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Chapter 4
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
Halfway through the woods that lie across the route, Junia suddenly stops when she hears a twig snap. Out of the corner of her eye, Cussy Mary thinks she sees a spirit, then recognizes Pastor Vester Frazier, who is leaning on a tree and waiting for her. Vester has a history of tormenting people who are different while claiming to chase the devils out of them. Surviving victims have been deeply traumatized. Vester has been after Cussy for her whole life; Pa has had to run him off the family land three times since she was born.
Cussy Mary’s encounter with Vester Frazier recalls the violence and fear she suffered at the hands of his cousin, Charlie. And it provides insight into her isolation and fear. Vester doesn’t just dislike Cussy because she is a Blue— he thinks anyone who is different from his “kind” (white folks who believe in Vester’s specific version of Christianity) is bad, and possibly demonic.
Themes
Cussy Mary tries to get Junia to brush past Vester, but Junia refuses. When she dismounts to lead the horse by hand, Vester grabs her bridle and kicks the mule. Junia topples over and Vester holds her to the ground with a boot on her neck. Addressing Cussy as “Widow Frazier,” a title she despises, Vester accuses her of spreading the word of Satan through the hills. He offers to give her Jesus, saying he will help “pull her through the fires” and give her salvation.
Junia is Cussy Mary’s protector, but she can’t protect Cussy Mary from everything; both face violence and abuse from Vester (just as both did from Charlie). Vester’s threats to Cussy mix the personal and the social: he’s opposed to her because she is a Blue and a heathen (not a Christian, in his opinion), but also because he distrusts the government books she lends. He is thus representative of other hillfolk who fear change and resist the modern ideas that library books represent.
Themes
Cussy Mary begs Vester to let Junia go. He does, but grabs Cussy instead. He snarls that her books are sinful, she was born of sin, and she needs a church; she retorts that her books are clean and that her mother taught her the Bible. But the Blues have no church. Vester claims that the only pure word of God is what God tells him to say, which is that she’s a devil who evilly murdered Charlie.
Vester Frazier distrusts Cussy Mary’s books in part because people who read can find their own ideas and become less likely to accept his interpretation of the Bible. He associates modernization with wickedness and devilry, and he associates Cussy Mary with both. Thus, to control the world around him, he strives to control on her.
Themes
Gripping her arm tighter and beginning to drag her into the forest, Vester says it is his duty to save her. Cussy Mary knows that a Pack Horse librarian has been raped. The Sheriff didn’t appreciate that and had harshly punished the offender. Cussy tries to warn Vester of a similar punishment, but he doesn’t care about the law or respect the Sheriff. The two men are related by marriage but have bad blood between them.
In this moment, Cussy Mary’s work has isolated her, and she’s vulnerable to Vester’s violence (sexual and otherwise) because of her gender and color. Vester doesn’t fear punishment because doesn’t see Cussy as fully human and therefore doesn’t expect anyone would want to protect her.
Themes
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It looks like Vester will get his way and succeed in dragging Cussy Mary to the river for a baptism and a “salvation” the likes of which her husband couldn’t provide. He starts to strangle and kiss her. But Cussy Mary sees a shadow, hears a smack, and Junia charges into the clearing, scaring Vester off.
Although Cussy values her autonomy and independence, these traits make her vulnerable. Luckily, she has the support of others, including Junia and whoever made the mysterious shadow that encouraged Junia to charge.
Themes
