Novel Study of The Glory Field
After watching the long walk home, staring Woppie Goldberg and sissy Spacek, I felt very sad and depressed about how badly the blacks were treated, for example: close to the end when the white men and women were getting extremely mad at Odessa and her friends , or as some whites called them the negro.
-(In Canada) The first recorded slave purchase occurred in New France in the region known today as Quebec in 1628. The purchase was of a young boy from Madagascar, who was given the name Olivier Le Jeune. (Wikipedia)
The Glory Field
1864
p. 11-23
The Lewis slaves were made to work on the fields even though is was Sunday. It was a year ago since they worked the fields on a Sunday.
Joshua Lewis, Moses Lewis' brother had run away because he had heard that his wife, Neela might be sold, and Lem Lewis, Mose's son, was described by Grandma Dolly as being like her grandfather Muhummad and “did things differently”(p.15), and Grandma Dolly also says, “If you born with a taste for freedom in your mouth, you got to satisfy it.” Lem had escaped and run away too.
There were patrollers out looking for Joshua and Lem. Everybody was wondering what happened to them. Master Lewis, his family, his overseer Mister Joe Haynes and his workers, and Moses Lewis, his family and the other slaves all wondered if they would be caught.
While they were working in the fields, Moses sees Lem off at a distance because he starts singing a spiritual referring to the lost lambs, “The young lambs must find the way...” and eventually the slaves see what Moses had seen, Lem being dragged behind a horse.
Saran, Lem's mother, grandma Dolly, Moses and the other slaves back in their quarters, rely on their faith and call on God to keep Lem safe.
Miss Julia, Master Lewis' daughter comes to get Lizzy with the excuse that the kitchen is dirty, in order to manipulate Lizzy into telling her what she knows about Lem and Joshua. She acts so high and mighty when she says to Lizzy that it's thanks to her that Lem is still alive, “They should hang him from a fruit tree...and they would have, too, if it hadn't been for me...I told them not to hang him because I knew you were sweet on him.”(p.23)
The Glory Field
1864
p. 24-34
Miss Julia and Lizzy drink tea and Miss Julia sweet talks Lizzy even telling her that one day she is going to buy Lizzy from her father and set her free so that they can walk hand and hand in pretty dresses in Johnson City.
Lizzy is told by Master Lewis to return to the quarters, and she listens for a minute behind the door to see if she can hear anything about Joshua and Lem. When she arrives to the quarters everyone asks her questions about what she heard. She tells them that Lem is tied to a tree out in the woods and tomorrow they are going to talk to the slave trader Mister Oakes and see if he can sell him to Foster.
Moses doesn't trust Miss Julia and he has no qualms in telling Lizzy that Miss Julia is just sweet talking her, and Grandma Dolly says, “And don't think you overheard nothing they don't want you to know. Anything you know is what they want you to know so they can use you.”(p.30)
Everybody in the slave quarters is wondering if Joshua is going to come back for Lem. Everybody knows that Joshua knows what tree Lem is tied to only they don't know if he is going to come back for him. Moses tells a story of two boys and how they couldn't take the abuse from the master anymore and they end up being hung for fighting with a white man. He tells this story to remind them that Lem and Joshua are not safe.
We find out how Lizzy came to live with Moses Lewis and his family. Lizzy's mother died because of all the hard work in the rice plantations, therefore, Lizzy came to live with Moses and his family. Lizzy lying in bed remembers a coachman from Savannah, Georgia and how fine he looked in his fine clothes and how he talked about how the white people treat the blacks in Savannah, and how he doesn't understand why the blacks aren't just happy with their situation and should accept it instead of fighting it. He says, “And be like them folks that call themselves free?...they ain't doing no kind of good...they were better off being slaves. Least they had something to eat and knew how to behave themselves.”(p.33) Moses did not agree with the coachman from Savannah, and he shows his repulsion by spitting on the ground and saying “...a poor excuse for a man...”(p.33)
Lizzy keeps pondering about Lem and turning her thoughts over and over again about him, and asks herself if Lem had a freedom dream and that's why he left. Lizzy wants to go and say bye to Lem and “say something good to him so he wouldn't feel so all alone,”(p.34)
The Glory Field
1864
p. 35-44
Lizzy was lying down in the cabin when she decides to go out to see Lem and bring him water. She is surprised by her Grandma Dolly on the porch. Lizzy listens to her Grandma's advice that Grandma Dolly's father told her. “He used to say they keep us in between the whip and the North Star. One hand holds out freedom and the other holds out a whip. Long as we sitting there turning our heads which way and that...If they can't turn your head, they can't turn you at all”(p.37). The whites offer the blacks the North Star in one hand, but have the whip in the other. The North Star representing freedom and the whip representing the south and slavery.
