Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Dane's lunchbox memorial to loss- Getting lucky- finding hope
Final Prompt: This is both a "social novel" about a place in crisis and a modern narrative novel about how people navigate their lives through love, money and the lack thereof, faith, devotion, and finding what really matters. Does this ending work for this novel? Do you think that Pancake gets it right with the decisions of her major characters? Does Bant's last chapter give us the vision of the future that we need? How do Uncle Mogey's words that Bant remembers at the end add to the power of the falling action of the novel. He says I've learned something about times tike these. You have to grow big enough inside to hold both the loss and the hope."(pp. 356-57) How does this statement help to define the novel and send the reader off with a clear message? What is the message? What is the best and worst thing about this work of fiction?
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*Final Post part 1*
ReplyDeletePancake is extremely insightful concerning the way of life in West Virginia and how that way of life is altered due to mountain top mining. Just beginning with Lace, Pancake shows how the young have to grow up fast in this rural area, making drastic emotional changes as the world around them is changing too, not necessarily for the better. Lace has Bant when she is nineteen years old and Jimmy Make is fifteen and as their young adult years are cut short, so is the life span of the surrounding mountains. It was not a tangible threat for them at first; the mining companies had taken over another stretch of mountaintops. But as their family grows, next with Dane, then Corey and finally Tommie, the mining disease has spread, encompassing the expanse that encircles their home. Concerning the mining, Pancake provides vivid descriptions, explaining the process and how destructive mountain top removal is. The land is razed, trees and foliage plucked from the soil, dynamite blowing holes into the earth, dirt shoved into surrounding valleys. The description alone is horrifying, but it does not end there and neither does Pancake. She describes the floods, the contaminated water, the death and destruction as water comes barreling down the sides of the mountain. People die because mining companies have destroyed the ecosystem and ripped up roots that would otherwise retain some of the water. Mining companies bring death and Pancake describes that perfectly.
*Final Post part 2*
ReplyDeleteLiving at the base of a mountain where this is going on is tough. People live with the ever present terror that one day the water will race down the mountain in torrents, taking and destroying everything they hold dear. She uses Mrs. Taylor and Avery who survived Buffalo Creek, describing the horrors in both the mother’s viewpoint, through the stories, and through Avery’s perspective. Mrs. Taylor feared for the life of her son, but could not do anything be sit and pray that he would come back. There was no way for her to go and find him, especially because she had to stay with her other children. And Avery was just a boy, yet he was forced to witness death, especially the death of one of his friends, and has to live with that for the rest of his life. Avery, like Lace, was forced to grow up; the mining company stole his childhood away. Pancake also describes another flood, showing it through the perspectives of Bant, Dane and Corey. She accurately depicts the scene through these characters eyes, displaying their true personalities. The water comes crashing down and Lace has to go out into the water and save the mower and weed-eater because they constitute Jimmy Makes’ job. Bant witnesses this through the windshield of her father’s truck as they sit in the driveway. Concerning the mining and what goes on up on the mountain, she does not want to know but she cannot help but learn all she can. It sickens her but she cannot leave it alone. Corey watches from the inside of the house, staring out at the wreckage and thinking about the speed of the water. He cares nothing for the mountain because he is young and because he cannot remember the mountain when it was not being destroyed. Dane is at Mrs. Taylor’s house and he freezes with fear. He is standing in the yard and as the water comes toward him his legs lock up. When he does start to function he can only think about his house as he is running to avoid the onslaught of contaminated sludge. This same event but seen through different perspectives shows the threat that mining companies pose to the lives of those living at the base of the mountain as well as how peoples lives are formed around the destruction. It changes them, for better or worse, depending on how much they care for their home.
Pancake accurately depicts the lives of those living below mountain top removal sites. Her vivid descriptions and examples grant the reader a clearer understanding of the hardships that these people must endure. The floods and destruction as water razes homes and kills people is all because of the mining companies. They provide jobs and livelihoods but at the cost of killing innocent people. Pancake supports this conclusion through her characters and does not hold any of the gory horrors back.
