King Coal, King Jesus, and Moonshine: Faith and life in Appalachian fiction

Theology Today, Jul 1999 by Smylie, James

The setting of Storming Heaven is in the West Virginia coal fields during the first part of the twentieth century. The novel culminates in the 1920s on Blair Mountain where thousands of miners meet thousands of company mercenaries, state troopers, and United States soldiers in pitched battle. The Appalachians face machine guns, gas, and even aerial bombardment in a losing struggle for dignity and justice. The author takes seriously the racial and ethnic mix in the coal fields, something that we have not seen in the other novels. She also portrays the difficult circumstances among mountain people who often find themselves on opposing sides in the conflict. To do this, the novelist tells the story through several minibiographies placed appropriately throughout the action of the story. Carrie Bishop, a Kentuckian, becomes a nurse in the coal fields, a sympathizer of the miners and the union. Miles Bishop, Carrie's brother, goes off to Berea College in Kentucky for an education. He returns, a manager of the mines, in the employment of a company headquartered in Boston. He thus rises above his "hillbilly" persona, which has become a humiliation to him. Albion Freeman, whom Carrie finally marries, is a "Hard-Shell" Baptist preacher and a miner. He wants to follow Jesus, if need be, to Calvary. Rondal Lloyd also loves Carrie, and in the end of the story, fathers her only child. He is a union organizer and is always on the move to avoid those who want to stop his labor agitation. Dr. Touissant Booker, an AfricanAmerican physician, graduate of Howard University, is drawn to West Virginia because of its anti-slavery stand during the Civil War. He supports the unionizers by providing medical care and advice. Giardina also introduces, among others, an Italian woman who works for the boss. Having lost three sons in mine accidents, she is tempted to think that God is dead. Brother is separated from sister. Miles brags to Carrie of being served Baked Alaska for dessert while visiting the company owners in Boston. Carrie snaps: "We had typhoid" while you were in Boston. The community becomes a place of intimidation and violence. In the end, the unionizers, accused of being un-Christian and un-American despite their appeals to the Bible and the Declaration of Independence, are crushed. A black person is thrown alive into a blazing furnace by company agents to intimidate Lloyd, the organizer. The Baldwin-Felts guards finally shoot Freeman, Carrie's husband. Other characters are scattered, and Carrie resumes her drab life with her child as though nothing had changed.

Giardina sees religion as playing a major role in the life of her characters. She describes religion in terms of the mine owners' religion and that of the mine town. Miles Bishop, rising above his rootage in Appalachia, is drawn to the Episcopal Church on his trips to Boston. He likes the aesthetics of the faith and life of its members, especially the beauty of the stained-glass windows in their churches. Although the author does not dwell much on Miles' conversion to liturgy and art, it is clear that there are no stained-glass windows for the mine workers. Mine owners and managers see religion as a tranquilizer, a tool, along with intimidation, to keep miners and their families in line. Union organizers tend to think of religion as an opiate for the troubles of the people. They are cynical. But, as Giardina sees it, religion also becomes a stimulant to hope and action among the people. Preacher Freeman is a complex character. He mines coal during the day and holds prayer meetings and Bible study in his home at night. There he preaches love and non-violence. He also introduces into prayer meetings for study and reflection, the story of deliverance of the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt and the house of bondage, the liberationist text and theme for the novel. The African Americans as well as the Catholics stand for unionization and resistance. They sing the gospel song: