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Chapter 20
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
Cussy Mary is so late that Winnie stopped expecting her at the schoolhouse. This week, Henry has developed the telltale rash of pellagra (a potentially fatal vitamin deficiency). He’s starving to death. Cussy tries to offer him the apple in her bag, but Winnie stops her. It wouldn’t be fair to single out Henry publicly; all the children are hungry. Winnie wishes that there was more outreach in the hills, that a block of cheese or a loaf of bread would come along with the Pack Horse Library books. Nevertheless, she takes the apple from Cussy and promises to give it to Henry privately. His mother’s latest baby didn’t make it. From inside the school, Henry presses his face to the glass and waves good-bye to Cussy, as silent and pale as a ghost.
This conversation dramatizes Pa’s claim at the beginning of the book that books, while nice enough, don’t put desperately needed food in people’s bellies. Henry’s rash is an ugly and inescapable reminder of the difficult life and extreme poverty in this area. While individual acts of generosity, like Cussy Mary leaving him an apple, are meaningful, they aren’t enough to fix the problem. Only modernization—better schools, more infrastructure, unionization to prevent labor abuses by coal companies—will ultimately address the issue.
Themes
