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Chapter 25
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 cooks a pot of nettles on Friday, hoping for Pa’s return. She’s too anxious to wait, or read Jackson’s book, so she finally rides Junia into town, where the Pie Bake Dance is in full swing. Cautiously, she peeks through the window of the old feed store to watch. Everyone is wearing their best clothes whether they are nervously chatting or boldly dancing. She sees the table laden with pies and thinks of her own recipe for sweet sorghum pie. She sees Harriett in a very short dress, hanging on her cousin’s arm. It all looks dreamy and distant to Cussy, like a magazine picture. The music reminds her of dancing on the porch with her parents and her uncle when she was small.
Cussy’s growing dissatisfaction with her allotted place in life in Troublesome manifests in her impatience for reading. Books can show us a better world or distract us from the pain we face in our world, and Cussy can’t find solace there anymore. She wants to be an accepted and valued member of her community, but she finds herself literally on the outside, barred from the dance and other social functions by signs that say, “No Coloreds.”
Themes
Cussy Mary is so engrossed in the spectacle of the dance that she doesn’t hear the man coming until he’s wrapped his arms around her. He’s drunk, and he slurs into Cussy’s ear that he only wants some of her “pie.” Cussy struggles to break free, and suddenly there’s a crack and the man falls to the ground. She turns to see the Sheriff, Davies Kimbo, standing over him. He warns the drunk to get out of town immediately or face the consequences.
Cussy is so distracted by the vision of the society she wants to be a part of that she doesn’t hear danger approaching her. The attempted rape is a graphic reminder that as a Blue and as a woman, she’s doubly vulnerable. Fortunately, the Sheriff saves her, fulfilling his duty to preserve law and order in the town.
Themes
Sheriff Kimbo is surprised to recognize Cussy Mary at the dance. Trying to avoid the subject of her missing father, she says that she has always been curious about the dance and snuck into town to see it. Pointing to the “No Coloreds” sign, the Sheriff says he can’t watch over the dancers and her at the same time; she must go home right away. As she mounts Junia, he asks if she’s seen or heard news of Vester. Cussy, the knowledge and fear in her eyes hidden by the dark, answers that she sees no living souls on her route except her patrons. She just doesn’t mention the dead one who hunted her.
Still, although he enforces the law and protects the local citizens, like Doc, the Sheriff looks at Cussy as less valuable than other members of the community because she is “colored.” She can’t even stay on the outside looking in, but must leave town, suggesting that the Sheriff and others are still unreasonably afraid that she will somehow contaminate or ruin their white society. The Sheriff also asks about Vester, showing that not everyone has forgotten about his disappearance and reminding Cussy of the dangers she faces.
Themes
