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.
Themes
Religion as a Guiding Force
Many characters turn to religion as a source of guidance throughout the novel. In this community, Christianity is the most prominent religion, and most people practice Christianity to some degree. Rosa’s mother sends her a Catholic reliquary from Italy, and Rosa prays to it often. Albion is a “No Heller” preacher, who believes that even sinners can get to heaven. For Albion especially, his faith in God is what guides him to help organize the union and fight for coal miners’ rights. When Albion first begins going down into the mines, he sees a patch of mushrooms thriving despite the mines’ dark and dirty conditions and sees this as a sign that he is meant to be there. Later, when Carrie asks Albion to move back home to the Homeplace after his trial, Albion explains that it wouldn’t be right to turn his back on the men who are suffering.
While religion motivates Albion to stay and fight alongside the miners, Carrie often struggles with her faith in God. After Albion is arrested, she wonders:“[S]ometimes I thought it was a point of honor with God to abandon the faithful ones” (209), questioning why God lets bad things happen to good people. While some people are able to use their faith in God as a source of strength, others often grapple with the question of religion and struggle to remain faithful to God, even though they consider themselves Christian.
The Blurred Lines Between Right and Wrong
As the strike progresses, many union members turn to violence in order to fight for their rights, raising the question of whether the ends justify the means. When the strikebreakers are brought in, men to work in the coal mines while the union members are on strike, the union members shoot at them but are careful to only shoot at the ground or over their heads. Nevertheless, the escalating violence makes Carrie wonder if she could ever kill someone. She remembers how she eventually got used to hunting animals as a child:“I wonder if it’s that way with killing people. I wonder if you can git used to it” (221). Ultimately, at the Battle at Blair Mountain, the union members finally have no choice but to fight back with guns and weapons.
Rondal’s character also represents the blurred lines between good and bad. Although Rondal fights for the coal miners’ rights throughout the novel, he treats Carrie poorly. After Carrie loses her virginity to Rondal, he leaves abruptly the next morning, saying:“I never said I loved you, did I?” (110). Later, he leads Carrie on by flirting with her at the school dance and taunting her in front of her husband, Albion, knowing that Carrie has always been in love with him. Rondal’s complicated character reveals that no one is all bad or all good and connects thematically to the question of whether there is a clear line to distinguish between both.
Family Legacy and Honor
C. J. is deeply invested in fighting for the coal miners’ rights because he witnessed firsthand how farmland was stolen from his grandfather and other families in the area by the coal companies. Honoring one’s family becomes deeply important to many characters throughout the novel, and many characters are influenced by where they came from. Despite C. J.’s political activism, Rondal knows that he has a better chance of organizing the coal miners because “[he] was Clabe Lloyd’s boy” (73), and it’s important that he work alongside the other men in the mines:“Hit’s coal miners will being in the union. If I aint one of em, how can I help?” (71). Rondal knows that he is perceived as the son of a coal miner, and that this will help him convince the other coal miners to join the union.
When Carrie gives birth to Rondal’s son, it is important to her that her son have her late husband, Albion Freeman’s, last name, in order to honor his legacy. Carrie buries both Albion and Rondal in her family’s cemetery, which also houses her father, her aunts, and her sister’s baby, who was born premature. Finally, the novel includes an Afterward written by Carrie’s son, Dillon Freeman. Dillon details what happened to various members of his family after the novel’s conclusion, explains that he is president of his local union, and reveals that he is, in fact, the novel’s author. This suggests that the entire novel was written as a way for Dillon Freeman to honor his family’s legacy and their role in leading to the union rights achieved later on in the 20th century.
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By Denise Giardina
