80 pages • 2 hours read
John BerendtMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1994A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Part 1, Chapters 8-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1, Chapter 8 Summary: “Sweet Georgia Brown’s”
In this short chapter, the narrative returns to Odom. We learn that Odom has been evicted from his home on Oglethorpe Avenue and is now squatting in another home. In addition to the new home, Odom has also set up a new bar, Sweet Georgia Brown’s. He left Emma’s piano bar because his creditors were making his involvement in Emma’s a liability. However, Odom is unable to explain how setting up a new bar will avoid this problem. As Berendt watches Odom pay his workers, using checks that will most likely bounce, Odom critiques Berendt’s choice of interview subject, especially Driggers and Chablis:
‘Cause you know, Mandy and I are fixing to rent a house with a pool out in Hollywood for when they make the movie out of that book of yours. But it’s starting to look like our costars are going to be nothing but a bunch of creeps’ (126).
When Berendt says that he will be interviewing Williams next, Odom approves, saying, “Jim Williams is a stellar individual” (127).
Part 1, Chapter 9 Summary: “A Walking Streak of Sex”
The author tells Odom about his meeting with Williams, as described in Chapter 1, and about meeting Hansford. The chapter then proceeds to focus on Hansford, but this time from the point of view of Corinne, a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Corinne lives in a townhouse near Williams, and she has observed Hansford come and go to the Mercer House. She is attracted to him and makes sure to run into him on one of his visits.
Hansford invites her into the Mercer House, giving her a tour and acting as if he is one of the owners. The grandness of the house strikes her, but Hansford does not fool her. Still, he allures her, and they have sex in one of the bedrooms. When Williams comes home, it is clear who is really the owner of the house. Williams jokes to Corinne, “If we both put our minds to it, I mean really concentrate, we can probably get Danny to get up out of that chair and make himself useful by fixing us a drink” (132). Hansford sulks and storms out of the house.
When Corinne leaves the house, Hansford is waiting for her and tells her that they are going for a drive. He speeds off, driving fast as he always does, and they end up at an oceanfront motel, where they get cocktails. They run into Corinne’s friends, which makes Hansford jealous. Next, he takes her to the Bonaventure Cemetery, which Corinne finds beautiful and peaceful, but Hansford thinks about nothing except death. He says that if he stays at the Mercer House, Williams will buy him a large tombstone. He admits, “I ain’t got nothin’ to live for” (136). Corinne tries to encourage him to have happier, more hopeful thoughts. Then they have sex again, and visitors walking through the cemetery almost discover them.
On the drive back, Corinne is shocked when Hansford proposes marriage. She protests that they just met three hours ago, but Hansford feels dejected. She promises that they can still meet, but Hansford slaps her mid-sentence. He races faster and faster, and Corinne is terrified that he will kill them both. His rage only dissipates when the police pull him over, and he turns to her, tender again, saying, “Get me out of this, will you?” (140). Corinne does not see him again.
Part 1, Chapter 10 Summary: “It Ain’t Braggin’ If Y’Really Done It”
This chapter focuses on Lee and Emma Adler, who are rivals of Jim Williams, owner of the Mercer House. Their home is directly across the square from Williams’s home, as if in confrontation. Like Williams, Lee Adler restores homes and was instrumental in the revitalization of Savannah’s historic district. His efforts have been nationally recognized, and he and his wife even had the opportunity to travel to the White House and meet Prince Charles to discuss low-income housing. However, many Savannah residents dislike Adler’s ways: “It was said that he hogged the limelight, that he was insincere, and that his only interest in historic preservation was to use it as a means to gain fame and make money” (142).
Adler takes the author on a tour of his renovation projects both in historic downtown Savannah and in the nearby Victorian neighborhood. He chronicles the history of the renovation and his role in it. During the 1920s, people began abandoning the downtown for the suburbs. The buildings became dilapidated, and by the 1950s, a third of the old buildings were gone. Lee Adler’s mother was one of a group of ladies who joined forces to fight the demolition of the Davenport House, “one of the finest examples of Federal architecture in America” (146).
These efforts resulted in the beginning of the Historic Savannah Foundation. The foundation aimed to buy historic buildings slated for demolition and then sell those homes to those who promised to renovate the buildings to their former glory. Conrad Aiken was one of the first to have a home renovated, and when people saw the magnificent renovations in his home, others soon followed in Aiken’s footsteps.
