God's Little Acre: A Novel (Brown Thrasher Books Ser.)
Erskine Caldwell
Language: English
Pages: 224
ISBN: 0820316636
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Like Tobacco Road, this novel chronicles the final decline of a poor white family in rural Georgia. Exhorted by their patriarch Ty Ty, the Waldens ruin their land by digging it up in search of gold. Complex sexual entanglements and betrayals lead to a murder within the family that completes its dissolution. Juxtaposed against the Waldens' obsessive search is the story of Ty Ty's son-in-law, a cotton mill worker in a nearby town who is killed during a strike.
First published in 1933, God's Little Acre was censured by the Georgia Literary Commission, banned in Boston, and once led the all-time best-seller list, with more than ten million copies in print.
money will stop coming in here to pay them. Well, God damn it, Will, we’re nothing but suckers to listen to them talk about arbitration. Let the mill run three shifts, maybe four shifts, when we turn the power on, but keep it running all the time. We can turn out as much print cloth as the company can, maybe a lot more. But all of us will be working then, anyway. We can speed up after everybody gets back on the job. What we’re after now is turning on the power. And if they try to shut off the
safe over there as it would be down in Florida.” Ty Ty and Will went into the house, but Pluto sat down on the porch where it was cooler. Griselda and Rosamond were cooking supper, and Darling Jill was setting the table. Black Sam had brought in an armful of fat pine knots, and the cook-stove was red hot on top. Everybody was hungry, but it would not take long to boil the grits and make the sweet potatoes with the heat Black Sam had provided. Griselda had sliced half a ham and it was frying on
told him. “That’s just what I’ve been trying to make you see.” “If I had a little money, maybe two or three hundred dollars, this here now lode might could be located. It takes time, and a durn heap of patience to locate gold, Will.” “Why don’t you go up to Augusta and talk to him about it then? That’s the thing to do.” Ty Ty started around the house. He stopped at the corner and waited for Will to catch up with him. They went across the yard and down to the barn where Dave and Uncle Felix
ain’t been around much outside of Georgia, and so I can’t speak for the other parts of the world, but I’ve sure-God seen a heap in my time in Georgia and I’m here to tell you that it ain’t no use to go no further away when it comes to looking for such prettiness. Man alive! Griselda totes around with her so much prettiness that it’s a shame to look sometimes.” Griselda cried brokenly. Ty Ty felt in his pocket for a quarter, finally picking it out of a handful of nails, harness brads, and loose
looked as if it were a mile high, and it was every bit as hot as it had ever been. “Sorry I’ve got to rush right off like this, folks,” Pluto said, sitting down on the shaded steps. “There’s a ballot box full of votes between here and the crossroads, and I’ve got to count them all before sundown tonight. It never does pay to put things off. That’s why I’ve got to rush off like this in the heat of the day.” Shaw and Buck looked at Pluto a moment and at Griselda, and laughed out loud. Pluto would