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Prologue (“Kentucky, 1936”)
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Kind, Kindness, and Discrimination
The Power of Books
Hardship and Humanity
Change and Modernization
Autonomy and Interdependence
Summary
Analysis
On the afternoon of January 1, 1936, Cussy Mary’s Pa (Elijah Carter) adjusts the courting candle, which keeps track of the time a suitor is allowed to visit on the family’s porch. Before his wife died, he promised that he would see their daughter, Cussy, respectably married. But Cussy thinks her life is respectable. She makes $28 a month delivering books with the Pack Horse Library project.
The argument between Cussy Mary and Pa about the necessity of her marriage expresses the conflict between the traditional ways and the change that modernization has brought. Cussy values her independence and can support herself with her job, but Pa disagrees. The courting candle, which both adjust in this chapter, represents the more traditional ways of doing things that Cussy wants to reject.
Themes
Pa worries about Cussy Mary’s health and safety while she rides through the mountains; one librarian’s horse has already died under her. He thinks Cussy takes “dirty” and “airish” books into the hills. She answers that her patrons are hungry to learn, but Pa reminds her that physical hunger is a serious threat in the hills, too. Many people die of starvation. And he thinks that the best way to protect her from starvation is to get her a husband.
Cussy’s job, like life in rural eastern Kentucky generally, is brutal and hard. But, as Cussy protests, books can educate, enlighten, and transform lives in this harsh terrain. Still, not everyone is ready to embrace change and modernization, and many people feel suspicious of the government-provided reading materials Cussy carries.
Themes
The Pack Horse Library project is an initiative of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), bringing literature and art into the lives of rural Kentuckians through books. Before she got the job, Cussy Mary had shared Pa’s fears about her future. She had to send her application to the state capital to bypass the bigotry of the local supervisors. When she was accepted, Pa was surprised and worried about what it would do to her marriage prospects.
As a program administer by the WPA, the Pack Horse Library project represents an opportunity to improve the lives of folks living in rural eastern Kentucky, because books are powerful tools of education and enlightenment. Books—and the job—have given Cussy the hope of a better future and she wants to inspire her patrons as well. And Cussy especially needed hope because of the bigotry and discrimination she faces due to blue-toned skin, which marks her as different from the rest of the people in the area.
Themes
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Cussy Mary and Pa are both “Blue People of Kentucky,” born with a blood disorder that turns their skin blue. Cussy’s great-grandfather was a Blue from France. His wife was a white-skinned Kentucky woman, but several of their children were Blue. To escape ridicule, superstition, and the belief that their coloring was from inbreeding, the afflicted families retreated into the hills. Cussy is the last one of her kind, which she knows usually means that a species has been hunted to extinction.
The history of Cussy’s family suggests that discrimination is against people who are different is common—but also that it’s possible to see the humanity in a person despite their differences. Although Cussy’s grandfather was blue skinned, he married a white Kentucky woman. This foreshadows romantic opportunities for Cussy that she can’t yet imagine.
Themes
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Pa’s skin color is mostly covered by the dust from his work in the coal mine. But Cussy Mary’s skin is visible. The head librarian, Eula Foster, despises her and considers her stupid. Because Cussy’s skin color hinders her marriage prospects, Pa offers a $5 dowry and 10 acres of land. The suitors thus far have been more interested in the land than in Cussy herself.
The fact that the educated, well-read library supervisor, Eula Foster, discriminates against Cussy Mary based on the color of her skin shows that bigotry isn’t just backwoods, ignorant superstition. It’s common among people in the broader community who can only feel common humanity with other white people.
Themes
Pa finally stops adjusting the courting candle. Cussy begs him to let her stay unmarried, but he says that the land is too hard for a woman to bear alone. He wants someone to take care of her after he dies. As the suitor approaches, Pa sets off for the mine, and Cussy resets the candle for a short visit.
In resetting the candle, Cussy shows that she is just as determined as Pa when it comes to deciding on her future. Like most of the people eking a life out of the hard mountains, she has a strong streak of autonomy and independence and will determine the path of her life on her own terms.
Themes
