| Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe | |
|---|---|
First edition cover |
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| Author(s) | Fannie Flagg |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fiction |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Publication date | August 12, 1987 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 403 pp |
| ISBN | 039456152X |
| OCLC Number | 15792039 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.54 19 |
| LC Classification | PS3556.L26 F7 1987 |
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a 1987 novel by Fannie Flagg. It was adapted into the film Fried Green Tomatoes, which was released in 1991.
Contents |
The story jumps narration and sequence and is distinctive in chapter-opening visuals to establish the date and the source of the chapter. Some come from the fictional newspaper in Whistle Stop, Alabama called The Weems Weekly. Some come from the Couches' house in Birmingham, and others fill in some of the more intimate details of the stories told about the characters.
The story is told through many decades and begins in 1985 with an unfulfilled stay-at-home mom named Evelyn Couch, who comes with her husband to visit his elderly aunt, who dislikes her niece-in-law, at Rose Terrace Nursing Home. While avoiding her, Evelyn meets nursing home resident Virginia "Ninny" Threadgoode, who begins to tell her random stories of her home in Whistle Stop, beginning in the 1920s. Evelyn becomes so interested in the stories of Whistle Stop that her life begins to take new meaning in the characters in Mrs. Threadgoode's history.
Ninny Threadgoode grew up in a bustling house after being adopted by the Threadgoode family and eventually married one of the brothers. Her first love, however, was young Buddy Threadgoode, whose pet of all the children was the youngest girl, Idgie (Imogene). An unrepentant tomboy, Idgie learned her charm from Buddy. Buddy died when a train hit him, and young Idgie was devastated. Nothing civilized her until a few summers later when virtuous Ruth Jamison came to live with the family while she taught Vacation Bible School. The family and servants watched with amusement as Idgie fell head over heels in love with Ruth, but when Ruth went home to Georgia to marry a man she was promised to, once more, Idgie left home.
During a regular visit to Ruth's hometown, Idgie learned that Ruth's husband, Frank Bennett, was abusing her. When Ruth's mother died of illness soon after, a page torn from the Book of Ruth in the Bible was sent to the Threadgoode house (appropriately Ruth 1:16, "But Ruth said, 'Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.'"), and Idgie, Big George, her two brothers, and two friends went to Georgia to bring Ruth home. Intimidated by Big George, Frank does little more than protest before the group leaves with Ruth. Papa Threadgoode gave Idgie money to start a business so that she could care for Ruth and their son. She bought the cafe where Sipsey and her daughter-in-law Onzell cooked, and Big George, married to Onzell, made the best barbecue in Alabama.
Idgie and Ruth raised Ruth's son, and the cafe became known all over the US during The Great Depression through the communication of hobos, especially half-time Whistle Stop resident Smokey Lonesome. It had a reputation for feeding men down on their luck, and Idgie and Ruth created a little controversy when they decided to serve black customers from the back door. It was about this point that Georgia detectives started asking about the suspicious disappearance of Ruth's ex-husband.
Evelyn Couch becomes so entwined in Mrs. Threadgoode's stories that she begins to live them in her mind, and she realizes how purposeless her life has become and how pointless her reasons were for caring about people's opinions while growing up. Ample in body contour and virtually ignored by her husband, Evelyn becomes inspired by Idgie's boldness and audacity and creates an alter-ego named Towanda, a hyper-violent, Amazon-like character who lashes out at people. Made uneasy by how much satisfaction she feels at lashing out, Evelyn confesses to Mrs. Threadgoode what is happening. She gets a job with Mary Kay Cosmetics and, at Mrs. Threadgoode's suggestion, starts to take hormones for menopause.
Prodded on by Evelyn, Ninny resumes her story. For years the cafe ran—through World War II and into the 1950s. Idgie and Ruth's son grew up, and the lives of the town members moved on. However, when Ruth died of cancer, the life went out of the cafe. Several years later, Idgie herself was arrested along with Big George for the murder of Frank Bennett when his car was found at the bottom of a lake outside of Whistle Stop. The case is dismissed at the trial when the local minister, paying Idgie back for anonymously bailing his son out of jail, lies on the stand and testifies that she and Big George were at a three-day revival the weekend Frank Bennett went missing. Bennett's body was never found, but it is revealed toward the end that when he came into the cafe to kidnap Ruth's infant son, Sipsey killed him with a cast iron skillet. Big George barbecued the body, and Sipsey buried the head in the Threadgoodes' garden.
Evelyn goes to see Mrs. Threadgoode as usual but one of the nurses tells Evelyn that Mrs. Threadgoode has died. The ending of the novel reveals that Idgie and some of her cronies are still alive and selling vegetables, catfish and honey from a roadside stand.
Lesbianism is a theme in the novel, as the relationship between Idgie and Ruth is accepted by the entire town of Whistle Stop. Although it is not labeled a lesbian relationship, every resident knows about and accepts Idgie and Ruth. The relationship is altered in the film, in which Ruth had been in love with Buddy Threadgoode.[1] It is implied that Ruth never got over his death; but she loved Idgie, and Idgie loved her. The film received an award from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).[2][3][4]
The novel also examines women aging, as Evelyn goes through menopause and watches 86-year-old Mrs. Threadgoode begin to deteriorate.[5] Food is a literary theme to the point that Flagg included the recipes served by the cafe at the end of the book.[6]
The "Whistle Stop Cafe" is loosely based on the Irondale Cafe in Irondale, Alabama, a suburb near Flagg's birthplace. It is still in operation and, like the fictional cafe, is known for its fried green tomatoes.[7]
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe spent 36 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List.[8] Harper Lee gave a recommendation for the book, saying, "Airplanes and television have removed the Threadgoodes from the Southern scene. Happily for us, Fannie Flagg has preserved a whole community of them in a richly comic, poignant narrative that records the exuberance of their lives, the sadness of their departure. Idgie Threadgoode is a true original: Huckleberry Finn would have tried to marry her!"[9]