Final answer:
Jesmyn Ward likely portrays the Gulf South and Delisle, Mississippi, as areas marked by historical hardships, racial conflicts, and entrenched social codes, echoing themes found in Southern Renaissance literature and historical accounts of slavery and discrimination.
Step-by-step explanation:
Jesmyn Ward's portrayal of the Gulf South and Delisle, Mississippi, in her memoir is one that is deeply interwoven with themes of rural farming families, the social classes in conflict, and the complex web of social codes symptomatic of the American South. Ward, much like other authors such as Hurston and Glasgow, depicts a landscape that is haunted by the past, where social statuses are entrenched, and where the vestiges of slavery and racial discrimination continue to define the region's cultural and social identity. Her narrative may include not just nostalgic reminisces but also the stark realities that many Southern African-Americans faced, similar to those described in historical accounts where elite Southern White women's hardships and the terrors of slavery are acknowledged.
In the context of Mississippi, Ward's narrative likely bears witness to the painful aspects of its history, the racism reminiscent of the 'Cotton Curtain' described in historical speeches, and the struggle for self-determination in the shadow of a past fraught with oppression and longing for a bygone era. The 'evasive idealism' described in fiction by Ellen Glasgow and similarly critiqued ideals in Southern Renaissance literature may offer important parallels to Ward's own reflections on her experiences in the Gulf South, providing a powerful and evocative portrayal of Delisle, Mississippi.