Gap Creek by Robert Morgan

[Paulette]

#6 - Throughout the novel, we are given very detailed descriptions of the difficult and often unpleasant chores that Julie performs -- from butchering a hog to laying out Mr. Pendergast's body after he dies from the fire. Does this help you to understand just how hard life was in Appalacia at the turn of the last century? Do you find Julie's capacity to endure despite unrelenting sorrows inspirational? Depressing?

[Bethers]

My ancestors weren't from Appalachia - but were from a farming background - and I found it to be very similar to what many of them did/endured. In many, many ways, it was a hard life, but it was also a very structured life, which is also sometimes easier (that's hard to explain). Months, weeks, days, hours and even minutes - people knew pretty much what they would be doing. Kind of like the bible verse where there is a time for every season, a time to sow, etc etc - that's how people ived.

I know for those of us from the city, when we'd visit our relatives still on the farm even only just 40 - 50 years ago, while their life was hard physically, there was a structure that we really missed in our own lives. They ate from their own land entirely - from making their own butter and milking their own cows, to growing their own vegetables and canning, etc. The only meat they ate was from butchering their own animals. I still do envy them the ability to live in a manner that didn't rely on money as we all do. And while there aren't many that do that the same today, there are still some.

Yes, I find it a hard life, but a very rewarding life, that I think we can all learn from. With church and music, they took time to entertain. They talked in the evenings. This book shows us that they weren't perfect, but they didn't run from each other's imperfections, they stayed together and usually made it to the next phase, like Julie and Hank do both when moving when newly married, and moving again at the end of the book. And in the next phase, hopefully they grow together to the next one.

[Barbzeee]

I just want you all to know I ordered this book.. yep, to be with me in Florida.. as I've been following this section.. and enjoying it.... So...this book will be on my shelf when I arrive in Florida...

Keep up the good work all.. and maybe I might join ya all...

God Bless

[Sunseeker]

The hard life was an expectation and no one ever questioned it. It almost makes me feel guilty for the easy life I've had and the way I've taken so much for granted over the years. Maybe that's what Morgan wanted us to feel... a little ashamed, but alot thankful that ours was not the same fate. Julie's character is one to be admired, but I can't help feeling my suburban capabilities are inadequate in comparison.

I'm glad you ordered the book, Barbzeee. I can't wait to see how you answer the questions Paulette is putting up here for us.

[AlmostThere]

Beth said it well.
I came from a farm family of 9 kids and we were fairly self sufficient, too. When school let out I never left the farm until school resumed in the fall. Well, sometimes my Mom would allow some of us kids to ride along to the grocery store for staples or my Dad would let us go along to pick up a part for a broken piece of farm machinery.
My father bought 445 acres the year I was born, for $50,000. We worked hard to clear the land so it could be farmed. We picked up any rocks bigger than our heads and chopped wood for heat.
Even with raising 9 kids Dad paid off that farm in 10 yrs, but it cost him his life as he died of a heart attack at age 60. He died while plowing his beloved fields. My brother saw his tractor going crosswise across the field and unhooked his plow so he could quickly drive his tractor to see what was wrong. He got my Dad's tractor stopped and my Dad was dead still sitting on the seat, one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on the throttle lever. PTL he didn't fall off and get under the plow.
So I guess my answer to your question is; Julie did what had to be done to survive. It was everyday living and living off the land is hard work. Getting the time off for church and seeing other people were pure luxuries. All pioneers that settled our country are inspirational to me.

[Paulette]

#7 "It was like we formed a special kinship in the kitchen," Julie says after sharing some unexpected pleasant moments with her mother-in-law. She experiences similar intimacy in her kitchen cooking a meal with her sister Lou. Discuss the special place that the kitchen can hold in women's lives. Julie experiences a similar bonding experience with two new women friends from church who bring her homemade jelly and clothes for the baby she is expecting. Why do you think the author has Julie find sustenance from women during the harsh winter and so little emotional support from her husband?