Adler’s next project was to create the Savannah Landmark Rehabilitation Project to start renovating the homes in the Victorian district, “Savannah’s first streetcar suburb” (149). It was built for the white working-class, but when they moved out, African Americans began moving in. Adler wanted to renovate the district without gentrifying; he wanted the black residents to continue to live in their homes, and with public subsidies, he was able to keep the housing affordable. Adler takes Berendt on a tour of Ruby Moore’s home, showing the successful renovations.
Berendt attends a party of the Married Woman’s Card Club. He hears the gossip about the Adlers and their visit to Washington, DC, to meet Prince Charles. Many guests see the couple as grasping for power and attention. They criticize Adler’s version of events, saying that Adler did not create the Landmark Rehabilitation Project due to some moral purpose of racial equality. They say he was fired from the Historic Foundation (which is at odds with Adler’s version, since he said he quit). They insist he started the Project only because “he had to show Historic Savannah that he could do it on his own somehow, and he seized on the Victorian district as his vehicle” (160).
One of the guests points out that the Savannah elite should blame themselves for Adler’s actions. Because Adler is Jewish, he is not allowed in certain groups, such as the Oglethorpe Club and the yacht club. So, “he must do something brilliant, something absolutely ingenious. In my opinion, he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams” (163).
Part 1, Chapter 11 Summary: “News Flash”
This short chapter opens with a comparison of the sister cities, Savannah and Charleston. Savannah has finer streetscapes, while Charleston excels at interiors. Savannah has strong English influences, while Charleston has Spanish and French influences. Savannah loves to hunt, fish, and party, while Charleston prefers more scholarly pursuits. The author points out that, as much as Savannah residents like to talk about Charleston, they have hardly any interest in visiting there, despite it being only two hours away. In fact, Savannahians hardly have any interest in visiting anywhere, being content to enjoy the beauty and fine weather of Savannah. The author too feels this desire to stay within Savannah’s embrace, and he spends less and less time in New York.
Chablis is the exception, as usual. She takes her show on the road, traveling to Augusta, Columbia, Atlanta, and Jacksonville, but always returning to Savannah. On one of her returns, she calls Berendt to tell him the shocking news: Jim Williams has shot Danny Hansford, and the authorities have arrested him for murder.
Part 1, Chapters 8-11 Analysis
The chapter on the Adlers highlights the author’s desire to present multiple points of view. The author doesn’t tell us immediately which voice to believe, but instead lets the characters speak for themselves, and then allows readers to sift the evidence and figure out who they believe. For example, Lee Adler says that he quit the Historic Foundation because he wanted to fight gentrification, ensuring that African Americans would not be kicked out of their homes during the renovation processes. But at the Married Women’s Club party, a guest informs Berendt that Adler is lying was kicked out of the Historic Foundation because of his bullying leadership, which prohibited others from having a voice. The author does not side with either voice but instead presents both without judgment.
Of course, there is another voice that attempts to mediate this contradiction. Simply named “the white-haired man,” he brings out another side of the story, saying that Savannah’s discrimination of Jews may have contributed to Adler’s desire to push hard against the elite’s ideas: “You shall come this far and no farther, you are not really one of us” (162).
Such layering of voices allows for a gradual sifting and distillation of the truth. For example, when we first see Hansford from Williams’s point of view, Hansford seems completely out of control. When we see Hansford from Corinne’s point of view, we also see this view of Hansford. However, she also shows us a depressed young man with no reason to live; the most he has to look forward to is a fancy gravestone from the rich Williams. Ironically, it is Williams who will put him in that grave.
Readers must also consider the voice of the author and question the role Berendt, the interviewer, has in this story. He does not hide behind his words, but instead, Berendt makes himself part of the story. In fact, Odom jokes that he can’t wait to move out to Hollywood when Berendt’s book becomes a movie. Suddenly the story that Berendt is writing becomes part of the story itself, in a type of metacommentary. But the role of the interviewer can become problematic, such as when Ruby Moore invites Berendt to sign her guest book, and Berendt sees a reporter’s name from the Atlanta Constitution a few lines above his. This recognition may raise several questions for Berendt: Has Adler chosen to give Moore a tour because she is good for interviews and newspaper pictures? Does her story change because she knows she must “perform” for the reporter? How does the reporter’s presence change the truth of the story? However, the same considerations apply to Berendt. Readers may consider to what extent the characters are performing for Berendt to ensure a memorable place in his book and perhaps in a Hollywood blockbuster.
