A Painted House - A Book Review

A Painted House

A Painted House

Reader – Response
1. How do you feel about this work? For example, what feelings did it evoke when you read it? Pity, fear, suspense, surprise, joy, or humor?
I have read several of Grisham’s novels; all was absolutely legal thrillers, telling nothing but that of the lawyers and court proceedings. But this one is entirely different. And frankly, at the beginning I felt a little weird and a bit bored about the book.
First and foremost, I did not know anything about a farmer’s life or anything about cotton picking nor should I ever get interested. And then a story without a lawyer by John Grisham, how would it be? You may say I’m getting a little exaggerated but honestly, I have imagined reading every Grisham’s novels and have dreamed of how great his lawyers would be, (actually I read this book because it was written by Grisham and that’s all) but this hadn’t even had a single lawyer! I am really curious and I do not know what to expect. I felt a little nervous and a little afraid for I do wonder whether the story would end just as nice and exciting as his other novels.

2. Does your attitude toward or understanding of the work change as you read it? What brings about conditions that change? How many different ways can the work be read?
As things were further untold, I started to become excited, especially during the first encounter of Luke and Hank followed by the first secrets and lies and so was Luke’s mischief and inquisitiveness, his snooping and other activities. I really can’t put down the book. Each incidents, confrontations and revelations add up to my surprise! And when the story was near its end, I started to felt even more attached to the story that I didn’t want it to end. The story although not a legal thriller was a real suspense sandwiched within every dramatic scenes. I am glad I didn’t get disappointed. The fast-moving and thrilling incidents that made all Grisham’s novel a real master piece is present in this ‘a painted house.’

3. By manipulating such literary devices as tone and point of view, authors try to establish a relationship between their work and their readers. What relationship to the reader does this work (or author) assume? What elements of the work help establish this relationship?
The novel is written in the first person point of view, as Luke, the main character narrates everything about his life and the world around him. In this way, the author have made me became very much involved with the story and even made me felt I was a part of the story, thinking and feeling the same as the main characters.

II. Formal
4. Make an inventory of the key words, symbols, and images in the work by listing those that seem most insignificant to you. What meanings seem to be attached to these words, symbols, and images?
WORD DEFINITION SYNONYM ANTONYM
1. POW Abbreviation for “Prisoner of war”
2. reckon to consider somebody or something to be something think, consider, imagine, suppose, feel, deem (formal), guess, surmise, account, regard, view know
3. grunt to make a deep sound in the throat as an annoyed, half-hearted, or inattentive response to what somebody has said, or to indicate or say something in this way mumble, murmur, rumble, grumble, groan, snort

4. flair obvious elegance or stylishness style, panache, stylishness, elegance, dash, chic, glamor, verve, taste inelegance

5. howdy hello: used as a greeting greetings, hi (informal), good morning, good day, morning, good afternoon, ciao (informal), howdy (US, informal) goodbye

6. grin to smile broadly, usually showing the teeth Smile, beam, smirk, laugh, chortle, chuckle frown
7. mammoth something enormous: something that is a particularly large example of its kind enormous, huge, massive, immense, epic, gargantuan, colossal, vast, titanic tiny

8. ominous threatening: suggesting or indicating that something bad is going to happen or be revealed threatening, warning, worrying, gloomy, portentous, menacing, ill-omened, unpromising promising

9. oblivious unaware: unaware of or paying no attention to somebody or something unaware, unconscious, unmindful, ignorant, insensible conscious