Lizzy goes off to see Lem and brings a clay jug of water with her to give some water to Lem. She is hesitant about going and at times stops on the way wondering if she should have brought Lem something to eat, if he is going to ask her to cut him loose, how will she find Lem, and if they find her there with him if she would be whipped? She remembers seeing Bill being whipped just because Old Master Lewis thought that Bill was being disrespectful to young Master Lewis. All that Bill had done really was to drop a bolt of fabric by mistake in the mud. A small thing made into a bigger problem for no reason really.
Lizzy finds Lem tied to a tree and his face is swollen and there was blood on his cheek. She decides to clean Lem and offer him some water. While Lem was drinking water all of a sudden Lizzy was whipped by Mister Joe Haynes! He whipped her three times! Once across her back, once on her ankles, and once across her hip even tearing her thin dress. Mister Joe Haynes accuses Lizzy of trying to free Lem. Mister Joe Haynes justifies himself with this excuse to whip Lizzy.
While Mister Joe Haynes was occupied by Lem and Lizzy, and he whipped Lizzy one more time, he did not see Joshua come through the bushes. “Joshua's body crashed into the overseer's bent frame and sent him backwards.”(p.44) Lem urges Lizzy to grab the rifle that “...still lay across the bush.”(p.44)
The Glory Field
1864
p. 45-51
Joshua gets Mister Joe Haynes pinned to the ground, and Mister Joe Haynes begs for his life. “...But don't kill me. I got a wife and family.”(p.46) Lizzy begs Joshua not to shoot Mister Joe Haynes too. Joshua says that Lizzy has to run away with them otherwise Master Lewis will whip, and probably kill her. Lizzy can't believe that she has to go and won't be able to see Grandma Dolly or the rest of the family again. Joshua decides that she can run back to the quarters to say good-bye, but that she has to hurry. “If you get back in a short while, I won't kill him...If you don't, I'm going to have to break his neck...”(47)
Lizzy runs back to the quarters and tells everyone what happened. Lizzy wished that this would had never happened. Saran takes Lizzy's face in her hands and says, “When folks take your freedom, and the only way for you to get it is to risk dying for it, then dying comes when it wants to. You go on, you'll be all right. You young. You got plenty to live for...”(50) Saran tells Lizzy that Miss Julia came to get Lizzy to take her back to the big house, but Saran told Miss Julia that Lizzy was in the field because she was sick. Saran urges Lizzy to change her dress because Miss Julia would be back and if Miss Julia saw her dress she would know that something was wrong. Every one agrees that Lizzy has to get back to Joshua and Lem to run away.
Miss Julia comes to the door and wants Lizzy to come to the big house, but Lizzy pretends that she is sick and Miss Julia says, "Well you do look a sight"(p.51).
The Glory Field
1864
p. 52-58
Miss Julia wants to bring Lizzy to the big house, but Lizzy convinces Miss Julia that she will come in the morning. Everybody at Lizzy's house are frantic because they know that Lizzy has to get going to meet Lem and Joshua. Lizzy says her goodbyes to everyone and Saran says, “If you get caught, act like you ain't right in the head”(p. ). Saran tells Lizzy not to turn back.
Lizzy meets up with Joshua and Lem away from the tree. As they head out Lizzy keeps asking," where are we going?"(p54) Of course Joshua doesn't really know where they are going and so is his frustration Joshua just says , “Just going.”((p.54) Lizzy wonders if Lem and Joshua killed Mister Joe Haynes and that's why they were not talking much. Joshua wants to take them to an abandoned smoke house, but when they get close they realize that they are not going to make it to the house so Lem and Lizzy hide up in some trees. Lizzy was feeling exhilarated at the thought of herself being free, and she contemplates these thoughts as she watches some white men out with children playing in the fields.
Joshua leaves them and Lizzy and Lem sleep in the trees. Lizzy realizes that something profound has happened to her...”It was what had happened to her. She was free. It was a scary free, and it was a hungry free and a tired free, but it was free.”(p.58)
The Glory Field
1864
p.59-70
Lizzy woke up and all of a sudden remembered where she was and she felt scared. She couldn't see Lem, and she heard sounds in the distance that sounded like booms. She climbs down the tree and Lem calls out to her. They decide that the sounds must be coming from the fighting of the civil war, and that they have to keep moving because Mister Joe Haynes and the dogs are probably after them.
