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The tragic rape of the land is also an issue in STORMING HEAVEN. The novel begins with the coal mines and railroads taking people's land for government use. C.J. Marcum describes his father's fight for keeping his land: when he told them about the deed he held at the courthouse, they laughed at him. Junior Patent, they kept saying. Senior patent is what we own. That takes precedence. Ask any judge" (5).

Rondal Lloyd's family used to own their own land, now a coal company owns their home. Rondal tells how he grew up hearing about how things used to be. He describes their present living conditions: "the railroad track, its ties oozing tar, ran through Mommy's vegetable garden. Most of the houses were built around the hill where the cow and sheep had grazed . . .We never ate trout or frog legs . . .The creek water was black with mine drainage and raw sewage, and acid stained the rocks orange" (Giardina 13). Rondal's father and all the others in the area had to work at the coal mines. They were forced to work on their own land, but not for themselves. They were forced to work for the very people that stole and destroyed their property. The land had once supplied the ability to be free and self-sufficient, but the railroads and coal companies took away their freedom.

This loss of the land they loved so much led many people, such as Rondal Lloyd, to form unions and fight. STORMING HEAVEN describes the struggle of the Appalachian people to relinquish their right to their land and their freedom.


Love for the Land in Denise Giardina's STORMING HEAVEN

The tragic rape of the land is also an issue in STORMING HEAVEN. The novel begins with the coal mines and railroads taking people's land for government use. C.J. Marcum describes his father's fight for keeping his land: when he told them about the deed he held at the courthouse, they laughed at him. Junior Patent, they kept saying. Senior patent is what we own. That takes precedence. Ask any judge" (5). Rondal Lloyd's family used to own their own land, now a coal company owns their home. Rondal tells how he grew up hearing about how things used to be. He describes their present living conditions: "the railroad track, its ties oozing tar, ran through Mommy's vegetable garden. Most of the houses were built around the hill where the cow and sheep had grazed . . .We never ate trout or frog legs . . .The creek water was black with mine drainage and raw sewage, and acid stained the rocks orange" (Giardina 13). Rondal's father and all the others in the area had to work at the coal mines. They were forced to work on their own land, but not for themselves. They were forced to work for the very people that stole and destroyed their property. The land had once supplied the ability to be free and self-sufficient, but the railroads and coal companies took away their freedom. This loss of the land they loved so much led many people, such as Rondal Lloyd, to form unions and fight. STORMING HEAVEN describes the struggle of the Appalachian people to relinquish their right to their land and their freedom.


Read about the Love for the Land in: THE TALL WOMAN Back to SHE WALKS THESE HILLS Back to HUNTER'S HORN Go back to themes list