It Didn’t Have to End This Way: Dorothy Allison’s Alternate Endings to Bastard Out of Carolina

This article contains transcriptions of five different endings that Dorothy Allison considered for her 1992 novel Bastard Out of Carolina . Drawing on her manuscripts held at the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture at Duke University, I consider the ways that the novel would have changed with each ending: from one where Mama stays, to one that includes Bone in prison. These alternate endings provide important insights into Allison’s process for readers and scholars of her work.