58 pages • 1 hour read
Kim Michele RichardsonThe Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 20-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 20 Summary
After her other drop-offs, Cussy Mary goes to see Jackson Lovett, who is working in his garden. She gives him Brave New World, a banned book, but one that Pa got for Mama years ago. Cussy Mary loves the world inside the book. She worries that he’ll tell the Center, as she could lose her job for giving him a banned book, but he tells her that she has good taste and he’s glad to read it, as he’s been wanting to. He returns Sons by Pearl S. Buck, asking Cussy Mary if she’s read it. She hasn’t but has read The Good Earth by the same author. They discuss The Good Earth. They both like the same character, O-Lan. They discuss the importance of the earth and how the Company is careless with the earth around them. Lovett tells Cussy Mary that he has the other book in the set and she could read both. She is excited because she didn’t get to read it, as her supervisors at the library didn’t approve. They discuss the land and his plans for it. Cussy Mary knows she should leave, but she wants to stay. Lovett checks in with Junia, surprising Cussy Mary. He offers an apple slice to Junia. She eats it, and he offers another one to Cussy Mary. However, Junia brays and runs out of the yard before she can get it, as Lovett laughs.
Chapter 21 Summary
As Cussy Mary visits the school again, she’s greeted by Winnie, who is glad to see her. Cussy Mary feels bad that she is late because she spent so much time with the Moffits and Lovett. She notices that Henry is looking weak. As he gives back his last book, Cussy Mary notices that he has a rash, pellagra, associated with malnutrition. She tries to give him her dinner, but Winnie sends the children inside: “You can’t feed one, Cussy Mary, without feeding them all. They all have the hunger, just some of their bodies are able to hide the sickness better than the others” (147). Winnie wants outreach programs for all the children so they can all eat. Cussy Mary thinks about the cheese the doctor is giving her and how she could use it to feed the children. Winnie tells Cussy Mary that the new baby Henry’s mother had has already died and takes the apple Cussy Mary offers to give to Henry.
Chapter 22 Summary
On her way to Martha Hannah’s, Cussy Mary wonders how much food she could get from Doc for the tests. She also thinks about her relationship with Jackson Lovett, scolding herself for being too bold. On the path, she runs into Devil John, Martha’s husband, a moonshiner. He tells her that his family has a problem with books; they’re too busy reading and have become lazy. Cussy Mary is secretly glad that they are reading because Devil John won’t send his children to school. She offers him a magazine and scrapbook, explaining that they are practical and that there are even sermons in the scrapbook. Devil John balks at this statement, saying he doesn’t like Pastor Frazier’s lies. Cussy Mary wonders if, when the pastor attacked her, it was Devil John who sent Junia back to her and if he might have seen Frazier attack her.
However, Devil John says he hasn’t seen Frazier for a while and hopes not to. In the end, he takes the magazine, and Cussy Mary tells him about the scrapbook and how it contains recipes, patterns, and chores, as well as diviner tips, which she thinks will appeal to him. She helps him read some of the words he asks her about in a particular article. Finally, Devil John agrees to take the materials but says that his family can only read them after they are done with the planting and the harvest: “Only that. Only then. They’ll not have the others till winter, and only after I see to it they’ve finished their chores” (153).
Chapter 23 Summary
Cussy Mary delivers a letter to R.C. Cole in the watchtower. The letter is from his girlfriend’s father, telling him that he is not good enough; he does not think Cole’s work is honorable and wants a coal miner to be his daughter’s husband, and he thinks of the WPA as charity. Undeterred, Cole decides to go down to the train depot so he can go after his girlfriend.
Chapter 24 Summary
Rumors have begun to spread about Pastor Frazier’s disappearance. In themselves, these rumors don’t bother Cussy Mary. However, she is worried about what Devil John may have seen or what Doc might say, as well as the possibility that an animal will discover the body. She tries to leave rocks and logs on the grave to keep animals from getting it, but Pa worries that doing this will call attention to the grave itself. In response, he moves the body.
Shortly thereafter, a union fight leads to violence and the disappearance of several members, including Pa. After two days, Cussy Mary is deeply worried about what happened to him. She follows his route to work on Junia, but she can’t ask about him in town because of the secretive nature of his union activities. Eventually, she sends a letter to Mr. Moore, Pa’s friend from work, through Queenie. At the Center that week, hoping for news, Cussy Mary is jittery. She sees Doc, remembering that he hasn’t brought her food yet.
The women at the Center are discussing the Penny Fund to get new books for the library, and Cussy Mary eavesdrops on them. They discuss a partial cave-in at the mine but focus more on the gossip between Harriett and Eula. Harriett had a genital itch that she claims she fixed with Lysol.
Outside the library, Junia is fussing. Cussy Mary looks out to see Jackson Lovett standing in front of the mule with a bouquet, and Cussy Mary opens the window to warn him. Junia eats the bouquet all the same, and Lovett tells the mule that the flowers were for a pretty lady. Cussy Mary wonders whom he is courting. Backing into the library, she bumps into Harriett, who curses her, saying that Lovett must pity her. Cussy Mary reminds herself of how inbred Harriett’s family is.
Cussy Mary waits for Queenie to come in. Instead, Birdie, the youngest librarian, comes in, as does Constance Poole, the head of the sewing bee club. Finally, Queenie comes in. Harriett tells her to crate up books for the railroad, but Queenie refuses. She explains that she has a new job as the assistant librarian at the Free Library in Philadelphia. Eula tells Harriett to write a new ad for Queenie’s position. Meanwhile, Harriett is angry about Queenie’s new salary, as she and Eula only make slightly more. She asks Eula to write to their supervisors and ask for more money.
In private, Cussy Mary asks Queenie about Pa. However, all Queenie wants to talk about is her future job and move, which she is excited about. On her way out, she gives Cussy Mary a note from Pa.
Chapters 20-24 Analysis
At this point in the novel, the reader has encountered many instances of authority figures abusing their positions—most notably, Vester Frazier and Doc. Richardson illustrates the way this abuse colors people’s view of the government and authority figures more broadly with the story of Cole’s girlfriend’s father’s mistrust of those who work for the WPA, which he does not consider to be as good as a mining job. Ironically, the WPA as an organization treats its workers, including Cussy Mary, well, while the Company mining in the area harms both workers and the environment. This is particularly apparent in this section when Pa disappears after the union fight. In advocating for his rights and those of his colleagues, he has placed himself in great danger.
Meanwhile, though the section does illustrate the difficulty of life in the Kentucky hills (particularly through the examples of Henry and other malnourished children), Richardson continues to show the good that librarians can do in creating communities and in using reading as a uniting force. Through a discussion of The Good Earth, Cussy Mary and Jackson Lovett further develop their romantic relationship. Similarly, Cussy Mary begins to revisit library patrons whom readers have encountered earlier in the book, showing how their relationships develop and deepen with each new visit.
The bond between Lovett and Cussy Mary is underlined by the fact that Lovett offers Junia an apple; throughout the novel, Richardson uses the offering of food to symbolize community bonds: Henry gives Cussy Mary his Life Saver, Queenie gives Cussy Mary a sandwich, and Cussy Mary gives Timmy food, among numerous other occasions. However, the scene at the school in this section further highlights the difficulty of forming communities when life is so difficult, as shown by Winnie’s admonition that Cussy Mary can’t give food to just one child unless she has enough for all of them. Food is a symbol of community, not just an individual bond or friendship. Nevertheless, Winnie does take the food to Henry in the end, showing that in dire circumstances, it may be necessary to focus care on a single individual.
