Chapter 3 Summary and Analysis

Russell's mother, Lucy, is a feminist, having argued for womens' right to vote in a high school debate in 1913. She also wants to be a lady and believes that men are brutes who need a good woman's guidance. Her father, Papa, is her ideal of manhood, though the Tidewater, Virginia lawyer invests unwisely in timber and believes that insurance is a sin, gambling against God. He leaves his wife and children with nothing when he dies of a heart attack at fifty-three. Lucy has to drop out of college and take teaching jobs among the poor communities to the north.

In Loudon County, a bootleg whiskey still operates near the schoolhouse, and Lucy first sees her future husband Benny when his car breaks down in front of the school. He politely hides his whiskey when he sees the teacher. Lucy is...