Storming Heaven

“‘Company runs everything, makes all your daddy’s decisions for him, even gits his mail. Hit’s like Russia with that there Czar. Your daddy aint a free man. He’s like a slave.’” 

C. J. says these words to Rondal when Rondal is still a boy. These words help characterize C. J. as an activist who is speaking out against the union early on in the novel. The comparison of the miners to “slaves” also demonstrates just how bad the coal companies’ treatment of the miners is.

“I first began to understand what I have learned since, that there are forces in this world, principalities and powers, that wrench away the things that are loved, people and land, and return only exile.” 

Carrie makes this observation after Albion is taken away from her when they are children. These words will come to foreshadow many other times in which something is taken away from Carrie, such as Albion’s sudden and unjust death.

“‘I dont know,’ I said. ‘I always thought a man should own his land. I’d have to think about that there socialism.’ ‘Hell, let him own a little bit of land. Long as everybody got some that want it. But the man that does the work should own the coal mine. He should receive the fruit of his labor, like the Good Book say.’” 

This conversation occurs between C. J. and Doc Booker, and by the end, Doc Booker has convinced C. J. to become a socialist. This moment characterizes both C. J. and Doc Booker as very politically active. In addition, it represents C. J.’s attitudes toward the union, and why he feels that the miners who work the land should be entitled to better pay and better living conditions.

“‘That woman Ethel need a doctor for her youngun, she dont care if it’s a Negro. She got a sick baby, that’s all.’” 

Doc Booker experiences discrimination as a black man, demonstrating the racism that was prevalent in West Virginia and other parts of the United States at the time. Nevertheless, Doc Booker is an intelligent and hardworking doctor who is willing to treat all patients.

“That is what education is about, Miles said. To prepare mountain youth to take their place in the modern world.” 

After returning from school, Carrie observes that Miles acts superior to the rest of their family, who aren’t as educated. In addition, Miles had a professor who was a coal mine operator, and as a result, takes the side of the coal companies during the strike. This moment marks the beginning of Carrie and Miles’ disagreements, which will be a point of tension throughout the novel.

“‘And maybe I decided I want to help bring the union in here. Aint no doctor going to bring in no union.’” 

Even though C. J. wants Rondal to pursue medicine, Rondal eventually tells C. J. that he wants to go back to working in the mines because he’ll have a better chance of organizing the miners if they see him as one of them. This demonstrates how the union is made up of working men who are tired of being looked down upon by people who think they are superior to them. In addition, it marks an important moment in Rondal’s life, when he decides to devote his life to working for the union.

“‘When a man got the money, a man got the land, a man got the guns, you cant beat him. No, you cant. Unless you got brotherhood.’”

Johnson, a union member from Charleston, says these words to Rondal when they first begin to organize. While the coal companies have money, weapons, and threatening guards, the union is able to stay strong because of their sense of community and commitment to one another.

“‘Union is for white and Negro alike. Union is for foreign. Union is for Catholic. Anybody want to be a free man and fight for it, union is for him.’” 

Throughout the novel, the union will be made up of people of all ethnic backgrounds. While discrimination was prevalent in the American South at the time, the union knew that it needed numbers and solidarity in order to stay strong. This is another example of how important community and brotherhood becomes for the union.

“‘Progress is always at somebody’s expense. Hit means putting everything in order till they’s no room to breathe. Progress means cleaning everything up. But I like things dirty.’” 

Rondal says these words to Carrie after meeting Miles for the first time. Here, Rondal is trying to explain to Carrie that even though her brother, Miles, and the coal companies may be prospering, it is at the expense of all the mistreated coal miners.

“‘And the human body is such a miracle. I study it and I think, “How could it all work?” I seen babies borned. I seen dead bodies cut all apart by my teachers until they weren’t nothing left and I wondered what it was that run that body, that made them muscles move and them lungs breathe. Hit’s like an invisible fire running through is. Hit dont surprise me that the fire goes out. Hit’s where it come from that makes me ponder.’” 

Throughout the novel, Carrie often raises large questions concerning faith, life, and death. Carrie will also come to experience a lot of death in her life, such as the sudden death of her husband, Albion. This quote raises thematic questions that many characters grapple with throughout the novel.

“These mountains has got a powerful pull. They let a man wander so far and then they yank him back like a fish on a line.”

Throughout the novel, the mountains represent home and security to the characters. Here, C. J. observes that no matter how far Rondal travels, he will always come home. Rondal is devoted to returning home and helping the coal miners in his hometown throughout the novel.

“‘Who is the bad people? Hit’s us, Carrie. I believe in the Fall. I believe in the first sin, that it taints all of us.’” 

In this scene, Albion explains to Carrie that he is a “No Heller,” a pastor who doesn’t believe that some people are destined for hell, like many of the traditional Baptists in their community believe. Throughout the novel, the union members will question what is right and wrong, and they will have to persevere and believe in what they are fighting for even though it won’t always be easy. Albion’s faith in God and in his fellow people will give him strength throughout the novel.

