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Chapter 46
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
Four years have gone by and it’s now 1940. Cussy writes a letter to Queenie, who’s nearly done with her library school. She thanks Queenie for the book she sent as Honey’s fourth birthday present and tells her friend that the little girl wants to be a librarian when she grows up. Troublesome is about to get its own lending library in town, and Cussy was recently given an award for her service to the Pack Horse Library. Jackson has been released from prison and is healing from his beating, but one of the conditions of his release is that he can’t come back to Kentucky for 25 years. He has been living in Tennessee while his friend helps him arrange the sale of his property on the mountain. They’re planning to go to Ohio.
Cussy Mary left town after her disastrous wedding day convinced that books didn’t have the power she once thought. But four years later, it's clear that books do have power in ways large and small. Queenie has a better life and education thanks to them; Cussy has been recognized (despite her skin color) for her library service; Honey is clearly happy and well-loved, despite her blue skin. And Jackson’s love for Cussy Mary outlasted the forces of hatred and discrimination, the pain of his beating, and the trauma of his jail time.
Themes
Honey interrupts Cussy just before she signs her letter. She wants to read her a book that Miss Loretta gave her for her birthday, because “Books’ll learn you, Mama. I’m book Woman, an’ I read you this one.” Jackson tells his little Book Woman that they will read on the porch while Cussy finishes writing. He will have to leave for Tennessee before dawn, but his secret visits to the holler and Cussy’s childhood home are sweet. As he carries Honey outside, asking her to read her happy story, Junia whinnies from her stall. And Cussy Mary whispers a hope-filled prayer as she signs the letter “Cussy Mary Lovett.”
The legacies of the people who lost their lives in this harsh and unforgiving land live on, too. Honey’s words recall Angeline’s dying wish for her daughter to learn by reading lots of books. And with the planned move from Kentucky to Ohio, it’s clear that Honey’s life will be better, safer, and kinder than both her birth mother’s and her adopted mother’s. Books brought Cussy Mary a family that she never thought that she would have. And the family, and the books they share, give her hope for the future.
Themes
