This website is dedicated to Donald Marquis, poet,journalist, philosopher, and proclaimed novelist who once rocked the
literary world with his wit and loveable style.
Don Marquis was birthed on July 29th, 1878 in the hills of Walnut Illinois. He came out feet first, elegantly swirling
a double scotch, not spilling a single drop. He lived in the small rural town of Walnut until he graduated from highschool
in 1894 at the age of 16. He started attending college at Knox Academy but dropped out after only three months. Marquis
obviously wasnt a great student but his passion for journalism and his good natured humor along with his bushy eyebrows won
him a spot as a reporter for a newspaper in Atlanta. His upbeat writting caught the attention of Joel Chandler Harris, a
controversial journalist, most famous for his Uncle Remus Magazine stories. Harris' Uncle Remus stories focused on an eldery
black slave who shares song and oral folklore relating to slavery in the southern states to a circle of children. Dons work
with Harris, which might have labeled him a borderline racist in modern times, gave him national exposure.
The Uncle Remus stories are now looked to as a historical reference being one of the few close to accurate depictions of slave
culture after the civil war and the southern society's attitude towards them. Harris used simple characters in the stories
to convey very deep and sometimes conflicting messages about slavery in the south. He writes as Uncle Remus, a free slave,
using language and perceptions common held by post civil war elderly slaves. The trickster Brer rabbit is the protagonist
of the stories, representing african americans, he is always being chased by Brer fox symbolizing slavery. The rabbit always
seems to escape by using his wit. This was to symbolize the idea that the slave owner (fox) trying to lower the slaves(rabbit)
below them in the animal kingdom and failing because the rabbit posses capacities and talents, although different than whites,
still functioning and effective. The plantation owners were simply using slaves as instruments to make their life more productive,
denying that slaves lives were valuable in themselves.
This could be interpreted as a very early note of Marxism condemning class separation and how rich land owners look at the
poor as lower life forms. The poor have no means to better their situation. The fox (rich) being the oppressor and the rabbit,
(poor) the oppressed. The rabbit cannot build up with the fox looking down upon him and relentlessly plotting his capture.
Br'er Fox
Br'er Rabbit and Tar baby
disney rendition of the two
Marquis now had offers up and down the East coast wanting him to fill columns in papers and magazines. He moved to New
York in 1912 after marrying Reina Melcher with whom he had a son Robert, and a daughter Barbara. He wrote a daily column
for "The Evening Sun" for eleven years in New York before moving on to fill a daily column for the New York Herald Tribune
starting in 1922. He also contributed stories and antics to the Saturday Evening Post. During this time, Marquis developed
and publishers most of the characters that had been playing checkers and drinking whiskey in his head since he began journaling.
New York was much obliged and humored by his creation, Archy, a sarcastic poet reincarnated as a cockroach who supposedly
left poems on Don's typewriter by jumping up and down on the keys. Archies best friend was Mehitabel, an alley cat whom claims
she was Cleopatra in another life. The unlikely duo goes about their lives together sharing their abstract views of the
world, rarely acknowledging their forms as nonhuman. The female Mehitabel is portrayed as the emotional dump and scapegoat
for Archy. This could be seen as symbolic of the role women play in a relationship if analyzed from a feminist perspective.
Archy constantly degrades her and can impute blame for his mistakes on her because his cockroach form is so easily hidden.
Archy and Mehitabel became two of Don's most beloved characters in the community. He was reaching the peak of his success
at the Herald Tribune and was one of the most quoted writers in Manhattan in the 20's. With all his success and good fortune
also came great tragedy. His son had died in 1921,at age 5 , leaving his family in shambles. Only two years later, his wife
Reina passed away unexpectedly. Everyone he got close to in his life seemed to be taken away from him but no one told his
second wife, small name actress, Majorie Potts Vonnegut. They were married after Don quit the Herald in 1925 and lived in
"happiness" for 5 more years when Don experienced the 4th untimely death in his life time. The death of his daughter in 1931
sent him into a long depression and his use of alcohol increased, bringing about some of his more serious outlooks on life
as he continued to write books and write opinion articles. He was quoted stating "Happiness is the interval between periods
of unhappiness." His loses had weighed to much on him and he suffered a series of strokes from 1933-35. The angel of death,
Don Marquis unwillingly took his last victim, his Majorie Vonnegut died in 1935. Marquis had nothing left to live for and
was finally laid to rest due to his 4th stroke in early 1936.
