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Chapter 14
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 porch, Cussy Mary eavesdrops as best she can on Pa and Doc. She hears Pa repeat Vester’s dying words, that God told him to “plant his white seed in her to rid the land of the Blue Devil.” And although Vester was a devil and a charlatan, he’s a valued member of the community to many people. Pa says something that Cussy can’t hear, and Doc says it’s a lot to ask a man to look the other way without compensation. All he asks for is permission to perform the medical research on Cussy Mary that he’s always wanted to do. Cussy Mary runs to Junia’s stall and nearly collapses from fear.
It's clearly foolish to make judgments about people based on their appearance rather than their character, but that’s what most people seem to do. Vester Frazier was an evil, devious, and unholy man who wanted to rape Cussy Mary. But unlike Cussy Mary, Pa, and other non-white people, Vester was well liked and respected. Doc offers to help protect the Carter family, but by using Cussy’s participation as a bargaining chip, he betrays a dehumanizing attitude toward her—he doesn’t treat her as if she is a member of his kind of person, since she has a different skin color than him.
Themes