Just to go off the blog prompt, I think that this ending was perfect for the novel. The reader follows these characters and really sees how they change, through both growing up and through gaining more experience. When Jimmy Make leaves and gains a sense of maturity, even though we don't see any part of the book in his perspecitve, we find that he is grown up more in mind rather than just in body. Dane also exhibits similar behavior. After Corey dies he changes. He hardens considerably and finds that he really cannot take staying at Yellowroot anymore so he leaves with Jimmy Make. Tommy also changes because he has lost his brother and more or less his best friend. Especially after Jimmy Make leaves, there is nothing left in Yellowroot for him. Bant, though she does change, does not change her opinions or her need to find out the truth. I find it fitting that she finally climbs the mountain and finds out once and for all whether there is a slurry hovering just above their home. Throughout the novel, it is just rumored to be there and its never known whether there is any truth to it. The novel more or less leads up to this moment of discovery and now that Bant knows, what can be done? When it was just rumor and speculation, people still couldn't do anything about it and now that they know it is real, nothing is going to change. With this ending, those who have changed have left West Virginia with Jimmy Make to live in a different state and those who have remained the same, like Bant and Lace, stay behind in the place that will never change, no matter how hard they fight for it. It is strange that the more liked characters in the beginning seem to be the foolish ones in the end while those that weren't necessarily liked in the beginning are more liked in the end.
ReplyDeleteThe ending to Strange as this Weather Has Been leaves the reader feeling sad, sorry for the family, and a strange feeling of happiness due to the dedication from Bant, who finally understands what her Uncle Mogey meant when he told her, during her grandmother’s funeral that “In times like these, you have to grow up big enough inside to hold both the loss and the hope.” Bant is a truly amazing character. She loves her home/land just like her mother and her grandmother. All three of these women share a connection for the love of the land. Bant and Lace lose pretty much everything, yet they are still dedicated to saving the land. Bant loses her virginity to learn more about the mountain top removal, she loses her brother, and her family is torn apart when Jimmy Make leaves for Raleigh with Tommy and Corey. Lace loses love, she loses her husband, one of her children dies, her family is torn apart, her son Dane leaves with Jimmy Make without even looking at her, her home is being destroyed and no one cares, everything is taken from Lace. Both of these women lose so much, yet they stay with the land. I believe that both Lace and Bant have a spiritual connection with the land. It amazing to think after losing so much and gaining nothing that they both stay there, and put their lives at risk. Their dedication and love for the land is powerful. I was surprised that Corey dies. I had a feeling that something bad would happen, because he stole the four-wheeler and was being a rebel, and since I believe in karma I had a feeling of disaster, but not death. I feel terrible for poor Dane. He must feel so guilty for not being able to move and watching his brother’s death. Dane will probably be traumatized for the rest of his life. When Jimmy Make left I was not surprised, but when he came back a month later with a van to pick up any of the family members who wanted to go Raleigh with him I was surprised. I can’t believe that their family is torn apart even more. Now the family is split in two. The ending is really upsetting, but it’s reality. I like that Pancake shows how life really works, whether good or bad. I hope Lace and Bant can make a change happen and save their land and others around them
ReplyDeletePancake personifies the loss of each character perfectly. Bant loses her youth and her naive belief that she can effect change and be in control of the destruction occurring to the land she cares so deeply for. Lace loses the love of her life Jimmy Make and her son Corey to his own rash overconfidence. Jimmy Make finally grows into adulthood in Lace's eyes. He is able to leave and start a new life, as Lace tried to do in her college years. After he leaves, Lace turns to the environmentalist group to protect the last thing she has left: the land her family has lived off of for generations. Bant discovers that "Lace had been wrong. And Lace had been right." Though there is no slurry impoundment, the destruction at the removal site still threatens to destroy their home. Dane's lunchbox gravesite is a memorial to Corey, to Jimmy Make and Tommy in Raleigh, to all that they have lost and the memories they have shared. "You have to grow big enough inside to hold both the loss and the hope," says Mogey. Human nature is the discovery of what life means to each individual and embracing that life-the love, the loss, and all that lies in between. Bant's final chapter is not the end of her story, but only the beginning of a new life that she and Lace will create together.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of the comments above, and I can't really add much more except to say that in Strange as This Weather Has Been, Pancake brings up a topic that isn't really covered in the news. I've never heard about mountains being sliced off like slabs of meat, and if I did, I didn't think much off it. Pancake makes us aware that things like this do happy. People do get hurt and lose everything important to them just so that we can have the lights on, just so that we can check our Facebook. Most of the people out there in the world, like us, life our lives not knowing all of all of this destruction going on somewhere over the rainbow. With all of the vivid details that Pancake gives, it really shapes the story and brings it to life. It fives us recognition of what people went and go through during coal mining. Sure, owners get rich, but look at the costs. I don't think that it's worth it. People like Bant and Lace go down with what they love. They go down with Yellowroot, because like Julia said, it is reality. Unlike in the movies strong-hearted people don't usually win out.
