealing with or overcoming racism. Therefore i feel that it is a very strong theme in the book.

Theme Post

I think the most prominent theme in the book is accepting others considering their differences.  This is demonstrated when Idgie serves the african american that come into the cafe. She serves them undercover, but doesn't deny them food just because they are black. Idgie stands up for the african americans when she says "Oh Grady, what harm can it be to sell a few sandwiches out the back door? It's not like they're coming in and sitting down" (54). During these times, slavery was becoming less of an issue, but still the persecution ligered. Idgie continues to demonstarte the theme when she takes Sipsey in, gives her a job, and continues be her friend, and keep her in her family. I think the fact that Idgie has kept her in the family adds to her opinion towards black people. One time a black man named Ocie came the cafe and asked for some food. idgie explained to him that "[She'd] have [him] come on in the front door and sit at a table" but she knows she can't do that (53). She explains that she wants him to come around the back door anytime he wants anything.

DeeDee2 post 3

As I read Fried Green Tomatoes the overall theme of the book to me is love and being there for family and friends. Throughout the book we read about many different relationships. There's Buddy and Idgie, Ruth and Idgie, the Threadgoode's and Ninny, and Big George and Sipsey. An example of Idgie's love towards Ruth is shown when Fannie Flagg states "BECAUSE I LOVE YOU AND I DON'T WANT YOU TO GO!" (90). This shows how Idgie feels about Ruth and even though back then it's against many people's beliefs for a girl to love another girl, Idgie doesn't care. Another example of being there for family and friends is "My own mother died of consumption when I was four, and when my daddy died, up in Nashville, I just stayed on for good. I guess you might say the spend-the-night- party never ended" (8)... For these reasons and many more when I read Fried Green Tomatoes I see many different kinds of love and compassion, towards friends and family.

Post #3

I think that the most prominent theme in the book is Racism. Racism is expressed a lot in this book. For example, when Officer Kilgore comes into the cafe and tells Idgie that she should not be serving colored people. She tries to explain to him that she isn't servng them inside the cafe and he kind of just blows her off. Which she is isn't she is serving them out the back door and he makes it seem like a big deal that she is. Then whenever Frank Bennett got killed they tried blaming it on Big George because of the day they went into to town to pick up Ruth and save her from Frank because he was beating her. So they thought Big George did it automatically because one of the people said the saw a big black man there and back then it was so easy to blame it on them.

sylarlover: post #2

The prominent theme in Fried Green Tomatoes is Happiness or making the best of things. The majority of the characters in the book make do with what they have in order to have a  content lifestyle. An example is when Idgie took Stump to see the three legged dogged when he was feeling depressed about his missing arm. "So I don't want to hear any more about what you can and cain't do, okay?" (115). Is what Idgie told Stump and he agreed and throughout the book it listed all his accomplishes that he made with only having one arm. A second example is Smokey Lonesome's love for Ruth Jamison. Although he never had a chance to tell her that he loved her, he made do with just a picture of her. "He had stolen only one thing his entire life. The photo of Ruth... And even after she had died, she was still alive in his heart. She could never die for him. Funny. All those years, and she never had known" (351). This shows how even though he cared for her more than she could ever realized, he kept her in his thoughts. Lastly, Evelyn made do with all the stories that Ninny Threadgoode had told her before she passed away. Evelyn had been contemplating whether life was really worth living. She was so frightened by words and people that she became depressed, instead of living with people she just let them walk over her. Evelyn became content with her life listening to the tales of Alabama during the late twenties through the thirties and learned how to deal with the struggles that she was facing to become happy with her life. An example of when Evelyn truelly had peace in her life was when she finally said goodbye to Ninny at the graveyard. "Evelyn had told her friend everything she could think of that had happened in the last year, and she didn't leave until she felt sure in her heart that Mrs. Threadgoode knew she was really okay" (390). Evelyn wanted Ninny to know that she was okay because she was confident in herself that she would no longer look down the barrel of death that used to haunt her in her dreams.This only shows how three people made the best out of their situations to become happy. There were many more but I thought this blog was way too long. Good night.

Prompt Number 3

In Fried Green Tomatoes By Frannie Flagg, the most prominent theme to be learned is to not discriminate against those who are different than you. This is shown when a young African American man named Ocie came up to the cafe one day during lunch and asked Idgie for some food for him and his friends, even though it was against the rules. Idgie looked at him and said, " Let me tell you something Ocie, you know that if it was up to me, I'd have you come on in the front door and sit at a table, but you know I can't do that...I want you to go back over to the yard and tell your friends, anytime that want anything, just to come on around the kitchen door" (53). This shows that even in the south there were people like Idgie who didn't care what your skin color was or what you looked like, she was always kind and willing to help you. No matter what the towns people said to her that it was bad business, she didn't care because she was her own persona dn no one could tell her what to do. This is also shown when she teaches her son Stump that it is okay to be different, " But you know Stump. I'd hate like the devil to think that you didn't have anymore sense than that poor, little dumb dog we saw today, so I don't want to hear anymore about what you can and cannot do"(115). This proves that she taught him a valuable lesson that even though he only has one arm that it doesn't mean he is any different that any other kid. He still plays outside and has all the capability to learn and grow up like a normal child, he's not different.