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Chapter 7
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
On the second Tuesday of the month, it’s Cussy Mary’s turn to work in the library’s headquarters, which are housed in the Troublesome Creek post office. As she arrives, Doc greets her in the street. She tries to offer him Angeline Moffit’s seeds, but he interrupts. He won’t help a chicken thief only for him to go out and try to steal more chickens, which are more valuable than human lives in Kentucky. Cussy mumbles about Angeline’s pregnancy. Doc drops the corn seeds in the dirt but offers a free checkup for Angeline. This reminds him that Cussy might also be pregnant by Charlie Frazier. Continuing to address her by the nickname he gave her long ago, Bluet, he suggests that she could use a checkup too. Cussy Mary is uncomfortable, knowing that his friendliness covers a scientific curiosity about Blues. As he rides off, she picks up Angeline’s seeds.
The Library Center is in the town of Troublesome Creek, and the contrast between the kindness of many of Cussy’s patrons and the general discrimination of people in town is on display almost immediately. Doc refuses to help Mr. Moffit, not only because Angeline can’t pay him with cash, but also because Mr. Moffit has been branded a chicken thief. Mr. Moffit’s act of desperation means that people now see him as less worthy of care and help than other people and underwrites their discrimination against him. This markedly contrasts, with Cussy’s approach, which is to help and be kind to people like Angeline and Mr. Moffit. Some of the discrimination Cussy faces is fairly benign, like Doc’s nickname for her, which offers a pointed reminder that she is different from other people. But it’s discrimination nevertheless; Doc is only interested in her because of her difference.
Themes
The Center is used for sorting, repairing, and housing the reading materials. As Cussy Mary opens a window to allow the breeze into the stuffy room, she watches a delivery of caskets—always the first thing to be sold out—arrive at the Company Store. On the other side of the room, her supervisors gossip about the upcoming town dance. Their laughter, Cussy knows, comes at others’ expense.
The fact that the Company Store always sells out of coffins first offers a pointed reminder that the Company profits off its mistreated workers’ early deaths. Cussy Mary symbolically opens a window to allow fresh air into the library center, but it can’t blow away the gossip of Eula Foster and Harriett Hardin. Their casual cruelty contrasts sharply with Cussy’s kindness.
Themes
Harriett Hardin, the assistant supervisor, switches on the donated radio. She will only allow the news to be played; she thinks the jazz on the other stations is wicked music. Cussy Mary admires the diction of the people on the radio, but when she tried to copy it, Pa told her to stop putting on airs. While she listens to news of the Kentucky Derby and Pulitzer Prize winners, Cussy bends old license plates into bookends. She needs new ones for her outpost, an old, abandoned chapel where a courier exchanges her books on weeks that she doesn’t go to the center.
Harriett Hardin’s control over the radio puts her narrowmindedness and racism immediately on display. She fears novelty (new music, for example) as wicked, and it’s notable that she particularly dislikes jazz, a genre strongly associated with Black musicians. The contrast between the posh accents on the radio with Cussy’s dilapidated outpost reminds us of the harsh reality of life in these hills. And Pa’s rebuke for Cussy’s airs suggests a danger associated with the things Harriett likes, including the people on the radio.
Themes
Outside, Junia nickers, and Cussy Mary looks up to see Jackson coming out of the Company Store. As he feeds Junia an apple, Harriett sashays to the window and ogles him. She reasons that a “handsome, smart man” needs a “smart, pretty girl” like herself. She’s planning to win him over with her Peach Pie at the upcoming Pie Bake Dance. It’s called that because all the single girls bake pies, and the man who makes the highest bid for a pie earns the right to dance with its baker for the rest of the night. Cussy hasn’t ever been because there’s a clear “No Coloreds” sign at the door.
Junia is Cussy Mary’s protector, so it’s a sign of his kindness that she allows him to approach her. Harriett’s appreciation of Troublesome’s new resident offers a reminder that Jackson is a very eligible bachelor and sends a very clear message to Cussy that he’s out of her league, despite the fact that he seems to be on the lookout for Cussy in town. The pie dance, too, offers a stark reminder that Cussy is considered “colored,” and discriminated against accordingly in her community.
Themes
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Suddenly, Harriett realizes that Jackson is feeding Junia. Turning to ask Cussy Mary why, she brushes against her sleeve and reacts with horror. She never liked Cussy; she refused to train her for her route, then claimed that she was too thick-headed to learn. As Cussy tries to apologize, Harriett notices—and draws attention to—the darkening blue of Cussy’s skin as she blushes. Harriett declares that it looks like an “ugly ol’ inkblot” and calls on Eula to agree. Cussy suspects that Harriett intentionally shames her to see her skin darken as she blushes. After Harriett goes back to her desk, Jackson comes to the window and talks with Cussy Mary about a new book he acquired.
