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 35-39Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 35 Summary
Cussy Mary runs into Devil John on the path. He tells her that his family is working well now and makes requests for books on their behalf: He wants her to bring a Bible and more Boy Scout magazines. He gives her moonshine in thanks. Cussy Mary goes to make her last stop of the day, at Timmy Flynn’s. Mrs. Flynn comes out to meet her, wanting another scrapbook. Stopping by the creek on the way home, Cussy Mary is upset about Henry’s situation and yells at God.
Chapter 36 Summary
Cussy Mary finds a letter at the outpost from Queenie, who tells her that she has arrived in Pennsylvania, describing her new situation in Philadelphia, which is as good as she expected. She is now applying to library school.
Chapter 37 Summary
Outside the Moffits’ house, Junia begins to spook. Cussy Mary finds a live baby in the dirt with a blue body hanging from a tree overhead. She calls to Angeline inside; something is clearly wrong, so Cussy Mary takes the baby inside to her. Angeline is very sick and tells her that Willie took the baby away when it was clear she was blue. Willie called her “colored” but has the gene himself. Cussy Mary says she’ll get the doctor, but Angeline refuses, telling her to take Honey and that Willie won’t come back. She says she know she will die and that the baby is blue, so she needs somebody blue to love her. Finally, Cussy Mary agrees that she will take the baby, silently vowing to herself to protect the baby from hate. Angeline asks Cussy Mary to read “Having the Happy Baby” from a magazine that now has Willie’s bloody footprint on it. She says she wants Honey to know how to read. Angeline dies, and Cussy Mary crawls into bed with Angeline and the baby, crying.
Chapter 38 Summary
In Angeline’s bed, Cussy Mary remembers the hymn Pa sang when Mama was sick. Flies are landing on Angeline, and Cussy Mary worries about Willie outside. She wonders if, if she calls for her father, then people will blame them for the deaths of the Moffits and possibly hurt Honey. She runs over possibilities, wondering if the postman or anyone else will realize they have died. She puts the baby in her tote and heads towards Lovett’s house.
Chapter 39 Summary
On Lovett Mountain, Cussy Mary knocks on the door. Lovett notices the baby, and she explains that she needs milk for it and for the baby’s parents to be buried. Worried that he won’t do it, she says she’ll do it herself, telling him to stay back until she gets the baby away from him. However, Lovett says he will bury the Moffits.
Chapters 35-39 Analysis
As the book builds towards its climax, in which Cussy Mary yells at the townspeople and, in doing so, proclaims her independence, the tension builds around the events surrounding the Moffits and their daughter. Here, Cussy Mary can see the dangers of prejudice—even, and particularly, internalized prejudice—as Willie hangs himself when seeing that his daughter is blue. He would rather die and leave his daughter to die than be anything other than white. By taking in Honey and making her part of her family, Cussy Mary shows that such attitudes can only be overcome by the willingness to care for others and open one’s mind to new possibilities. However, though Cussy Mary’s attitude may be changing, those of the people around her still have not. She realizes that it would be dangerous even for Pa to come bury the Moffits, as he could be implicated in their deaths. Instead, she asks Jackson Lovett, a white man, to do it.
With this attitude, Cussy Mary is able to extend her community even further. It now includes Honey, and she also proves her trustworthiness in this section through new encounters with both Devil John and Mrs. Flynn. Both initially distrustful of government books and the program as a whole, they now see the value in what Cussy Mary has to offer. This entrance into the larger community of readers foreshadows their participation later in the confrontation outside the church, when both fight for Cussy Mary’s right to marry Jackson Lovett.
By leaving Honey with Cussy Mary, Angeline has pushed community limits. If the truth were known, Cussy Mary knows she would not be able to keep the child. Her vow to protect the child from hate helps bring Cussy Mary’s growth as a character to a head. Though she has struggled to stand up for herself when facing prejudice in the past (except as a matter purely of survival), caring for somebody with the same skin condition gives her a new bravery to confront the prejudice within the community, leading to the climax in the final section. It is time to proclaim her truth.