10. silo container for grain or animal feed: a tall cylindrical tower used for storing grain, animal feed, or other material, or for making silage arsenal, barn, bunker, cellar, depository, depot, gasometer, grain elevator, granary, hangar, hayloft, loft, shed, silo, storehouse, storeroom, strongroom, treasury, warehouse, water tower
11. gin INDUSTRY clean raw cotton: to separate cotton from its seeds using a cotton gin
12. gaudy showy: brightly colored or showily decorated to an unpleasant or vulgar degree garish, flashy, kitschy, extravagant, loud, showy, colorful, lurid, cheap, flamboyant, tawdry, tacky (informal) tasteful
13. concoctions new and unusual mixture: a new and unusual mixture, especially a drink or dish created by mixing together ingredients mixture, brew, blend, potion, drink
14. stocky broad and strong-looking: short and broad with a strong-looking physique thickset, sturdy, solid, stout, chunky (informal), squat, burly, hefty slight
15. gaunt thin: extremely thin and bony in appearance thin, skinny, lean, bony, emaciated, scrawny, skeletal, haggard plump
16. coop enclosure for poultry: an enclosure or hut in which poultry is kept pen, cage, run, enclosure, hutch, hut, house
17. penchant liking or tendency: a strong liking, taste, or tendency for something liking, proclivity, fondness, desire, partiality, weakness, taste, predilection (formal), inclination antipathy
18. languid without energy: lacking vigor and energy unhurried, relaxed, leisurely, languorous, lazy, indolent, lethargic, slow, dreamy, droopy, sleepy, somnolent, drowsy vigorous
19. hillbilly country person: a term used by people from the country to describe themselves with pride, but used by others as an insult for people whom they regard as ignorant and unsophisticated (informal) (offensive in some contexts) • country-dweller, rustic, provincial (disapproving), bumpkin (informal), hillbilly (informal)
• farmer, laborer, farm hand, farmworker, crofter

20. haphazardly unplanned: happening or done in a way that has not been planned randomly, chaotically, messily, arbitrarily, at random, indiscriminately, unevenly, unsystematically, irregularly, unselectively, carelessly systematically
21. nod off doze: to fall asleep unintentionally doze off, drop off (informal), fall asleep, drift off, doze, snooze (informal), catnap, nap, drowse wake up
22. reassert put somebody's mind at ease: to make somebody feel less anxious or worried restate, reaffirm, repeat, reiterate, confirm, insist abandon
23. whip lash somebody or something: to strike a person or animal repeatedly with a flexible rod, length of rope, thin strip of leather attached to a handle, or something similar, especially as a punishment • beat, thrash, belt (informal), lash, flagellate, flog
24. fib white lie: an insignificant or harmless lie untruth, white lie, story (informal), lie, tall tale, whopper (informal), falsification, fabrication truth
25. vicious ferocious and violent: carried out with intense violence and an apparent desire to inflict serious harm, or acting in an aggressive, cruel, and violent way savagery, wildness, brutishness, ferociousness, ferocity, sadism, fierceness, inhumanity, violence gentleness
26. hand-me-down used garment: an item of clothing, usually outgrown, passed down from a family member or friend to another secondhand, castoff, recycled, used, worn
brand-new

27. obscenity indecency: offensiveness to conventional standards of decency, especially as a result of sexual explicitness • indecency, lewdness (disapproving), offensiveness, explicitness, crudeness, rudeness decency
28. cotton gin machine for cleaning cotton fiber: a machine for separating seeds, husks, and other unwanted material from cotton fiber
29. eavesdropping listen secretly: to listen to a conversation without the speakers being aware of it undercover work, intelligence work, espionage, eavesdropping, snooping (informal), infiltration
30. idle not working or in use: not working, operating, producing, or in us inactive, inoperative, unoccupied, at rest, off, still, down, immobile working

5. How do these words, symbols, and images help to provide unity or define the overall pattern or structure of the work?
SYMBOLISM

“PAINTED HOUSE,” Literally in the story, the house was being painted white, first by Trot who tried his best not to be caught. Painting the house symbolically means that the Chandlers life was experiencing changes, the greatest change ever in their lives.
The painting done by Trot in the beginning seems to be not that good nor would anyone of the Chandlers accept the idea except Luke’s mother. Paint was a sensitive word around the Chandler farm. It had caused a tense period before because mother wanted the house painted but Pappy and Gran didn’t like the idea because of its high cost. But in the end it appears to be good and the house became beautiful. Same as with the lives of the Chandlers, their simple living was suddenly, little by little being change because of their encounter of various difficult situations such as the arrival of the hill people occupying their front yard, the giving birth of Libby to a baby boy, Ricky in Korea, and finally the flood and the ruined crops. Things eventually turned up to be good only on the part of Luke and his mother because the flood made it possible for them to live up North.

