''The Keepers of the House'' is a 1964 novel by
Shirley Ann Grau
Shirley Ann Grau (July 8, 1929August 3, 2020) was an American writer. Born in New Orleans, she lived part of her childhood in Montgomery, Alabama. Her novels are set primarily in the Deep South and explore issues of race and gender. In 1965 she w ...
set in rural
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
. It covers seven generations of the Howland family that lived in the same house and developed a community around themselves. As such, it is a metaphor for the long-established families of the Deep South of the United States, their encounter with changing values and norms, and the hypocrisy of racism. In 1965, ''The Keepers of the House'' was awarded the
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during ...
.
Plot summary
The first William Howland served in New Orleans and the South during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
. While returning home to
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, he decided to settle in
Mississippi Territory
The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 7, 1798, until December 10, 1817, when the western half of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Mississippi. T ...
(now Alabama and Mississippi), overlooking a small river. He was later killed in a raid by
Indians, likely Creek. Since then, a descendant of William Howland, most often a male named William, has lived in the house with his family and dominated affairs in Madison City and Wade County, which developed around Howland's original settlement.
The fifth William Howland was the last man bearing the name to live in the house. His wife died young, leaving him with a young daughter, Abigail, and an infant son, William, who died a year after his mother. Abigail married an English professor who abandoned her with a child, also named Abigail, when he went off to fight in World War II. When she died, William Howland was left to take care of his granddaughter Abigail. He also brought Margaret, a new African-American housekeeper, to the house to live with him. Throughout the county, she was known as his mistress and the mother of his other children. What no one knew, however, was that William had secretly married Margaret to ensure that the children were legitimate. Once their children came of age, William Howland and Margaret sent them north so that they could pursue lives as Whites.
The secret of the marriage came out only after the younger Abigail was married to John Tolliver, an up-and-coming politician, who was running for governor. In the turbulent racist atmosphere of the South, Tolliver aligned himself with the Klan and made racist statements against Blacks. This infuriated Robert Howland, the eldest son of William and Margaret, who was living in obscurity in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
. He released the story of his origins to the press, crippling Tolliver's campaign. Tolliver, who regarded Abigail as a
trophy wife
A trophy wife is a wife who is regarded as a status symbol for the husband. The term is often used in a derogatory or disparaging way, implying that the wife in question has little personal merit besides her physical attractiveness, requires sub ...
, declared that their marriage was over and headed north to his family.
Both William Howland and Margaret had died, but a mob gathered to vent its anger about the mixed marriage on Abigail and the Howland house. They kill the livestock and set fire to the barn, but Abigail succeeds in driving them away from the house with her grandfather's
shotgun
A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...
s.
At the end of the book, Abigail takes her revenge on the people of Madison City. Over the past generations, her family had come to own most of the county, making her one of the richest people in the state. Over the course of a single day, she takes revenge on the locals for betraying her grandfather by shutting down the hotel and bringing most of the local economy to ruin. Once she has done that, she places a call to Robert, with the intention of informing his new family that his mother was Black.
Major themes
Race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
is explored as a major theme throughout the novel. Grau illustrates what she regards as hypocrisy among Southerners, whose purported beliefs about race sometimes conflict with their actions and/or statements. This dissonance is reflected in the character, John Tolliver, who is challenged about whether he believes the racist rhetoric he spouts.
Reception
Grau's bitter condemnation of racist rhetoric, made at the height of campaigns of the
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
in Alabama, evoked a sharp public reaction against the author. When the book was first published, Grau was publicly attacked by the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
, and a cross was burned on her lawn in
Metairie, Louisiana
Metairie ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States, and is part of the New Orleans metropolitan area. With a population of 143,507 in 2020, Metairie is the largest community in Jefferson Parish and was (a ...
, where she had long lived near New Orleans.
References
External links
Photos of the first edition of ''The Keepers of the House''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keepers Of The House
1964 American novels
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction-winning works
Alfred A. Knopf books
Family saga novels
Novels set in Alabama