Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan,--1896-1953--Criticism and interpretation

For the most part, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's work has been considered primarily as Southern Regionalist. Her use of language, however, in detailed descriptions of nature evidence an ecological consciousness. Examining her use of certain words used in descriptions of natural places, we see that Rawlings views nature as a place of learning and that man fits in not as a dominant figure, but as a part of the ecological community, and is subject to the vicissitudes of nature. The analysis of her language is the indication that Rawlings was as concerned with nature as she was with the Regionalism of Cross Creek. Her use of certain words portrays an unpredictable world. Rawlings portrays her characters in the basic condition of mankind, not as dominant figures, but as survivors in the unpredictable settings of Nature.