6. Under what genre should the work be classified? What generic conventions are readily apparent? If it is fiction or drama, what does each of the five structural elements – plot, characters, setting, theme, and mood contribute to the work? If it is poetry, how do meter, rhythm, rhyme, and figurative language contribute to your experience of the poem?
PLOT

It's September 1952 in rural Arkansas when young narrator Luke Chandler noted that "the hill people and the Mexicans arrived on the same day." These folks were in Black Oak for the annual harvest of the cotton grown on the 80 acres that the Chandlers rent. Yes! The story tells one summer of raising and selling the cotton crop. Luke has day dreams about living life with more luxuries, but his family does the best that they can to provide the necessary things already. The cotton is the means of support of the farm. Many things depend on how well the family will make it through the year. If there is a flood, or if the price of cotton drops then the family will have to suffer and wait for the next summer to try to make it all back up. And if the harvest is a success, it will simply mean a few more luxuries, and the opportunity to do it all over once more next spring.
The three generations of the Chandler family treat their workers more kindly than most farmers do, including engaging in the local obsession -playing baseball- with them, but serious trouble arises among the harvesters nonetheless. Most of it centers on Hank Spruill, a giant hillbilly with an equally massive temper. He got in a fight one Saturday behind a store. He killed one of the kids, but it was a three-on-one. Hank then went to a carnival and decided to take a bet. A guy named Samson, the best wrestler all the way from Egypt, came and said, "If you can stay in the ring with me for 60 seconds, I will give you ten times your bet." He threw a whole bunch of people out of the ring, until Hank came. Hank bet him $25. He ended up hurting Samson and earning himself $250. He then decided that he didn't need to pick cotton as much, because he didn't need the money.
Luke Chandler, the seven year old main character, got a crush on a hill girl named Tally. He had seen her naked bathing in the creek. He also sneaked with her and went to the Latcher’s house where they hid in the cotton patch and waited while an illegitimate baby is being born. Then, one day he saw Tally and Cowboy, one of the Mexicans, hiding in the rows of cotton. He didn’t know what they're doing, but he did think they're kissing.
One night he saw Mr. Spruill, the head hill person, told Hank that he needed to hitchhike home because he was causing too many problems. Hank started to leave. Then, Luke saw Cowboy walking outside. He got suspicious and followed. He then witnessed Cowboy killing Hank with his switchblade and stealing his money. He then threw him into the creek. Luke hid but he was caught by Cowboy and threatened him that if he talks to anybody about what happened, he will kill his mother. Luke was really frightened.
Cowboy and Tally ran up North forever. Later, they figured out who was painting their house, Trot, the one-armed Hill person. When the Spruill family went home to Eureka Springs, the job of painting the house was passed down to Luke. Then, there were terrible floods. The floods hurt the cotton crop. There was a total waste of cotton. So Luke and his parents went up North to find a better job and earn money to pay their debts.

MAIN CHARACTERS:

LUKE CHANDLER – (Protagonist) a 7-year old son of a farmer. He doesn’t want to be farmer but a baseball player for the Cardinals. He doesn’t particularly like the Mexicans or the hill people but would rather want many of them than to work hard during cotton picking. He thinks that Math was so easy that’s why he wondered why anyone would want to be a farmer. So he decided to finish all 12 grades and play with the Cardinals. He is also a real Stan Musial fanatic; he kept a baseball card of Stan Musial in his drawer and considers it his most precious possession.

HANK SPRUILL – (Antagonist) he is barefoot and shirtless when he arrived in Black Oak, a heavy young man with massive shoulders and a neck as thick as a stump. Son of Mr. and Mrs. Spruill and is about 20 years old. He eats a lot and loves brawl.

