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Chapter 45
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 and Jackson wait until October to get married, because Pa always said that a fall union would grow steady and strong, while a summer one would be quick to wither. On the appointed day, she visits Pa’s grave and tells him how much she wishes he was there for her wedding, to see what her books have finally given her. And when Jackson brings her into town, he hands her a wedding present. It’s the founding book of their marital library, a collection of poetry by William Butler Yeats.
Cussy Mary and Jackson honor Pa’s memory by setting their wedding date in the fall. And on the appointed day, Cussy Mary visits her parents’ grave to honor her family’s legacy. They didn’t have much to give her in terms of worldly goods, and they weren’t able to protect her from prejudice and discrimination. But they taught her to read and to love books, which led to her independent work with the library project and to her future husband. Jackson’s wedding gift is a testament to the enduring power of books in his and Cussy’s lives.
Themes
Harriett and Eula watch Cussy Mary and Jackson walk to the courthouse. Jackson brags that it’s a lovely day to marry “Troublesome’s finest gal.” And while Eula’s face softens a little at the sight of Honey, Harriett’s hardens. She yells out, reminding Cussy that if she’s doesn’t come into the Center by 7 a.m. on Monday, she’ll be fired. With a suggestive wink, Jackson promises to get his bride into town on time. Eula goes back into the center, and Harriett storms off down the street.
Jackson has never worried what people think about his relationship with Cussy Mary; he sees who she really is and doesn’t care about the color of her skin. And he can’t resist mocking Eula and Harriett. They never believed that Cussy Mary deserved humane treatment or respect, and now they have to watch her marry Troublesome’s most eligible bachelor. Harriett tries to reassert her control and superiority by threatening to fire Cussy, but Jackson clearly won’t let that happen.
Themes
Mr. Dalton, the banker and a friend of Jackson’s, and Doc are there to witness the wedding. Just as they’re about to begin, Mr. Moore knocks on the door and insists they stop so he can speak to the officiant. While Cussy Mary and Jackson nervously fret, Mr. Moore and the judge leave the room. When they return, Mr. Moore tells Cussy that Pa asked him to stand in his place and give her away at her wedding.
When the wedding is temporarily delayed, Cussy Mary and Jackson worry that someone is trying to ruin their day—a plausible fear for Cussy Mary, who has always experienced prejudice and mistreatment from people in town. But it’s just Mr. Moore. His desire to stand in for Pa is a reminder that the miners saw Pa as a person, not just a Blue.
Themes
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After the short ceremony, Cussy Mary and Jackson step outside into a crowd of well-wishers from Cussy’s route. Jackson mentioned the wedding to a few people while he was clearing Cussy’s trails. Birdie, R.C., Ruth, Martha Hannah, Devil John, Timmy Flynn, his mother, and Miss Loretta’s nephew (bearing her wedding present) are there. Cussy Mary basks in the love she feels for these people, and in the newfound knowledge that they love her back.
Throughout the book, Cussy Mary has focused on her feelings of shame and isolation. Nevertheless, she has many friends, people who see her as who she is instead of focusing on her skin color. To remind Cussy of her importance, Jackson has invited these people to celebrate their marriage.
Themes
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But then Sheriff Davies Kimbo approaches. The Center door opens, and a smug-faced Harriett appears. Jackson is under arrest for breaking the anti-miscegenation laws that prohibit marriage between a white person and “Negroes or persons of color.” Cussy protests that Sheriff didn’t care when she married Charlie Frazier, but he says that the laws have changed over the summer, and now they include people of any color, including Blues.
But the joy is short-lived, because in this harsh world, the power lies with the forces of discrimination, represented by Sheriff Kimbo and Harriett. Anti-miscegenation laws reinforced racial boundaries and asserted the superiority of white people over Black people in the pre-civil rights era. Although Cussy is technically white (because she’s of European, not African, descent), the fact that her skin isn’t visibly white marks her as a so-called “colored” person.
