What is white trash

Mrs. Turpin is a woman who is very confident in herself and her social standing. From early on we learn how she defines herself in society and how she classifies those that surround her. In her mind being white trash is worse than being a black person. According to Mrs. Turpin, white trash people are those who come from the lower classes of society, possess little or no land, have poor outlooks of life and lack a good education. Mrs. Turpin calls the woman in the doctor’s waiting room white trash because of how she is dressed; she “had on what appeared to be bedroom slippers” (O’Connor 635). Wearing bedroom slippers out in public was a “white-trashy” thing to do according to Mrs. Turpin (O’Connor 635). This woman in the waiting room also spoke her mind. She always wanted the attention back on her and therefore would interrupt situations in order for people to be focused on her. On page 642 Mrs. Turpin describes exactly what she means by white trash. She basically says that whatever you give a person who is considered white trash, they will break, destroy or somehow make dirty in a short amount of time. To Mrs. Turpin these kinds of people do not respect anything they have; they are very ungrateful.
At one point during the story Mrs. Turpin addresses the woman as white trash; she does not say white-trashy mother, or white trash woman, she says, “Everybody laughed except the girl and the white trash” (O’Connor 643). It is as if Mrs. Turpin does not feel this woman is even good enough to be considered a woman; she is simply just as her label describes, white trash.