ELI ‘PAPPY’ CHANDLER – Luke’s grandfather, a hardworking farmer. He is afraid of motorized vehicles. When he drove, he never waved or nodded at folks because he was afraid to take his hands from the wheel. People say he was rude and arrogant but Pappy doesn’t care how the gossip ran. He is a poor man, but he was intensely proud. He would starve to death before he took free food. He is not dishonest and would not negotiate to steel some other farmers’ workers. He is a quiet man who never bragged, and once was a legendary baseball player. He was very pessimistic with regards to Ricky’s going home from Korea. He doesn’t want to talk about war and has a penchant for violence.

KATHLEEN CHANDLER – Luke’s mother, raised on a small farm at the very edge of Black Oak, so she was almost a town girl. She grew up with kids who were too good to pick cotton. She never walked to school because her father drove her. She’d been to Memphis three times before she married Jesse Chandler. She dreams of living a better life up north. She has passion for cleanliness.

JESSE CHANDLER – Luke’s father, elder son of Pappy and Gran. He is determined to be a farmer like his father and grandfather. He was also an excellent baseball player but he took a German bullet through his thigh in Anzio and his baseball career came to an end. He read carefully the almanac and is very pessimistic about the weather.
RUTH ‘GRAN’ CHANDLER – Luke’s grandmother, had been born and bred deep in the cotton patch. She knew she would be buried in the soil she worked. She knew her place in the kitchen so she hovered near the stove, checking the corn bread, stirring the potatoes, okra and corn. She loved music and occasionally would hum while Kathleen sings softly. She fancied herself as some sort of country medicine woman.

COWBOY – A Mexican who doesn’t usually smile and always wear a western-style hat. He thinks he’s a cowboy that’s why they call him Cowboy. He is very young and tall for a Mexican. His eyes were narrow and mean and had a thin mustache that only added to the fierceness. He became the antagonist later in the story.

TALLY SPRUILL – 17-Year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Spruill, a very pretty girl with dark hair pulled tightly behind her head and big brown eyes. She is barefoot and her dress was dirty and very tight all the way to her knees. She has no fears of getting caught, darkness, sneaking up on a house where a baby was being born. At times, was aloof almost moody but she could be a kid who laughed when she played baseball, liked being looked at when she baths, took long walks in the dark and enjoyed the company of a 7 yr old. She seemed as old as Luke’s mother.

OTHER CHARACTERS:

RICKY CHANDLER – The 19-year old son of Pappy and Gran. He is fighting somewhere in Korea. He had a reputation of staying in town too long on Saturday, once arrested, and the alleged father of Libby’s son.

MR. LEON SPRUILL – The head of the family, they were the hill people from Eureka Springs and worked in the Chandler’s cotton farm. When the family arrived in Black Oak, Mr. Spruill was driving the truck; tobacco juice lined the lower lip, an ominous sign of bad hygiene and bad habits.

MRS. SPRUILL – Wife of Mr. Leon Spruill; both were stocky and appeared strong.

OFFICER STICK POWERS – One of Black Oak’s two deputies. He supposed to have been a POW and he walked with a limp, which he claimed was the result of abuse in a German camp.
MIGUEL – The oldest of the Mexicans and had the only cloth bag, the rest of them carried their belongings in paper sacks. He knew a little English.

TROT SPRUILL – A 12 – year old kid with green eyes and a long forehead covered with sticky black hair. His left arm appeared to be useless. He is gaunt and skinny.

BO AND DALE SPRUILL – Nephews of Mr. Spruill, teenagers probably 15 or so. They are lean but not thin.

PERCY LATCHER – He claimed to be 12 years old, the tallest Latcher boy. He is shirtless and barefoot, his skin is a dark bronze because of the hours in the sun.

LIBBY LATCHER – A 15-year old girl and the oldest of the brood. She was pretty; her light brown hair was long and pulled tightly behind in a ponytail. Her eyes were pale blue and had a glow to them. She was tall and skinny.

LATCHER BOY – He is the son of Libby.

MR. LATCHER – The head of the family of the Latchers. A sharecropper but his pride prevents him from coming forward and accepting food from the Chandlers.