ReplyDeletePancake’s ending is pretty fantastic. She is able to bring together all the loose strings of the novel, while simultaneously separating segments – in this case characters – in order to achieve the final feeling of togetherness. I approve of the death of Corey and Jimmy Make taking both Tommy and Dane to North Carolina with him because Pancake tells the tale of Yellowroot from the first person perspective of Bant and Lace, which makes it quite fitting for those two women, who are willing to fight till the end for their home, to stay behind and continue to fight and probe for answers. Although Corey’s death is tragic, since he dies at such a young age in such a depressing way (drowning in poisoned water), I believe Pancake write him off in such a way in order to exemplify to readers Corey’s own passion, that passion does not only exist in Yellowroot through Bant’s and Lace’s fighting and strong beliefs, but it exists in Corey’s rebellious and unafraid nature, in Dane’s calm and observant personality, in Jimmy Makes stoic and accepting mentality, as well as Tommy’s young and innocent perception. Yellowroot instills in its inhabitants a sense of power and passion, not only for itself but for life, which is what I think is Pancake’s message. Although people take different paths in life – believers, non-believers, etc. – through decisions, divorce, or death, everyone comes together through a common feelings, and that feeling is the feeling of being alive. Some people, such as Bant and Lace, fight for a future for their life, as well as the lives of others, and then there are those like Jimmy make, who fight to preserve the life that they currently have, but in both cases, each side is fighting to cling to those nerves, knots, ropes, and strings that bind humanity together, because if human beings do not fight and stand up for life, anything in life, then what is the use of seeing, smelling, feeling – LIVING? I’m getting a bit worked up but I really did enjoy this book and I love how Pancake closes it up through Bant’s chapter. The mention of Mogey’s saying is phenomenal in that it perfectly embodies the entire meaning of the novel, which is to fight for what you believe in, but you also have to accept the losses in order to move forward. In order for Lace to move forward she has to accept that Jimmy Make will no longer be a part of her life and in order for Bant to move forward with her mother in fighting for Yellowroot she must accept that the coal company is a very big enemy and that there will be many losses along the way to what may hopefully be a victory – losses of lives, love, family and many other things. But what is life without loss? Nothing valuable… In my opinion, of course. Bravo, Pancake!
ReplyDeleteAdding on to what I sad two posts above, in my opinion, I believe that Pancake does an amazing job tying in so many different genres into one work of art. Throughout the novel, money is a constant issue. It is what eventually pulls Jimmy Make away to find work, and is another reason why the family falls apart like a fraying rope. The ending does work for this novel, but I wished that she had gone farther with it. Yes, it does depict reality in the essence that not a small group of people can stand up to a large corporation that is there for the money in the land, and win, but looking at the type of message that I think Pancake is trying to convey, she should have given Bant and Lace even a small victory, a footstep in the right direction to show the readers that anyone can make a difference. I'm not saying that Pancake did a horrible job with this book in the slightest, for I actually enjoyed it. She did an amazing job connecting with the readers and making us aware of the situations that people go through and are in because of the selfishness of others. I like how the two women, Bant and Lace stay behind and the "men" travel off. Women are, for lack of a better word, "designed" to stick up for something they love; for example the love of a child. They are protective of the land because they love it so, and are willing to risk there lives for it because, as I mentioned in my earlier post, they are nothing without Yellowroot; they only half without it. Bant is certainly one of the strongest characters in the novel, which I think is one of the reasons the final chapter is in her perspective. I also think that Pancake chose to do that because she is fond of the character (like I am with mine) and her willpower and strength to sacrifice herself and to separate from her family to stick up for what she believes in. Mind jump. Uncle Moge's words "You have to grow big enough inside to hold both the loss and the hope" (356-57) means that you have to grow with the good and the bad to become a full person. Pancake wants to assure to the reader that bad things happen in our lives, but that does not mean that we give up and surrender. Her message is to stick up in what we believe in, and not to take advantage of the land. Man is destroying the world and in the process each other by messing with things we shouldn't be. I connect this to what is going on in Japan at the moment with the nuclear reactors. We are paying with our mistakes; we should not be messing with these things, and we will one day pay it in full. The best thing about this fiction is, by far, the reality of the characters. She really does a wonderful job bringing every aspect of the novel to life, characters, places, problems. The worst thing, I feel, is the time jumping she does. Yes, it adds wonderful depth and life to the novel, but it really is confusing and a lot of it does not do anything for the message she is trying to convey. All in all, I really did enjoy this novel. I really do believe this is a wonderful work of art.