They hear the dogs drawing closer and closer! They see some lights and head to the lights running, and walking when they get too tired. They are afraid because the riders on horses point in their direction, and Lizzy and Lem are not sure if they are pointing at them, but then they realize that they are pointing at the fires. The riders call off the dogs and the dogs circle one more time and they ride away. Lem and Lizzy are relieved and head towards the fires when someone comes up behind them and they can't believe their eyes! The soldier is black! “You're black!” she said. Glad you noticed it,” the soldier grinned. I had just about forgot it.”(p65)
They find out about the Yankee army and how there are many black soldiers and how the army is going to start a black regiment. And they find that Joshua is at the camp too!! The soldiers feed Lem and Lizzy and put them to work.
Lizzy has an important decision to make: follow some people who are trying to escape North, or follow the regiment and help out...Lizzy “...ran as fast as she could, her feet slapping against the hard road. When she got around the bend, the men were still in sight, tall and proud. She followed them, never looking back.”(p.70)
The Glory Field
April 1900
Curry Island, South Carolina
p.
Elijah, Lizzy and Richard's son is out contemplating life while ploughing the fields with Sukey, the old mule. Elijah is plowing the Lewis' own fields! The Lewis' received eight acres of land from the Yankee soldiers when they assigned plots of land to the former slaves.
The white people and the black people had to adjust to life after slavery. The whites had a hard time realizing that the blacks were freemen and the blacks had to learn what it meant to be free. The whites wanted things to be like it was before the civil war and they tried to return it to the old ways through terror and maltreatment of the blacks. The Klan would ride at night and terrorize the blacks just because they thought that a black had been disrespectful to the whites, or not working hard enough if they were on farms that were sharecropping farms. It was a hard time for all.
Grandma Saran and Grandpa Moses were trying to hold on to their plot, but they were behind on their taxes, and tried to borrow some money from the bank, but the bank manager said, “...the King Street Bank was for white folks.”(p.75) Elijah was worried about his grandma and grandpa.
Elijah's father, Richard Lewis and his mother, Lizzy lived in Savannah, Georgia because Richard had a job in a pulp mill, but were on a visit to South Carolina. Elijah has a friend Abby, and Abby wants to go start a fishing business with Elijah instead of farming. Abby also wants to get a guitar to play ragtime music which the elders don't agree with. Abby and Elijah traded some firewood for an old boat that Grandpa Moses helped to fix up. They would go out fishing every time they had a chance, and even on Sunday sometimes and catch some fish and sell it when Grandma Saran was at her sister's house in Johnson City because Saran did not approve of them working on the Sabbath day.
The Glory Field
April 1900
p. 78-89
The Lewis family gathers at the African burial ground on their plot of land at the Live Oaks Plantation. Moses says, “Lord, bless this precious earth.” After blessing the cemetery they gather for a family picnic.
The whole family gathers at the picnic together. Goldie and Elijah like each other and they tease each other at the picnic. “I might have to marry you quicker than I planned,” said Elijah.(p80) We find out that Lem died in the war and the Lewis family was not allowed to bury him in the grave yard, so they buried him in the Glory Field instead. A storm was coming their way and it looked to be a big one.
Sister Clinton, who does laundry for the white folks, and who is a busy body, came by and was talking to Grandma Saran about a little boy who Grandma Saran takes care of and whose name is David. Sister Clinton said that she saw little David with Foster and they were supposed to go fishing. Grandma Saran plays a bit dumb with Sister Clinton, but when Sister Clinton leaves, Grandma Saran tells Elijah she knew who Sister Clinton was talking about and says that Foster is “...always half juiced up.”(p.83). Foster is always hanging around little David Turner's father because Turner has a lot of money and Foster can “...borrow some drink money once in a while (p84).
The Lewis family is enjoying the picnic when old man Turner shows up looking for little David. Old man Turner and Grandma Saran make small talk and old man Turner asks if Grandma Saran hasn't seen Foster. Old man Turner doesn't ask about David, and Grandma Saran didn't want to ask about him even though she suspected that it was David that old man Foster was looking for. Finally Grandma Saran “...called out to him. 'Mr. Hamlin!...Where's David?' The balding white man turned slowly, lifted his hands upward, and exhaled deeply. 'Aunt Saran, I don't know where they are' (p.89).
The Glory Field
1900
p.90-107
Old man Turner leaves the Lewis place on his covered surrey, and Grandpa Moses says, “Serves him right.”(p.90) The family talks to Lizzy about being in the north and how the white folks treated the blacks up north. “Most of them were really nice” (p.91). Grandma Saran asks, “What are we going to do about little David?” (p.92) Grandpa Moses puts in his two cents worth and says that Foster is out on that little island near the key. And Grandpa Moses says he goes out there because he is a lazy man and he can follow the tide out and follow the tide in.
