River of Earth

River of Earth (1940) by U.S. author James Still follows a young boy growing up in Kentucky over a course of three years during the Great Depression. The central question his family must ask themselves is do they wish to be independent yet struggling farmers, or do they want to gain more prosperous employment in a mining camp where they would have to report to all kinds of bosses. Since publication, River of Earth has become a classic for its scenic form that does not rely on plot. It was awarded a Guggenheim honor in 1941 and has been ranked with the great southern writer Thomas Wolfe. For its depiction of struggling farmers during the Great Depression, it has also been compared to John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.

Its themes include the meaning of dignity, love, and appreciation for the natural world. The story is told in the first person from a seven-year-old boy (whose name isn’t given) who observes actions around him with keenness but is not yet old enough to understand their implications.

Set in the Lean Neck Valley in Eastern Kentucky during the Great Depression (1929-1939), the protagonist grows up in a time when once fertile farming fields have failed. The other major employer in the industry, a string of coal mines on the Cumberland Plateau, continues to shut down their operations. This has made resources and jobs very scarce, and people are now willing to turn against their families and friends to gain the upper hand.



His father, Brack Baldrige, is an indomitable man. He tends to sick farm animals, and unlike the conservationist sprit of the times, attempts to be generous toward others with his resources. He gives food to beggars and supports relatives with what little money he can spare.

However, throughout River of Earth, it appears that his generosity is at the expense of his own immediate family. For instance, Brack can’t bring himself to expel his cousins, Harl and Tibb Logan, from his house, even though they clearly use him as a source of easy food. His wife, Alpha, is horrified at this adverse generosity, especially as their own four children are getting skinner for lack of food. When another relative, Uncle Samp (who could work but chooses not to), appears to live with them, Alpha goes to extreme measures to exorcise the dependent relatives from her home.

One day, Alpha is tired of the shifting horde of people who come to their house asking for food and money that the family can’t afford to depart with. She ushers her children into a shack and sets their house on fire. Now, family members can’t spend the night and take their food. The family then lives in the shack, which is smaller but which also brings them peace.



Because of his strong work ethic, Brack’s coal mining skills are in high demand. When one mine shuts down, he’s usually able to find employment in another one because of his reputation. But this constant moving is emotionally and physically taxing on his wife. Alpha wants to settle down. She’s tired of the national economy that forces them to move almost every single year. But Brack tells her life’s not supposed to be easy, and the risk and struggle of coal mining is worth the money.

But when the economy is so rough that he can’t find a coal mining job, Brack becomes a sort of freelancer and takes on roles as a homesteader, a farmer, and a mountain delivery man.

The family, to their great dismay, become dependent on many external forces. The family’s misfortunes make it more difficult to take care of Uncle Jolly, Alpha’s brother, an amiable man who is routinely reckless in social and professional matters. He often lands in jail. Fortunately, he does prove himself to be of some use to the family when he offers to take care of the matriarch of the family: Grandma Middleton, the lively and domineering mother of Alpha. She is dying, and Uncle Jolly eases her pain.



Though Brack’s relatives no longer live with them, he remains generous toward those begging for food. When a group of men pass through town searching for food, he tells them to take some food from their garden. Later, the protagonist walks to the garden and sees that they have ransacked almost all of the food for themselves.

The protagonist watches his father unsuccessfully breed guineas for food; the animals were a gift from Uncle Jolly.

At school, the protagonist and his siblings endure boring and ineffective lectures. Still, the boy senses the value of education. He doesn’t want to be a coal miner like his father. He would much rather work as a veterinarian.



Grandma Middleton dies. The family, especially Alpha, is determined to gather the money for a decent funeral. Normally, she would want the ceremony for her mother to be a week, but due to the economic situation, she tells Brack that she will settle for a one-day funeral.