ReplyDeleteFinal Prompt
ReplyDeletePancake does an excellent job in making an effective case for the people suffering through mountain top removal. Pancake uses diction to capture her reader and uses setting to her advantage. Pancake makes the reader feel as if he or she is in the actual novel. She also uses a lot of vivid detail and imagery. All of these techniques help capture the reader and makes the novel more personal. One of my favorite things about the novel is how she wrote it. Her use of a different character opening every different chapter never leaves the reader bored. Another good thing about having different characters tell their story is that the reader creates a personal relationship with each person in the novel. Pancake is very effective about making a case for the people. Before I read the novel I did not really think about mountain top removal. I did not realize the huge impact it had on people. This novel made me realize the seriousness and danger that mountain top removal causes. Mountain top removal not only destroys the land, water, habitats for animals, it also destroys the lives, homes, and memories of the people who with in the area. Pancake does a fantastic job in showing the readers how and why the land is so important. She does this through Bant, Lace, and her grandmother. These three women show how important their land is to them. Bant's grandmother shows her how to care and live off of the land from a young age. Lace also lives off the land and deeply cares for it. The people who usually live near West Virginian Mountain Top Removal sites are usually poor and do not have a lot, so their land means everything. Pancake shows the reader how important the nature is and how if we do not protect it, it will be taken away. In Pancake's novel she shows how much people are willing to lose (Bant & Lace) to gain the safety and health of their land. When one is born and raised in a certain area we usually get attached and want to preserve that place because it holds our memories good, bad, fun, or boring. Pancake is also very effective when she fights against mountain top removal. She makes the reader want to fight back! I never really thought about how much effect mountain top removal takes on the people who live there. Many lives and land are destroyed every year and their are not many people stoping the destruction. The way that the big corporations handle themselves is very upsetting. There are selfish, rude, and greedy. Everything seems to be about money and there is no care shown toward the land or the people who live on the land. I have learned a lot! Pancake has effected my life in a positive way and has made me more aware. Strange as This Weather Has Been is great, and I am so happy that I read this and have become more aware of mountain top removal.
Although Ann Pancake elucidates to a problem not typically covered in the conventional news, I find her work to be depressing. If outside aide does not come to these towns across the country, then I fear their cause is lost. The people of West Virginia were blatantly ignorant. Most of the locals refused to educate themselves of the mountain top removal and looked down upon environmentalists that were fighting for their cause. Their false sense of dignity typically led to their downfall when the mineshafts would fail and their land was ravished. If anything Ann Pancake just led me to what she knew would be my frustration. But my frustration lies not with the mountain top removal companies as the author suggests, but with the locals whose false sense of pride was clouding their judgment. They were drowning, but refused to grab hold of the rope offered by the environmentalists. Instead, they stuck their noses up and sunk faster into the sludge.
ReplyDeleteAnn Pancake also allowed my frustration to be shared among Lace and Bant. Lace fights so hard for her land only to be chastised by her husband, Jimmy Make. She risks her relationship with him in order to fight the mountain top removal companies and protect her family. Yellowroot is her home and as much as she wants to live somewhere else, she is constantly drawn back to the mountain and, thus, must protect it.
Bant, like her mother, is also willing to sacrifice so much in order to save her family and the land from the mineshaft. She gives her body, knowing that she risks becoming pregnant and thus ending her future of possibilities, in exchange for answers for what is becoming of her home. Her grandmother once told her that she is different from the others, and after her brothers leave with her father this difference becomes more pronounced. She and Lace will stop at nothing to protect their home.
I believe Ann Pancake’s ending does work for the novel.