MRS. DARLA LATCHER – The mother of the Latchers. She was barefoot and her legs were as skinny as twigs. Her arms and legs were as thin as the stick but what she lacked in size she made up for in quickness.

PEARL WATSON – She and her husband are the only adults who insisted Luke to call them by their “first” names but only in the store when no one else was listening. It was Pearl’s calling in life to monitor the movements of the town’s population. She is a Methodist.

POP WATSON – He is the husband of Pearl Watson. He and her wife own the town’s grocery store which has their name.

STACY – She is a thin little girl from Michigan who looked younger than Tally. When she spoke, her words came through her nose. She clipped them quickly and efficiently. She’s a Yankee.
JIMMY DALE – He is the son of Ernest Chandler, Pappy’s older brother. He had fled the farm and migrated to Michigan. He is the husband of Stacy. He liked to talk about his money.
JACKIE MOON – He is an older boy from North of town. He is tall and skinny and had been a basketball star at Monette High School. He and Ricky had played together until Ricky got caught smoking behind the school and was bounced from the team.

SETTING

The place is Black Oak in Arkansas Delta – located Deep South of the United States of America. The people in Black Oak were mostly cotton farmers.
Most events in the story happen in the cotton farm, wherein all the Chandlers, the Mexicans and the “hill people” are picking cottons. If they are not in the cotton farm, they were inside their unpainted house.
The Chandlers house was built before the first war, back when indoor plumbing and electricity were unheard of. Its exterior was one-by-six clapboards made of oak, probably cut from the land they now farmed. With time and weather, the boards had faded into a pale brown same as the color of the other farm houses overall Black Oak. Paint was unnecessary, only some houses in Black Oak has paint.
The house was not large and was so old that the plank floors sagged in places. It has three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. It faced south, the barn and crops were to the north and west, and to the east was the sunrise.
The Kitchen is small and hot. A round oscillating fan rattled away on top of the refrigerator and tried to keep the air circulating. The end of the dinner table was flush against the wall and served as a large shelf that accumulated things. In the center was an RCA radio in a walnut casing.
They have no bathrooms. According to Luke, “You have to relieve yourself in the outhouse.” The outhouse is a small wooden closet sitting on a deep hole, hidden out behind the tool shed, halfway between the back porch and the barn.
They owned an 80 acres of field all in all (lower 40 and back 40). The garden is on the east side of the house, the quiet side, away from kitchen door and the barnyard and the chicken coop. It is enclosed in a wire fence four feet tall, designed to keep out deer and varmints. Corn was planted around the fence.
The town was also of great importance in the story including the Pop and Pearl’s Store, where the people, mostly farmers meet to buy groceries and other items and of course, chat about the weather, the cotton-picking and the Mexicans and “hill people.”
The Church, Baptist for most of the part (with a little mention about the Methodist Church) since the Chandler Family is Baptist. Every Baptists meet there during Sundays without a single missed of attendance, to listen to Reverend Akers’ sermon, which only a few person happens to like or appreciate.
The Latchers’ house was one of the focus having there laid one of the greatest secrets that change the entire Chandlers life. Libby gave birth to a baby boy whom she said was of Ricky.

IRONY

The main character seems to know everything. The only irony in the story is in the part of the other character wherein they became the so-called “victim” of Luke’s spying and lying. He was good in pretending to be someone who was entirely different from what he really was or has in mind.

STYLE

The novel is written in the first person point of view, as Luke, the main character narrates everything about his life and the world around him. There are also moderately detailed references to torture and deaths. And lot of descriptions of farm life and crop-raising.

