How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Nothing's any good this year," Ben replied. "My daddy says it will get worse with mining going on everywhere."
"What does mining have to do with your mama's vegetables?" M.C. asked.
Ben was silent a moment, as if he didn't want to talk about it.
Reluctantly, he said, "Well, Daddy and Uncle Joe went for miles north and east following the coal seam, looking for mining cuts. They didn't go to Sarah's Mountain because of what your daddy might do. But wherever else, they lay hands on cuts…"
"You mean they thought to work magic on the hills?" M.C. stared at Ben in disbelief.
"I'm just telling you what they had to do," Ben said. "Daddy says it didn't work straight off but that maybe it will slow the ruin down."
"Naturally it didn't work," M.C. said. "That's why folks stay clear of your father, for doing things like that."
"He just can't find a way to heal a mountain is all," Ben said. Looking at M.C., his eyes were anxious, innocent. (1.93-100)
On one hand, M.C. seems to believe that the Killburns are "witchy." But when Ben brings up a situation where they actually are trying to "work magic," M.C. doesn't believe it. His contradictory stance toward the Killburns' powers is confusing, right? Are they magical? Are they not? Ben believes in their magic, but then, he's a Killburn and he's "innocent." So what are we supposed to believe? Why all this mystery and confusion about the Killburns' abilities?
Quote #5
As if in a trance, M.C. gazed out over the rolling hills. He sensed Sarah moving through undergrowth up the mountainside. As if past were present. As if he were a ghost, waiting, and she, the living. (2.15)
So it's not just the Killburns who have "magic." M.C. does, too—or at least, he's definitely pretty mystical. Whether or not M.C. really does call up Sarah's ghost, what's more important is how connected M.C. is to his history and tradition. It may appear supernatural, but another way to look at it is just that M.C.'s power to imagine the past is as powerful as a storyteller's. He makes the past into a living story.
Quote #6
As he watched the shadowy figures in the kitchen, his thoughts seemed to float away from him. He fell into a kind of reverie as he heard, deep in his mind, a wild creature's roar… He saw something, a silhouette there in the forest waiting for him. Or was he the image, waiting for another part of himself to reach it? He tried to move toward it when a numbing cold rose around his ankles. It climbed to his knees and then his neck. His leg muscles jumped, but he could not run. He was rooted to the mountainside as the sour and bitter mud of the spoil oozed into his mouth and nostrils. At the last moment before he suffered and died, he knew he was not outside. He was still in his cave, his fingers on the buttons of his shirt. (3.128)
Are you wondering what's going on here? There are two ways to look at this. Maybe M.C. is just deep into his daydream of the spoil heap killing him, or maybe he's projecting himself into the future. Whatever is going on, you've got to wonder why the author is making M.C. into this supernatural-ish character. In fact, he seems more "witchy" than Ben Killburn.