Images

The Whistle Stop Cafe

                    

The Cafe that Idgie and Ruth ran was much more than just a place to grab a bite to eat. It was what was holding the small town together. When the place went under, the town seems to fall apart. It was located just a few feet from the railroad and whenever travelers came through the town, they would always stop at the Whistle Stop Café for the best barbecue in the south.  Many hobos and people who could not afford the food would stop in and Ruth and Idgie would never turn down a single hungry person. It brought a sense of community and family feel to the town. So many different events were held at the little cafe. It was the place to hangout and relax. 

Junk Food

         Junk food was what brought Evelyn and Mrs. Threadgoode together. Their passion for food and treats helped start an ever-lasting friendship. For Evelyn, junk food was the only thing that made her happy. She knew it was bad for her and it didn’t help her as she wanted to lose weight but it was the only thing that made her happy. Every time she was down to the nursing home to talk to Mrs. Threadgood she would bring her some sort of junk food, like Tacobell, honeybuns, Twinkies, or candy bars. Mrs. Theadgoode told Evelyn not to go on any other those silly diets and to enjoy what makes her happy. She also told her not to worry about being a little over weight and to forget about what society tells us, no one needs to be model skinny and that she is beautiful the way she is. Food appears a lot throughout the novel. 

Railroad

         The train that passes through Whistle Stop represents life. It brings birth and death, and it keeps the town alive. The train brings Ruth to Whistle Stop where she met the love of her life. It brings in customers to the cafe, so it could stay in business. The train brings new people in everyday and without it, the town would be nothing.         

         Railroad Bill is a person who would ride the trains and dump food off whenever he would pass by slums near the small towns. Hobos would ride the rails to come to the Cafe where Idgie and Ruth would take care of them. They would give them shelter and food in return for a little work. The train led them to the cafe so they could survive. The trains kept the people and the town thriving. The train also caused death. The train killed Idgie's brother, Buddy, when she was a little girl. It caused the whole family much pain. The train cut off Ruth's sons arm, nearly killing him. When Ruth left to go marry her husband, the train took her away from Idgie causing her even more pain. The train is like the circle of life, birth and death, always coming and going. 

Beehive and Honey

Right before Ruth left to go back to Valdosta to marry her husband, Idgie took her to a beehive. Without any protective clothing Idgie went up to the beehive and carefully got a jar full of honey for Ruth. Thousands of bees swarmed Idgie but she never got stung and successfully brought the honey to Ruth. Ruth called her a bee charmer. Honey came up many times throughout the novel and was a symbol of Ruth and Idgie’s love for one another. When Evelyn visits Ruth’s grave she sees that there is a fresh jar of honey and a note that says that she will always love her. The honey represents all those years of love and sweet life. It showed how brave Idgie was and how strong her love was for Ruth. 

Depression

         

From the beginning, Evelyn was depressed. She even mentioned suicide a few time. She hates how bitter everyone is and how times have changed so much and all she wants to do is go back in time and be with Idgie and Ruth. She is enjoying life through the characters Mrs. Threadgoode tells her about.

            There was a part where Mrs.Threadgoode was talking to Evelyn about being depressed when she said "I just don't believe people are happy anymore, not like they used to be. You never see a happy face, at least I don't... Look at all these people pulling such dried-up, sour little faces, even the youngsters." This quote stood out to me. Could she really believe that no one today is as happy as they were in the 1930's? I feel like materialism and technology have gotten the best of us. We think that the only things that will make us happy are a brand new computer or iphone and to look like a movie star. We kill ourselves to get what we want and to make us fit in with society instead of doing what actually makes us happy. I wish I could go back and see what its like not having text messages and media. People would be forced to have better communication skills and interact with each other more. Most people who are depressed feel alone, and if there were people who knew how to communicate in other ways than texting, maybe they wouldn’t feel quite so alone. Technology has also caused many teens to become depressed through cyber bullying and have actually lead to suicide. Maybe Mrs. Threadgoode is right; no one is as happy as they used to be because everyone’s morals have changed. It is no longer about family and relationships but money and beauty.

             I think Evelyn is depressed because her husband is only interested in his television and she is too worried about looking good and having materialistic things.

Author

       Frannie Flagg is the author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. She was born in 1944 in Birmingham, Alabama and that's where she grew up.  Her parents passed away when she was young. She was given the name of Patricia Neal but created the stage name Frannie Flagg because there was already an oscar winning actress with the same name. She started acting as a child. Her acting career took her to college at the University of Alabama. She did not graduate but continued with her studies in theater in Pittsburg. She stared in many television shows, movies, and broadway shows such as The New Dick Van Dyke Show, The New-Original Wonder Woman and the Love Boat.  She played Nurse Wilkins in the movie version of the show Grease. 
     She wrote many scrpits for plays and shows but never really had a passion for writting until she did a writting workshop led by Eudora Welty.  She struggled because she was Dyslexic but ended up winning a contest and decided to publish her book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. She has written a few other books and continues to write about what she knows best.
Frannie Flagg lives with her girlfriend in New York city. She is a funny, good humored woman who belives strongly in equl rights.
     Knowing a bit about the writer, I can see where she got her ideas for her characters. Growing up in Alabama, she knows about life in small towns and about society in those times. Flags parents died when she was young similar to Niny's character. Niny grows up with another family because her parents had passed away. Flag is also a lesbian, just like Idgie and Ruth. I think that Idgie was inspired by Flagg herself and her the life she led. She writes about what she knows, such as southern life in Alabama where she grew up and what she lived through. A big beliver in civil rights, she has written a story about seperation and segregation of blacks and whites. She trys to get her point across in the book that racism is not good. Idgie is just like her and Idgie would never turn away someone of color from her cafe.

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epG1GuOGYws

       After reading any book it is always fun to see the movie and compare it to the book. The books are always better because they give so much more detail and more in depth character study. When you read a book you feel like you really get to know the characters and they can develop over time. With movies you only get to know them for a few hours.
       I recently discovered that this book had been made into a movie. I have not seen the full movie yet but I just watched the trailer for it. It is only a glimpse of the movie but I can already tell so much about it. I think that the characters look like they were casted well. Evelyn looks perfect for the role. She is exactly as i had imagined her to be, a little bit over weight and kind of depressed looking.  Niny looks a lot older than I had expected. I know that she was supposed to be in a nursing home but she looks so frail, which is not how she was described in the book. She is much more energetic and loud and full of life. Idgie is a little more girly looking than I had thought but she dresses the part. She is very tom- boyish and tough just like the book describes her. Ruth is a pretty southern lady like I pictured. Overall it looks like they cast the characters well even though they don't look exactly as I pictured when reading the story. I am interested in seeing the movie to see if they cut out any scenes of what they had to add when they wrote the screen play. From the trailer it seems like they stuck to the plot of the book.