Note: The "special place" that my kitchen holds in my life this morning is ptuy! I spent several hours cleaning it this weekend! It is entirely too large!

[Paulette]

My thoughts on the last part of the question...is because her husband couldn't really "relate" to being pregnant and had no idea what they were going to need for this baby. The other women were also mothers and knew that ya need clothes and that sort of thing, but that you also need something special for yourself during that time.

As to the relationships in the kitchen...when you are busy working together it is easy to talk about things...much less formal than any other environment.

[Paulette]

#8. When Hank realizes Julie has been conned out of money by a lawyer, Hank smacks her across the face and cruelly insults her. Discuss Julie's reaction to his temper. When they make up in bed, Julie thinks "In the dark what mattered was we was together and naked...We would always find a way to live, a way to get back, as long as we could love." Do you share Julie's faith in their love? Why?

[AlmostThere]

Today, I would have a very different reaction to being smacked. Julie did say that sometimes she felt stupid so I suppose she felt she somewhat deserved what she got. Then, like so may of us women who get abused, we lap up any attention and generally for men it pretains to sex. Sadly, I know whereas I speak.

[Paulette]

Agreed. Also, it was a different place and time! That said, I told my ex once, early on in our marriage, that if he was ever going to hit me, he better make it count cause it was the ONLY time he would ever get the chance. Me and my cast iron skillet would have the final word! I think he was skert, cause he never raised a hand toward me!

[Sunseeker]

Even though she was more tough than traditional women of that period, she was probably raised with the notion that women still had to be subservient to their husbands, and it was the man's right to discipline his property. It seemed to me she was more hurt by him insulting her. She quickly forgot about the incident and was willing to accept it as long as he stayed with her.

[Paulette]

#9. When Gap Creek rises and floods their house, something snaps in Hank who, shotgun in hand, threatens to shoot himself, and maybe Julie, too. "I ruint your life...I ought to kill us both," he shouts. As the disasters continue to pile up that bitter winter, Hank slides into a deep depression broken by fits of rage. Do you wonder why Julie continues to stick by him? What do you think of Hank?

[Sunseeker]

He later admitted he brought all the hardship on himself by fighting at work...so I think he felt incredibly guilty. I don't know why he could have not communicated the truth to her earlier and they could have both worked on a solution. He still thought it his duty to singlehandedly provide for her, even though it cost them their baby because of his "pride".

[Bethers]

They lived in an era where "for better or worse" meant just that - and divorce was very, very uncommon. That said, Hank was a result of his own upbringing and rigid mother. That said, there are still men today who wouldn't have told their spouses the real reason they lost their job, and might rationalize it as not being their fault, but internally they know that it is. With the flood it went beyond what Hank could continue to rationalize. Julie did what she always did - whatever she could to make her home and life move forward. That was her lot in life - her job.

While I disagree with sticking together no matter what, I do also believe that there commitments were beyond what most people today understand. I also am not sure that either of them were "in love" when they got married, and maybe not even by the end of this book. For many marriages of that generation (and most earlier generations) love came much further into the marriage, not before it. Love grew based on the experiences together and sometimes just because of the time shared together. This has been something I've thought a lot about since reading the book - and still vacillate in what I think.

[AlmostThere]

Poor Hank was a mess because of his upbringing. He wasn't allowed to mature as a man because of his overbearing Mother. In a crisis he seemed to always want the easy way out so as not to be blamed if the results of his decisions proved wrong. In the flood it all came to a head in that he just wanted life to be over. Even though mother nature was at fault, he felt he failed, yet again, in taking care of Julie and their home.
Having to return home to Julie's mountain, homeless, penniless and childless probably was the lowest any husband/man could have felt about himself. I feel they probably ended up back at Julies home with Julie taking on the same chores and Hank just going along doing what he could. I'd like to think Hank changed into a 'take charge' man, but I don't think that would happen.