As Tess points out, each of the main characters loses something. Bant loses her innocence, Lace loses Jimmy Make and her boys, Corey loses his life, Jimmy Make loses the part of his life in-between being a boy and a middle-aged person, and etc. All the lose ends where tied and the book was able to come together as a whole.
Uncle Mogey’s words about being able to hold both hope and loss are true. As a person grows older, he must learn to cope with losses and seek hope. In order to grow as a person this is necessary. Jimmy Make finally learns this message when he gets a real job in Raleigh and starts a new beginning. Bant learns this when she chooses to fight for the land with her mother at the loss of her family. Lace learns this when she becomes pregnant at 18 and has to grow up very fast. Though, the best thing about this novel is not how each character grows as a person, but how Ann Pancake lets the reader to see their perspectives on life, love, and the problems of the world. The worst part of this work of fiction is that it leaves the reader in a sense of frustration for the people who actually are dealing with this problem. This is obviously intended by Ann Pancake, but it still is nonetheless annoying.
Pancake does a wonderful job of depicting the people and landscape of West Virginia. Love, wonder of nature, frustration, poverty and friendship all take root as the general themes of this novel. Pancake makes a statement of southern culture with this novel. She emphasizes the fortitude and dedication of the southern woman and the importance of friends and family Love serves as the prevailing theme in the novel. The love between parents and children, spouses, siblings, friends and nature is documented throughout the novel. The relationship between Lace and Jimmy Make is exceptionally tumultuous because both are thrust into committing to one another at such a young age. With Lace’s unplanned pregnancy both Lace and Jimmy Make are robbed of their youths and resent each other for it. Despite this resentment their love, still possesses an intense, wild level of attraction. Both individuals in their relationships shift throughout the novel. In the beginning of the novel Jimmy Make is an indifferent father and lacks the motivation or incentive to lead as a strong patriarch of the family. In contrast Lace serves as the figurehead and main provider of the family. Lace and Jimmy Make have opposing views as for what is best for their children. Lace is fiercely protective of her children and believes that saving the environmental integrity of Yellow Root will protect her children’s heritage as well as keep them from bodily harm. Jimmy Make more realistically realizes that his children’s safety is clearly compromised by living in an area vulnerable to flash flooding and believes that leaving Yellow Root will provide better economic opportunity as well as safety. The ending of the novel is fitting, although it is unfortunate. The vast differences in Jimmy Make’s and Lace’s personalities were too conflicting to keep the family both happy and together.
ReplyDeleteContent wise, the plot of Strange of This Weather Has Been incorporates many social elements. Characters that are portrayed in the novel are marginalized by society because of their poverty and a rural place of habitation. As a novel, Strange also realistically depicts the frustration and adversity associated with poverty in general and especially elucidates the tribulations of impoverished individuals in a rural area. The lack of money in the area of Yellow Root puts a significant strain of Jimmy Make’s and Lace’s already fragile relationship. The novel begs the question what does the individuals owe to society, to themselves and to loved ones? The novel also poses the question as to whether or not can a person can satisfy all themselves and family while benefiting society. In this instance in Strange as This Weather Has Been Lace cannot do it all. The fact that Lace has sacrificed her family for her happiness as an individual and the greater good of society leaves her devastated. However because of her resolve she is able to hope that her sacrifice is worth the loss of keeping her family in tact. In the novel Lace and both “grow big enough inside to hold both the loss and the hope"(pp. 356-57). Meaning that Lace and Bant despite the difficulty of their decisions are drawing strength from a source that is greater than them. The display of strength exhibited by both women provides a faint glimmer of hope in the end of the novel for both that women can save the heritage and land that is so deeply ingrained in their hearts and minds
Mogley summarizes the ending of this book perfectly with his quotes about growing up inside, not only outside. This interior growth is seen in all characters of the family, and this growth is ultimately seen in the events that the familiy goes through at the end. Deciding whether to stay or go divides the family up yet shows where their true souls reside. For Lace, her soul is with the land, and this is true with Bant as well. She stays, while Jimmy Make leaves with Dane, devastating the girls. Yet, although they lose the boys in their family, they stay with the land, which is the ultimate object of affection for them. Their dedication to nature and the spiritual connection they have with it, passed through generations starting with Mogley and Lace's mother, remains and shows just how intense the affects of mountain top removal can be. Although the miners have no heart in the land, Lace and Bant stand as models of the people of the land and are symbols of the devastation many people are going through with the mountain top removal operations.
