44 pages • 1 hour read
Denise GiardinaStorming Heaven
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1987A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “C. J. Marcum”
Storming Heaven opens in the year 1890 with C. J. Marcum, who is sitting with his friend Dillon Lloyd near his family’s farm in Justice County, West Virginia. C. J. lives with his grandfather Henry Marcum, whom he calls Pawpaw, and his grandmother, Mamaw. He often travels to the Lloyd farm at night to spend time with Dillon. Earlier that night, Dillon’s brother Clabe and his wife Vernie gave birth to a son, Rondal. A few months earlier, the railroad came in and purchased several families’ land in the area. C. J.’s grandfather refused to sign the papers and sell over his land, but Vernie signed the papers for the Lloyd family.
At first, the families are able to continue living on their land, but two years later, the railroads sell the land to the coal companies. Omar Kane, the sheriff of Justice County, tells everyone that they have to move, and refuses to listen to Henry Marcum who claims he never sold his land. Shortly after, Henry shoots himself. C. J. and his grandmother move to Justice Farm, a large plot of land owned by Henry’s cousin, Ermel, that the coal companies haven’t been able to take over. In addition to a farm, Ermel’s land is home to a small town called Annadel, named after Ermel’s wife, which houses a mill, a blacksmith’s forge, and a general store. The Lloyds move far away to be closer to Vernie’s family. One day, Ermel brings C. J. into Justice Town, and C. J. is horrified to see the land ripped up by the coal companies, “the flanks of the hills gashed and sticky with mud” (9).
Three years later, Vernie’s family loses their land to another coal company, and Vernie, Clabe, and their children return to the area. They spend one night at Ermel’s farm. Ermel confesses that though he is grateful for the business the coal companies bring to his general store, he feels guilty about taking their money.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “Rondal Lloyd”
Chapter 2 is told from the point of view of Rondal Lloyd as he recalls his childhood. Clabe, Vernie, and their three sons, Rondal, Talcott, and Kerwin, have moved back to Winco, West Virginia, the same area where the family once owned land. They now live in a house owned by the coal company, where Clabe works in the mines and is deeply in debt. Rondal is a bright kid who does well in school. One day, as one of the top students in his class, Rondal is invited to the teacher’s house, where she tells the students “about how we had the obligation to raise ourselves above our parents and save our mountain people from ignorance” (15).
C. J. Marcum, a close family friend, often invites Rondal and Talcott to Ermel’s farm, where they play with Ermel’s son Isom, play music together, and go hunting. Occasionally, C.J. comes to Winco to visit the Lloyds, where he expresses his distrust of the coal company, telling Rondal:“[T]here were things going on in the world I would never learn in a coal operator’s school” (19). Eventually, the company policemen tell C. J. he is only allowed to visit Winco once a month.
When Rondal is 10 years old, Clabe pulls Rondal and Talcott out of school to work. Talcott must sit at a conveyor belt and pick pieces of slate out of the coal. Rondal must go into the mines with his father. Rondal and Talcott are scared of the dangerous work, and Vernie cries often.
In the mines, one of Randal’s responsibilities is to watch a canary that is kept in a cage. If the canary dies, it means poison gas has been released and the men must get out of the mines. One day, another boy challenges Rondal’s canary to a bird fight with his own; Rondal’s canary dies and he lights it on fire as a funeral. The next day, as Rondal and Clabe follow Clabe’s friend Joe Kracj into the mine, rocks collapse and kill Joe Kracj. Rondal and Clabe escape just in time. C. J., hearing the news, insists that Rondal come work with him in the general store. Clabe agrees, as long as Talcott will work in the mines alongside him from now on.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary: “Carrie Bishop”
Carrie Bishop lives on a farm in Kentucky with her older brother Miles, her older sister Flora, her father, Orlando Bishop, and her Aunt Becka, as well as her Aunt Jane, who lives nearby. One day, Ben Honaker, a 20-year-old teacher, comes to teach at the schoolhouse and introduces Carrie to the book Wuthering Heights, which makes Carrie fantasize about the day she’ll meet her Heathcliff. Ben falls in love with Carrie’s older sister, Flora, who is 16. Ben also convinces Orlando to let Miles attend Berea College when he turns 17.