Elijah asks Grandma Saran if she wants him to go out to the island to find little David. And Grandma Saran says, “It don't hurt to make believe you were awake when you went to church this morning” (p.93). Elijah's parents were going to head back to Savannah, and by the time Elijah would be back they would be gone.
It took about one hour for Elijah and Abby to get into town. They were going to see if they could help find little David. The storm was brewing and there was “...brief smatterings of rain” (94). Elijah has an idea and he asks Abby if he wants to go along with the idea. Abby says he has an idea too, but Elijah says that if it has anything to do with ragtime music, then Abby should forget about it.
Elijah tells Abby his idea of telling Mr. Turner that he will find little David if he lends the money for the taxes to Grandpa Moses and Grandma Saran. Abby thinks Elijah is “...too hot-blooded. You say something like that to Mr. Turner and he's liable to get mad and start some trouble”(p.96) But Elijah wants to help because he “...saw something in Grandma Saran's eyes...I looked at Grandpa Moses” (p.97). Elijah is not sure if he can stand up to old man Turner, but he is going to try.
They arrives at the beach and a group of men were there. Sheriff Glover and the men were talking to old man Turner, and when Hamlin Turner saw them he invited Elijah and Abby over. Old man Turner and all the men discuss the risks of going out in the storm to look for little David and Foster., and he eventually offers 25 dollars to the man who can rescue little David. One by one the men drop out and when only Sheriff Glover, Mr. Turner and two white men, Abby and Elijah were left, Elijah finally offers himself and Abby to rescue little David, but for thirty-five dollars!!
Sheriff Glover tries to intimidate Elijah and Abby with his gun, but Elijah does not back down. Frank Petty insults Elijah with the N word and Elijah starts to walk away, but stops when he sees “the concern in the white man's eyes” (p.102) Mr. Turner finally offers twenty dollars, but eventually offers him the thirty-five dollars.
Even though Sheriff Glover doesn't know where Foster and little David are, he goes out on the boat with Elijah and Abby too. He wants a part of the rescue money! Elijah and Abby go to get the Pele Queen and bring it around and Sheriff Glover met the boat. The three are off in the Pele Queen to find little David.
The Glory Field
1900
p. 108-113
Elijah, Abby and Sheriff Glover go out into the storm on the boat, and Sheriff Glover takes hold of the tiller while Elijah and Abby row because it was no use to use the little sail in a storm like that. The two boys struggle as they try to make their way to Key Island. The water is extremely rough and they need to navigate around one edge of Gray Rock. Sheriff Glover realizes that what they are doing is very dangerous and he threatens the boys with a gun to turn around. “Sheriff Glover unsnapped the leather flap on his holster, pulled the long-barrel revolver from its nesting place, and pointed it at Abby. “I said turn back, boy!” (p.111) The boys stare Sheriff Glover down and Sheriff Glover puts his gun away. They reach Key Island and Abby stays with the boat and Sheriff Glover and Elijah start searching the Island for little David and Foster.
The Glory Field
1900
p. 114-125
When Elijah and Sheriff Glover start searching the island, Elijah goes one way and Sheriff Glover goes the other way. The wind is blowing so hard that it is hard for Elijah to hear anything other than the wind. Elijah calls out to David many times and he almost gives up hope of finding him when he hears a faint cry for help, “Help!” The cry was weak, but it was clear. Elijah looked to his left and saw the boy's thin arm swinging over his head”(p.116).
Elijah calls Sheriff Glover over and they realize that Foster is holding onto David's leg for dear life. Foster was hurt and Sheriff Glover had to point a gun to Foster's head for him to let him go of little David. Elijah gets ready to take little David to the boat, and Sheriff Glover threatens Elijah with death if he leaves with him. Sheriff Glover sets Foster's broken leg and finally carries him back to the boat.
The storm was howling and they had a rough time rowing back to the mainland. They finally make it and the Lewis family is waiting along with Old man Turner. Old man Turner and Sheriff Glover walk away with David and leaves Elijah wondering if he is going to see any of the money. : “...Elijah saw Sheriff Glover walking with Hamlin Turner. He was carrying David"(p,122).
In the local paper, The Gazette, the credit for the rescue was given to Sheriff Glover and there was no mention of it to Elijah and Abby. “We don't never get no credit.” Grandpa Moses was carving on a piece of driftwood”(p.123).
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