'Rethinking Headwear: Sombreros and Power in Edna Ferber's Cimarron' Olivia Lyon, University of Chester

'Rethinking Headwear: Sombreros and Power in Edna Ferber's Cimarron'

Olivia Lyon, University of Chester

As part of an ongoing research project into the importance of headwear in 1920s literature, it became apparent that the significance and importance afforded to the sombrero in Edna Ferber’s Cimarron was sufficient and noteworthy enough to warrant an in-depth analysis of the subject. While written in 1929, the novel is set in the 1890s at the time of the Oklahoma Land Rush, meaning it is suitable for presentation at this conference as a Neo-Victorian text.

This paper aims to demonstrate the way in which Ferber uses sombreros to represent authority and social power by examining characters of varying social standing and their interactions with their sombreros, and in turn the way in which other characters in the novel respond to this. One of the novel’s central characters, the enigmatic Yancey Cravat, is made more critically accessible through an analysis of his headwear, namely his white sombrero. This analysis is of such significance it forms the main body of the paper. Additionally, the paper examines the representation of a characters’ morality through the condition and colour of their headwear. Through this analysis, it is demonstrated that Ferber’s characters are able to subvert their natural characteristics and successfully create an entirely different persona solely through the use of a sombrero. However, the paper also demonstrates that the power of headwear is diminished over time as styles fluctuate – what begins as a symbol of power and authority early in the novel is an indicator of low character and vagrancy by the end.

2a: Fabricating Masculinity (Chair: Sarah Heaton) – CWE 124