Previous
Chapter 8
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
The following Monday, Cussy Mary doesn’t see Angeline or Jackson on her route. Or Vester, fortunately. But when she stops at the schoolhouse, she is enthusiastically welcomed by the teacher, Winnie Parker, and her eight students. A girl gives Cussy a knitting pattern to add to her scrapbook; the children ask for books about China and the World War. They discuss the books she’s brought before.
In contrast to the cruel and discriminatory treatment Cussy Mary experiences in town, once she gets back out into the mountains on her route, she is welcomed with kindness and excitement. Readers of all ages wait anxiously for her arrival, and despite the general hardship of everyone’s lives, they are anxious to participate in the library project by sharing their own wisdom and experiences.
Themes
Cussy has a Love Story magazine for Winnie. She keeps it hidden away for women who ask for “exciting” reads. Winnie’s husband went to Detroit. She’s lonely, and Cussy figures the magazine will ease her loneliness. Winnie was the only person who visited Cussy after Charlie’s death. She’s also the only person who has never called Cussy “Bluet” or “Widow Frazier.”
One feminine hardship is the loneliness of women separated from their husbands, many of whom have left for larger urban centers to find work. Loneliness links Winne and Cussy, offering a pointed reminder that the discrimination against Cussy based on her skin color foolishly fixates on appearance rather than character. And Winnie, like many of Cussy’s patrons, considers her a friend and treats her with kindness.
Themes
Winnie talks Cussy Mary into reading to the children, which she does from the bench of the piano Doc donated to the school after his wife died. One little boy, Henry, says he wants to be a Pack Horse librarian. The other children mock him, since they think all the librarians are girls. But Cussy explains that they have some widowed women and even a man working routes.
The tendency of people to compartmentalize others is on display in the children’s rush to mock Henry for wanting a “girl’s job.” But Cussy sees the passion in his desire, and as she knows, it’s foolish and demeaning to decide what people can and can’t do based on their outward appearance.
Themes
Cussy Mary is about to leave when Henry runs out of the schoolhouse with a present for her, wrapped in a piece of paper. It’s his prize from the spelling bee. Cussy asks after his family, since his mother is pregnant. Henry says the baby is due soon, and he hopes that this one will live. Cussy looks at Henry’s ribs, which are clearly visible through his too-small shirt and his pale skin.
In a world of hardship, Henry’s family is especially downtrodden. He’s slowly succumbing to malnutrition and hunger, and many of his younger siblings have apparently died at birth or in infancy. But these traumas haven’t destroyed Henry’s kindness or generosity, and although he has almost nothing himself, he shares what he can with Cussy.
Themes
Get the entire The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek LitChart as a printable PDF.