Junia’s uncharacteristic patience with Jackson suggests to Harriett the possibility of a closeness between Cussy Mary and Jackson. Apparently jealous, since she thinks Cussy is a lesser human thanks to her skin color, she becomes biting and mean. Harriett represents the worst of human discrimination and hatred in Troublesome: not only does she dislike Cussy and make fun of her, but she also reacts as if Cussy’s very presence is somehow dangerous or contaminating. In contrast, Jackson specifically looks for opportunities to talk to Cussy.
Themes
After making the bookends, Cussy Mary begins to sort a box of new donations. While putting things aside for her patrons, she finds a novel that she knows Harriett wants desperately to read. She brings it over with a friendly smile. Harriett’s excitement over it and the way she also loves books makes Cussy forget how mean she can be. And, at least momentarily, it makes Harriett forget how much she dislikes “Bluet.” But then she remembers and orders her back to work.
Although Harriett is unkind and discriminatory towards Cussy Mary, Cussy Mary maintains her own sense of kindness and humanity. She looks toward books, hoping that they are enough to overcome Harriett’s hatred and forge a connection between the two women. For Cussy Mary, books are enough; she is able to appreciate Harriett when she thinks of her as a reader. But for Harriett, books aren’t enough, and no book or act of kindness could change her attitude toward Cussy.
Themes
Near the bottom of a box, Cussy Mary finds a practically current newspaper. She flips through it, skimming the headlines and studying advertisements for a women’s form-fitting bathing suit ($6.95) and a flowery blue Mother’s Day dress that costs $12.88. Lost in thought about her own mother, Cussy is surprised when Eula comes up behind her, snatches the newspaper from her hands, and warns Cussy to tie up Junia behind the building. In the front, she is accosting passers-by. Harriett chimes in to say that she would have shot Junia for meat.
The Great Depression is nearing its end, yet the advertisements Cussy Mary sees in the newspaper suggest a wealth unheard of to anyone in her corner of rural Kentucky, where life is still harsh and the best-selling item at the Company Store is a coffin. Although Eula isn’t quite as harsh toward Cussy as Harriett is, she still isn’t very kind to her. When she asks Cussy to move Junia, it suggest that, like the ornery mule, people think that Cussy should be kept out of the sight of others to avoid accosting them with her blueness.
Themes
Cussy Mary turns to leave and bumps into Queenie Johnson. Queenie says Junia got “the devil inside her” when Vester walked by and hit her with his stick. When Queenie tried to intervene, Junia bit her accidentally. Harriett admires Vester, who baptized her nieces, and says he shouldn’t be bothered by “filthy beasts.” Then she orders, “Bluet, back to work.” Cussy turns to reply and the look on Harriett’s face chills her. She intuitively knows that Harriett is one of Vester’s followers and that she has probably participated in his murderous baptisms. Harriett’s hatred in the room and Vester’s from across the street make Cussy feel like she’s being hunted.
Jackson was able to get close enough to Junia to share an apple with her; in contrast, contact with Vester Frazier makes Junia mean and spiteful. In contrast to the mule’s good sense, Harriett Hardin is firmly on Vester Frazier’s side. When she declares that beasts shouldn’t bother him, she’s speaking to Queenie and Cussy Mary, implicitly including them in the category of “beasts” for their lack of proper respect toward Vester.
Themes
Cussy Mary tries to take Queenie to the ladies’ room to wash her wound, but Eula stops them, pointing to the “No Coloreds” sign above the door. Queenie is the only Black librarian. Eula denied her application five times before Queenie went over her and applied through the central office in Louisville. When she came in with her WPA work order, Eula paled and Harriett turned purple with rage. Eula made Cussy train her, and the two eventually became friendly.
Eula’s reaction when Cussy Mary and Queenie try to use the bathroom clearly shows that, for many people in town, there’s no real distinction between Cussy (who is white despite her blue skin) and Queenie, who is Black. The general attitude is that so-called “colored” (non-white) people are inferior. The similarity in their history with the Pack Horse Library project underlines this similarity.
Themes
There are only eight non-white people in Troublesome Creek: Queenie, her three sons and mother, Doc’s housekeeper, Pa, and Cussy. Eula wags a finger at Cussy, reminding her “You’re only allowed to clean [the bathroom], Widow Frazier;” Blues and Coloreds must go to the outhouse. Cussy is certain that Harriett and Eula fear and detest her more than Queenie. And Harriett nearly falls out of her chair exclaiming that “they” could pass a disease to everyone else.
Cussy includes herself and Pa in her survey of the non-white population of Troublesome Creek, emphasizing her feeling that she is marked and treated as “colored.” And Eula’s reminder that she can clean—but not use—the indoor bathroom reinforces this feeling. Cussy feels, furthermore, that she is somehow more objectionable to people than the town’s Black residents, even though they seem subject to the same sort of treatment.
Themes
