Melungeons by Chris Offutt
"Melungeons," a narrative by Chris Offutt, delves into the complexities of a mixed-race community known as the Melungeons, who inhabit the Appalachian regions of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. The story centers on Deputy Ephraim Goins, a Melungeon who navigates the tensions arising from a long-standing clan feud that has persisted for sixty years. The plot kicks off with an elderly man, Haze Gipson, seeking incarceration in the town jail, revealing his connection to the Gipson family involved in the feud. As the narrative unfolds, Gipson expresses a sense of loss and disconnection from his family due to a lifetime spent away from his roots.
In a parallel storyline, Beulah Mullins, a member of the opposing clan, embarks on a journey into town, determined to confront her family's rival. The tension escalates when she uses cunning to smuggle a shotgun into the jail, culminating in a violent act of vengeance against Gipson. The story explores themes of identity, heritage, and the weight of familial legacies, culminating in Goins' reflective journey back to his ancestral home. This portrayal of the Melungeons sheds light on the cultural intricacies and historical conflicts that shape their lives, inviting readers to consider the broader implications of ancestry and community.
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Melungeons by Chris Offutt
First published: 1993
Type of plot: Regional
Time of work: The 1990's
Locale: Rocksalt, Kentucky, a small Appalachian town
Principal Characters:
Ephraim Goins , the town deputy and jailerHaze Gipson , a mountain man who has returned home after many years in a northern cityBeulah Mullins , an eighty-four-year-old member of an opposing clan
The Story
Making use of the folklore tradition of mountain feuds, "Melungeons" focuses on Deputy Ephraim Goins, who, like the other two characters in the story, is a member of the mixed-race group that gives the story its title. The story begins when an elderly man comes into the town jail and asks Goins what he needs to do to get incarcerated. When Goins suggests, "defacing public property," the man urinates on the jailhouse steps and is put behind bars.
The man identifies himself as Haze Gipson, who Goins recognizes is a Melungeon, a member of a mixed-race community (Native American, African American, and white) who live in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. He also recognizes the name "Gipson" as being the family name of a clan involved in an ongoing feud that began sixty years earlier over the carcass of an accidentally killed bear. Goins, also a Melungeon, has avoided involvement in the feud by joining the army during the Korean War and then living in town since his return.
Gipson explains that he has returned after all these years because he has missed every wedding and funeral his family has had. He tells Goins that he has gone up to the mountains to see his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but that because he is the last of the old Gipsons still alive, he does not feel safe there.
The story then shifts to Beulah Mullins, an eighty-four-year-old member of the opposing clan, who, although she has not been off the mountain in fifty years, begins a long walk into town. When morning comes and Goins returns to the jailhouse, the old woman arrives. She reaches into her bag and takes out a blackened pot filled with squirrel stew, which she offers to Goins to prove the pot does not contain a file or a pistol. When Goins allows her to take the stew into Gipson's cell and goes back to his desk to eat, he hears a blast. The old woman has hidden a sawed-off shotgun under her long coat and has taken one last revenge against a member of her enemy clan. She willingly enters another jail cell to await her trial. After Goins locks her up, he opens the jailhouse door and begins walking toward the hills that are his ancestral home.