One spring night, the family hears a knock at the door. A traveling salesman, whom they call a “drummer,” was traveling through Kentucky toward Ohio when his 14-year-old son, Albion Freeman, became very ill. The Bishops agree to let Albion stay with them so that the father can continue traveling and pick Albion up again on his way back in the fall. At first, Carrie thinks that Albion could be her Heathcliff, but when Albion won’t stop crying after his father leaves, Carrie observes: “Heathcliff would not have cried. Nor was Albion handsome” (39). She learns that Albion’s father lost his farm in West Virginia to the railroads, and that Albion can’t read. Nevertheless, Albion eventually gets better, and Carrie and Albion grow close as they spend the summer working on the farm together. In the fall, Carrie convinces Albion to come to school.
In October, everyone attends a corn shucking. As the young people shuck ears of corn, the boys hope to be the first to find a red ear, because it means they can steal a kiss from any girl. Albion finds the red ear and is immediately embarrassed because he knows the girls “laughed at school about how quiet he was, how homely” (45). Albion finally kisses Carrie’s cheek. Later, he tells Carrie that he wants to one day marry her and own land of their own. A week later, Albion’s father comes for him. Carrie mourns his departure: “I waved goodbye, my arm heavy as lead. Albion was lost to me. I loved him, but it was not enough to hold him” (48).
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary: “Rosa Angelelli”
Chapter 4 is told from the perspective of Rosa. The chapter opens with Rosa attempting to catch butterflies as a girl, but she crushes their wings beneath her fingers. Rosa lives in Sicily, until her father forces her to marry a man named Mario and travel with him to West Virginia where Mario plans to work in the mines. Mario drinks and is violent toward Rosa and their son Francesco. Rosa finally decides her own future:“I watch for the butterflies to return. Then I will leave this place” (51).
Part 1, Chapters 1-4 Analysis
Chapters 1 through 4 are each told from the point of view of a different character, introducing the structure of the novel, which will continue to alternate between these four points of view. These opening chapters introduce the cultural context of the novel, which takes place in Kentucky and West Virginia shortly after the Civil War. Over the course of a few years, the railroads purchased the land of several farmers in West Virginia and eventually sold it to the coal companies, who forced the farmers off their land. If they wanted to stay, their only option was to work for the coal companies, which controlled their homes, stores, and schools, caused them to gain massive amounts of debt, and forced them to work in dangerous conditions.
In addition to character and historical context, voice is established in these opening chapters. This novel is written in dialect, reflecting the way people in this region of the country spoke at the time. For example, at one point, Ben Honaker remarks, “And ifn Aunt Becka dont like it, you and her might not git along” (36-37). Words such as “ifn” and “git” and the lack of an apostrophe on conjunctions, reflects the way the characters speak. The use of dialect also makes the reader feel closer to the characters because the story is being told in their voice. Comparatively, Rosa, an Italian immigrant, speaks in a unique voice that lacks the past tense, asking, for example:“Mama, why do I ever leave Sicily?” (49), which reflects her voice as a non-native English speaker.
Beautiful imagery is used to describe nature, emphasizing what an important theme nature is in the novel. Nature is a source of strength, beauty, and comfort to the people of West Virginia, and it is especially difficult for them to see it destroyed by the coal companies. C. J. observes: “My mind’s eye could see all the land—the mountain wrapped like a protecting arm around the cabin, the prickly grass in the pasture up Trace where the cows and sheep grazed, the dark fields fanning out along the bottom” (4).He is especially troubled by “the flanks of the hills gashed and sticky with mud” (9) after the coal companies begin tearing up the land. Similarly, Rondal “loved to hunt, to tramp through the woods with [his] friends, to climb the mountains far away from the coal camps” (17). When nature is undisturbed by the coal companies, it represents comfort and protection, which contrasts with the danger and threat posed by the coal companies.
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