III. Traditional
7. How does the work reflect the biographical or historical background of the author or the time during which it was written?
The idea about dreaming of a better life up North was a reality in Arkansas for according to one encyclopaedia, between 1940 and 1960 Arkansas lost population as its displaced farm workers moved to other states in search of jobs. Yes, many left Arkansas to seek employment in the North. Moreover, a study of one southern community in 1928 showed that about 30 percent of the households were headed by women past middle age. But since 1930 most of these women, formerly able to live by odd jobs and gardening, have gone on relief. Just like Luke’s mother, they now wanted to have an easy way of living, no more farming, no more gardening, just them being busy in their own beautiful house while waiting for their husbands to go home from their jobs. This dream would only be possible if they fled farm life and went to the North.
It is also said in the story that most of the farmer’s children drop out of school or worst, do not go to school because of poverty. This is also true. Great numbers of Americans are continually moving from one region to another, according to the Encarta Encyclopaedia during the year of 1940 to 1960. This makes poor schooling in any region a matter of national concern. Illiteracy, poor training, lack of education, go along with those migrating people who have not had schools. The fact that the South is the source of a considerable part of the rest of the Nation's population makes the South's difficulties in providing school facilities a national problem.
In the book, several facts and characteristics of Arkansas were also mentioned such as the cotton plantations in the east toward the Mississippi River, the Ozark Mountains where the hill people came from, the Saint Francis River, the Siler’s Creek, the spotted bass and the channel cat fishes in the river, the fact about the country’s climate wherein the rain comes during winter and spring and at times is so heavy as to cause flooding, the pin oak trees, the poisonous snakes such as the cottonmouth water moccasin and the harmless green snakes, the Baptist and the Methodist as the prime religion, the national depression of 1837, the agricultural system of sharecropping and tenant farming, the rows of wooden houses without any modern improvements, without proper sanitary facilities, and often without running water, electricity, television or telephone, the farm houses that were unpainted, the practice of child labor and women exploitation, and many more.
With all this vivid description about the life in the South, I can say that John Grisham really knew his story, his characters, his setting. But one may wonder why is this possible especially those who knew him as a lawyer and presently a full-time writer of legal thrillers?
What many didn’t know about him is that he was born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker; and as a child, John Grisham dreamed of being a professional baseball player. No wonder, his novel, “a painted house” seems to be a story of his childhood, with his birthplace as the setting and baseball as the main character’s dream. Several times in the novel, Jonesboro is mentioned. I also do not know if anybody will ever get interested with this but “Manila” was mentioned in page 356 paragraph 1 when the women talked about rains and floods in other towns. Another trivia is that, this novel is the sole novel by Grisham who doesn’t talk of a lawyer’s life or a courtroom and other similar idea; however, this isn’t the least good.

8. What are the principal themes of the work?
THEME

Strong bonds between family members, conflict between daughter-in-law and her husband’s parents, poverty, revenge, dream of a better life, gossips, and aim for the approval of society are common themes that contributed to the story.

9. What moral statements, if any, does the work make? What philosophical view of life or the world does the work present?

The philosophical view of life present in the novel is the dream for a better life. It is expressed in the dream of Luke to play baseball and his mother’s dream to live in a beautiful house in the North. She wanted a house with indoor plumbing, a television, a telephone and a bathroom. She doesn’t want to live her whole life in a farm nor would she like the idea of his son growing up as a farmer.

IV. Psychological

10. What are the principal characteristics or defining traits of the protagonists or main characters in the work?

Luke Chandler is a 7-year old son of a farmer who was influenced by his mother not to become one. He is also a real Stan Musial fanatic; he kept a baseball card of Stan Musial in his drawer and considered it his most precious possession. When he reached the right age, he decided that he will be a baseball player for the Cardinals.
He did not particularly enjoy picking cottons but would work hard because his father and grand father would not allow laziness and because he will be paid, he needed the money to buy the cardinals jacket which cost $7.50 plus shipping. He doesn’t particularly like the Mexicans or the hill people but would rather want many of them than to work hard during cotton picking. Several times, he attempted a nap during work when he thought nobody was seeing him. He tried everything just to avoid working in the cotton farm.
He was a child who felt that their family is better than those of the hill people and the Mexicans since they were just their field hands but he decided to keep to himself the secret about Hank’s bad treatment when he was insulted and ordered to fetch water. Although a child, he has a deep understanding of his family’s situation. He did not tell anyone about how he was being treated by the Spruills because he knew that cotton picking is far more important than anything else.
He was curious about almost everything. He was a very good keeper of secret. He was good in concealing what he really felt. He was a great liar!
All in all, I think he has a very strong personality and a measure of self-confidence because he was able to endure everything that happened to him which seemed to be very heavy and depressing for a seven-year old.