ReplyDeletePancake (I love writing her name) beautifully elucidates the trials of life in areas of West Virginia being destroyed by mountaintop removal mining and the effects that it has on all areas of life. Lace and generations of her family have learned to literally live off the land. Though her ancestors may have not had much to leave her financially, they did gift her with the close relationship to the land she develops over the course of her lifetime and passes on to her daughter Bant. Though Lace tries to escape her monotonous life during her college years in search of her “sweet peach-pink”, she is inescapably tied to the land that is her heritage. She will not let greed and the selfish attitude of the mining companies deter her from saving the thing she has the closest connection to in life, no matter the personal sacrifice she has to make. Her family is torn apart when Jimmy Make leaves with Dane and Tommy, and the threat of toxic floods looms closer to their home, but she and Bant continue to fight for what they believe in. Some may call this foolish and stubborn, but I think that standing up for what you believe in is an admirable quality that Pancake reflects in her novel. Through the gritty realism of the destruction occurring, Pancake reflects human nature at its most basic. There is something in all of us that connects to our environment and family heritage that will be religiously and steadfastly fought for no matter the consequences. Life is all about the connections you make, whether it is where you are or who you are there with. Jimmy Make lacks the connection to the land that Lace has and the determination to fight for it, which becomes the irreconcilable difference between them that turns their relationship from a healthy green vine connecting them to a rope tying them down and limiting their choices in life. Jimmy Make never has the chance to test himself as an individual as Lace did in college, having fathered their first child (Bant) while still in high school. Now he will have that chance-starting over in North Carolina. Pancake develops the history and personality of each character, and the reader has the chance to share in a vivid depiction of a modern day issue affecting our country, specifically in the West Virginia area. Her Faulkner-esque chapters show the all-encompassing struggle of daily life in towns plagued by mountaintop removal mining from each character’s perspective, and the passion that West Virginians have for preserving the land their families have lived off of for generations. She demonstrates that though our country seemingly places more importance on economic gain rather than the environment, there are still those out there willing to fight for the land that is their culture, livelihood, and history. Overall, Pancake does a fabulous job taking varied issues and presenting them in a way that appeals to the reader no matter how educated on the mountaintop removal mining issues today. Emotional attachment is a trait shared by everyone that is effortlessly translated through Pancake’s novel.
ReplyDeletePancake is very successful in her novel against mountain top removal. She is not hostile about this and over bearing. She is really good at showing her point instead of telling it. She uses these people’s struggles and impoverished lives to illustrate her point. Their whole lives no matter what they do revolve around these mountains. Many of the people in this town relied on their jobs in the mines to provide for their families. The mountain top removal companies take their only means of making money from them. At the same time, they will not sink to participating in this means of mining. Their lives are threatened by the impending doom of the toxic ponds and poorly made damns.
ReplyDeleteDane’s fear represents the fear of all the people, and how even the children can feel the danger. It also shows how very clearly the edge of life and death that all the people live on. His mental state is so messed up because of this type of mining. Pancake shows how every aspect of the people’s lives are affected. Dane is just a child and can barely make it through the day with out feeling an immense amount of fear. He describes it as fish in his body. This symbol shows that the nature is in each, and every one of the characters even if they do not at first appear touched by the forests.
Bant can feel the forest being destroyed it destroys her at the same time. She detaches herself from it and becomes someone she was not originally. She looses the morals she originally had. Her boyfriend works for the company that is corrupting the land. He is also corrupting Bant. Pancake yet again illustrates how these companies are ruining every aspect of their lives. Bant as a character is greatly harmed by these mining companies. They again are reaching every aspect of the characters not just the land itself.
Jimmy Make relied so much on the land. He got all of his income from mining. At one point he has to move and leave the only home he had to find work. This almost ruins his wife. She is unable to handle the isolation and suburban area. After losing this job, Jimmy cannot provide for his family. The mainly rely on Lace’s salary, and what the children make from their jobs. The other family members must make sacrifices, because Jimmy is no longer working, because the mining companies took his job.
