Unifying the Diverse ‘Highlanders’ in Ron Rash’s Serena

While the titular character of Serena captures the imagination of the novel’s other characters and readers alike, the “highlanders” prove more important to Ron Rash’s nuanced presentation of economic instability and government initiatives in Depression-era Appalachia. From the chorus of loggers who provide insightful commentary on the environmental impact of the lumber camp to Sheriff McDowell’s alliance with Horace Kephart to create a national park, Rash gives the highlanders a significant voice in pondering and resisting the changes wrought by the Pembertons. This presentation will engage closely with the novel as well as historical documents such as Kephart’s Our Southern Highlanders to show the complicated local reaction to culturally and economically charged initiatives, changes primarily driven by wealthy outsiders. I will show that these local voices differ at times—both historically and in Rash’s novel—but ultimately unite in their resistance to outside forces that harm the people and the place in Serena.