“Little boys followed me around town, and I’d set them down and tell them about how the coal companies stole the land.” 

C. J. becomes a local hero when he joins the Annadel baseball team, but while he thinks baseball is a fun pastime, he always remains focused on the union and his political activism.

“‘I knowed it would be all right, soon as I got inside. I felt easy, like they was nothing to fear. And guess what I seen, over by the haulage way? Mushrooms! Growing up just as pretty as you please, there in the dark and the dust. I tell you, hit was a sign from God. He was saying, ‘See here how the least of these creatures can prosper in this place.’” 

Albion and Carrie move to the coal mines at Felco after Albion feels called to preach there. Here, Albion sees a sign from God the first time he goes down into the mines. This moment is also a metaphor for the coal miners, who stick together and persevere as a union despite their difficult living conditions and all of the forces bringing them down. This moment also helps to characterize Albion and how important religion is to him.

“Yes, there was a pride in it now that we were a bit better off. Only those who can afford it take pride in such things, and only when looking back on them.”

After living in poverty, Carrie and Albion are finally able to make good money once Carrie goes to work for Doc Booker as his nurse. Here, she observes that she can take pride in her lifestyle because she worked hard to earn it, and she knows what it is like to go without.

“‘One thing I found out, they dont know about us down here and they dont give a damn. Even the socialists. To them we’re just a passel of ignorant hillbillies. Anything we do will be done our own selves.” 

Rondal makes this observation after returning from Chicago. While initially Rondal asked for help organizing his union from unions in other cities, he eventually realizes that he will need to take matters into his own hands if he wants to see any progress.

“‘Who can say why the miners were ready to listen to me? They broke their backs and died of roof falls and rib rolls and gas, their children went to bed hungry, and died of the typhoid, their wives took the consumption, they themselves coughed and spit up. True enough. They stayed in debt to the company store, they had no say at the mine or freedom of any kind, they could be let go at a moment’s notice and put out on the road, or beaten, or shot. All true. But it had always been that way, and they never fought back.’” 

Rondal’s speech illustrates just how bad the conditions were for the coal miners. While Rondal questions what made the coal miners suddenly want to organize, it is clear from this list that the coal miners have had enough and are ready for better lives.

“On every corner, an armed miner stood sentinel with his red bandana knotted around his neck. The gun thugs called us rednecks. It was a name we accepted with pride.” 

In the novel, “rednecks” comes to have two meanings. It means people who do manual labor, but also describes the red bandanas worn by the union members. The “rednecks” take pride in the name, both as union members and as working-class people.

“I couldn’t rest easy until Albion was back. I feared that his very gentleness would be an affront to the guards, that they would take pleasure in abusing him. He was content to let God protect him. But sometimes I thought it was a point of honor with God to abandon the faithful ones.” 

Carrie struggles with her faith in God throughout the novel, but especially after Albion is arrested. Here, she worries about Albion’s safety while also questioning why God lets his most faithful followers suffer.

“‘And they’s other good men. That Isom is a fine one. Oh, they’s only so far you can go, being friends with a white man. I know that. They’s always things a Negro cant say or do, else he’ll risk losing that friendship.’” 

As a black man, Doc Booker experiences racism throughout the novel. Even though he has many white friends such as C. J. and Isom, he knows that he will never be truly equal to them. Here, Doc Booker explains to Carrie just some of the reasons why it’s difficult to be a black man in a predominantly white community.

“‘A miner shouldn’t have to fret over whether his boss is a good man or not. Hit’s all up to you whether that man freezes or keeps warm. Hit’s up to you whether his family eats or starves. He’s at your mercy. Why should he be?’” 

In this scene, Carrie tries to explain to her brother Miles why the union is so important, and what the strike is all about. Carrie puts into clear terms how difficult life is for the miners, and how little control they have over their own lives. 

“‘[I]fn I cant love them gun thugs, God wont call me back to the Homeplace, because I’ll love all the wrong things about it, I’ll love it because they aint no gun thugs there and because there I can turn my back on all the suffering, and I’ll make an idol outen it, and worship it.’”

Albion explains to Carrie why they can’t just abandon the union and move back to the Homeplace. Albion feels that God is calling him to help the coal miners, even though it would be easier to leave and live a happy, simple life at the Homeplace. This is another example of how Albion is driven by faith, while Carrie struggles with her faith in God.

“They are good men, the District leaders. Two of them are even socialists, friends of Doc’s. But they just didn’t know. They always wanted to talk strategy. I admit that strategy is important. But they had lived in Charleston too long and couldn’t understand that things had gone beyond strategy.” 

At this moment, the district leaders have postponed the march after hearing that the president is sending in the U. S. Army. While Rondal respects the district leaders, as someone who experienced the difficult conditions in the coal mines firsthand, he feels that it is more important to take action. This moment raises the question of when the right time is to stop thinking and act. It also characterizes Rondal as someone who would rather be involved in the struggle firsthand than sitting back and strategizing from a distance.