The mountain top removal ruins these people’s lives completely and in ever respects. Pancake is able to show the harm that these companies do to both the people and the land. Instead of taking a hostile approach, which is often ignored by the companies and other people. She is subtle in her way of defending these people. She suggests that it is destroying these communities. She uses the characters to show this. So yes, Pancake is successful in getting her point across.
ARABELLA- FINAL BLOG POST
ReplyDeletePancake gives her characters honest and deep emotions, along with stories to tell, allowing the reader to relate or understand the severity of the issue of Mountain Tip Mining. Also because there are so many intertwined characters in her novel, the reader is able to gain different perspectives to the way of life in West Virginia. When the reader is exposed to both arguments, his or her opinion becomes more apparent. Pancake’s chapters are in depth and she obviously did a lot of research. This realistic approach makes the injustice these people are suffering from, easier to relate to.
Ann Pancake develops her characters very well, giving each a chance to tell his or her story. Pancake’s argument against the Mountain Tip Removal is stronger because she allows the reader to sympathize with the characters. If the reader feels a connection to at least one of the characters, the reader can feel how they feel and therefore argue for or against Mountain Tip Removal. But Pancake’s opinion is evident especially through her decisions about her characters. Corey’s death highlights the similarity between his own destructive nature and impulsivity to the danger of mining. Jimmy ultimately leaving makes the connection Lace, Bant, and Mogey have to nature, even more vivid. Corey never appreciated nature; the time Bant took him to see what used to be Yellowroot, all he saw were the machines, big, powerful, and dangerous. Pancake makes her own opinion clear when she writes Corey’s death. He did not feel for nature, and by killing him in her novel, Pancake makes her own connection to nature evident.
The way of life in West Virginia is also very well developed. Pancak writes of one family, all intertwined, and therefore traces the connection each individual has with nature back generations. If she had written about a family without deep roots in that area, the way of life would not have been as accurate or moving. But because she picks a family who has lived there for decades and felt the pain of the mining first-hand, she portrays an accurate depiction of their way of life. Also, Pancake does not choose the ideal, perfect family to center her novel around, like Seth’s family or something. She picks a family with mistakes, illness, and loss. This is more realistic and heart wrenching, thus adding to her argument against the destruction of the land.
Pancake’s immense research is evident through her stories and images of the mining, floods, and disasters. With the characters that sympathize with nature such as Mogey, Bant and Lace, she creates images of the land and mountains they live on that make the reader feel connected and want to save them too. With the floods, she uses Dane, Lace, Ms. Taylor and Avery to recount not just the mere facts of the devastating flood, but the emotions, loss, and fear that the flood brings. Also the fear of the ever-impending flood runs throughout the novel, making her argument more urgent. The reader knows disaster could strike at any second, and it makes the fights between Jimmy Make and Lace more important. They are not just fighting over something that could happen, they are fighting over something that has already happened and will happen again. The danger of Mountain Tip Removal is an undercurrent throughout the novel to create the reaction Pancake wants the reader to feel. The reader feels the threat, and is torn to supporting Jimmy Make (leaving West Virginia) or Lace (fighting the mining until it kills them).
The ending of Strange as this Weather Has Been is entirely appropriate for the novel. With all the ups and downs of her novel, Pancake ends her story with the coming of age of many of her characters. Jimmy Make is the first to “grow up”. He realizes that he just cant live in Yellowroot anymore. Yellowroot makes him a child and ties him to destruction and death. I think that it took him incredible courage to leave the town he has lived in “forever” , but it was ultimately the best situation for him. I find it interesting that though Pancake never gives Jimmy Make a chapter, I almost feel the closest to him and find my self rooting for him when he decides to make a change in his life. Tommy and Dane also do a lot of growing up after Corey’s death. They both leave in order to continue their lives away from the “coldness” they know in Yellow root. Of all the characters in Pancakes novel, Bant matures the most at the conclusion of the story. Bant and R.L travel to the top of the mountain to see the mines. They see the “slurry” that is lurking above and could come down onto their home at any moment. This realization makes the mining rumors true. It gives Bant a sense of self-worth and allows her to hold her self above everyone else. She knows what is in their future, and can’t do anything about it. I think that the ending that Pancake chose for her novel is excellent as it creates a summation of her characters as well as leaving the reader with a “what happens next?” and “what could Bant do?” attitude. I enjoyed Pancakes novel as applaud the ending.
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