Themes
The crowd begins to stir, some voices supporting Cussy Mary and Jackson and others siding with the Sheriff. Jackson refuses to go. Doc claims that no law has been broken; Cussy has a medical condition, and that treatment with pills can make her white. Sheriff refuses this explanation as “hogwash,” although R.C. and Ruth corroborate seeing Cussy’s white skin. Sheriff is willing to admit that “Bluet’s a good enough lass,” but she’s still colored. And how can Cussy have a medical condition if the Doc’s already said she is fit?
Although in this moment, the forces of discrimination have the power, it’s clear from the reactions of the growing crowd that the issue isn’t settled. Doc’s scientific explanations—and the Sheriff’s rejection of them—show how little discrimination and prejudice have to do with reality: it doesn’t matter that Cussy Mary really isn’t different than anyone else in town. As long as she looks different, hateful people will discriminate against her.
Themes
Suddenly, Cussy Mary remembers Doc saying this to Harriett, who has stepped forward from the crowd with a triumphant look on her face. Now Devil John adds his voice to the cries to let Jackson go, but he quiets when Sheriff threatens to cut off his moonshine business. Once more, Jackson tries to leave peacefully, but Sheriff grabs him. The law, he says, is the law and according to it, Cussy is “just another nigger.” This is too much for Jackson, who attacks the sheriff. But he’s outnumbered by the Sheriff and his two deputies and in a moment, he’s lying on the ground, under arrest and badly injured.
Harriett steps forward to relish her triumph over Cussy Mary; rather than improve her own life, she’d rather use artificial distinctions like skin color to hold other people beneath her. Throughout the book, Cussy has compared her treatment to the way that her community discriminates against Black people. When the Sheriff applies a racial slur to Cussy, it both confirms her feeling and emphasizes the contempt he feels toward her. It's only at this point that Jackson attacks; previously he wasn’t much different than mountainfolk like Devil John who ignore the laws requiring them to send their kids to school. Autonomy is a key trait of the people in this part of the world. But when the Sheriff expresses his racism and hatred for Cussy Mary aloud, Jackson forcefully reasserts her humanity by attempting to protect her honor.
Themes
Cussy Mary kneels over Jackson as R.C. bursts from the crowd and attacks the Sheriff, who easily knocks the thin boy back. He growls that if R.C. won’t stay in his place, he’ll end up in prison too. Sheriff tells Doc to tend to Jackson in the jail, then turns to Cussy Mary and orders her to take her colored babe back to the holler where they belong before he arrests her…or worse. He says he’s letting off without charges because her Pa was a good man who made sacrifices for the miners. And because he assumes that Jackson was able to smooth-talk her, a “simple-minded Blue.”
R.C. attacks the Sheriff because he understands Cussy Mary’s value as a human being and her importance in the community. In contrast, the Sheriff can’t look past the color of her blue skin. He has a grudging respect for Pa, whom he thinks was a good miner despite his skin color. But he can’t consider that anyone who looks different from him (in other words, who has a non-white skin tone) can truly be intelligent or autonomous.
Themes
Cussy Mary is disgusted. She accuses the Sheriff and everyone else of using Pa as a miner’s sacrifice, and of sacrificing Blue lives to ensure their own, taken-for-granted safety and security. Sheriff casts his eyes down but nevertheless rips up the marriage license and warns Cussy that he’d better not catch her in town on library business. If she doesn’t leave now, he threatens, he’ll arrest her and send Honey to the “Home of the Idiots” in the state capital. Devil John pushes through the crowd to Cussy Mary. He warns Sheriff that he’ll dedicate himself to seeing him voted out of office as soon as possible, and then volunteers to take Cussy Mary and Honey safely home, but she declines. As she climbs into Jackson’s wagon with Honey, Cussy feels foolish for dreaming. Dreams are for books.
Cussy Mary calls the Sheriff and those who think like him out on their selfish disregard for people who share their humanity, even if they look different on the surface. But it doesn’t matter: at this time and in this place, the law backs hatred and discrimination. And these laws don’t just target so-called “colored” people; society also removes and institutionalizes anyone it deems mentally inferior, just as the Sheriff threatens to do to Honey. In this dark moment, Cussy feels as if books have lost their power: they haven’t made her world kinder or more just.
Themes
