Summary
“No Blood in the Turnip,” is a creative nonfiction narrative told in the first person account of an African-American family based on codependency. The setting of the story is Shreveport, Louisiana, in a neighborhood called Mooretown. It tells about Georgann’s childhood, teenage years, marriage and motherhood.
“No blood in the Turnip” shows how Georgann’s marital experiences, paralleled her childhood experience—her father’s irresponsible behavior, her wanting to change his behavior. But Georgann made the wrong choice and married someone with the same characteristics as her father. And because of Georgann’s codependent habits, she tried to change and control her husband, and failed. She eventually was the one being controlled.
“No blood in the Turnip,” gives the reader insights of codependency and what it does to the family structure. The story is an eye-opener, especially for the African-American community. Georgann found many that have never heard the word, “codependent”. Her story is a mirror for so many. The story shows how being from a dysfunctional home environment affects the children and manifests itself through increased irritability, and acting out or lack of focus at school. The prisons are over-crowded with young black men, mostly, because they are products of dysfunctional home environments. The story shows how the cycle of negative behaviors passes from one generation to the next. It tells how Georgann failed her two sons by exposing them to an unhealthy home environment by staying in a destructive marriage for twenty-three years.
Georgann realizes that she can’t “change” the past, but hopes that telling her story will help others realize that our children learn by our examples. The title, “No Blood in the Turnip” came from an old adage passed on by Georgann’s grandmother. It is a derivative of “You can’t get blood from a turnip.”