11. What psychological relationships exist between and among the characters? Try to determine which characters are stronger and which are weaker. What is the source of their strength or weakness?

Luke has a strong bond with Pappy. He wasn’t only a grandfather but a friend, someone whom he could depend on. On the other hand, there’s a silent difference between Pappy and Kathleen, Gran and Kathleen, Luke and Cowboy.
Each character is stronger or weaker than the other depending on the situation. Just like between Kathleen and Pappy. Pappy is stronger than her because she can’t complain with him. His words are law being the owner of the house and the patriarch. But Kathleen is stronger in her own special ways. She maybe silent and unspoken but what she wants she will certainly have.
The same thing is true with Gran, being her mother-in-law; she pays the needed respect and would not argue with her, in that way Gran is stronger. But Kathleen is stronger because she has gained ownership of the entire garden and has earned her right portion of the kitchen; he has proved her worth and status in the house.
Luke is stronger than Cowboy because he was a Chandler and they owned the house and the cotton farm where Cowboy worked. On the other hand, Cowboy is stronger than Luke because literally, he is older, taller and physically powerful than him.

12. Are there unconscious conflicts within or between characters? How are these conflicts portrayed in the work? Is the Freudian concept of the id-ego-superego applicable?

There is a conflict between Luke’s mother and Pappy. Kathleen wanted the house to be painted and wanted to treat the Mexicans with respect, wanted a more luxurious, better life, but would not openly disagree or complain in front of Pappy. Pappy doesn’t particularly dislike his daughter-in-law but her passion for cleanliness and feminism bothers him.
There is also a conflict between Kathleen and Gran, a silent battle about who must be the queen in the house and their battlefield is the kitchen.
Between Luke and Cowboy, there is a struggle for the love of Tally.
Moreover, a little ego was shown in the story by Pappy who doesn’t want to be seen crying when his son, daughter-in-law and his grandson, Luke were leaving to the North. He would not express what he really wants and would not readily accept changes but if he did, he would not express it at all. He did not want to show others that he is kind or soft-hearted. He thought it as a sign of weakness.

13. Is sexuality or sexual imagery employed in the work? Are there implications of Oedipus complex, pleasure principle or wish fulfilment?

Luke has an immense attachment to his mother, being a 7 year-old boy and the only child in the house, with no brother or a sister to care for. He was raised with the belief that little boys should not keep secrets from their mothers. Having that in mind, he became very much attached to his mother having her as a confidant and a keeper of “some” of his secrets.

14. How do the principal characters view the world around them and other characters in the work? Is that view accurate or distorted?

Luke’s view of the world is of course, in some part, immature. He sees what he wants to see. Play and light work was what he wants, playing baseball, a nap during hard work, eating tootsie roll, listening to gossips, watching Tally while she bathes, learning about women and things she should not have known by his age. But for most of the part, Luke seems to know everything. I think it is impossible for a 7-yr-old child to have such a very broad view of the world around him.
Kathleen view their life as a farmer as something that would lead to no improvement. A better life is waiting for them up there in the North.
A farmer’s life is neither a very low nor odd kind of job nor a very cheap source of living. But in the case of the Chandlers, their farm land was low and was easily flooded. It was not a good land and it would only cause them non-stop and cumulative debts. Therefore, living up North would positively make their life better.

V. Mythological-Archetypal
15. Does the work contain mythic elements in plot, theme, or character? Are there recognizable mythic patterns such as rebirth/fertility, quest/journey, or struggle/return of the hero?
The only thing that happens in the story that seems to be so impossible is the “maturity” of the main character. I think it is a little bit impossible for a 7-yr old child like Luke to have such a very immense view of the world around him. Maybe if the age would be only a little older, the story would be perfect with all its details.

16. Are there archetypal characters, images, or symbols, such as the great mother, the wise old man, the sea, the seasons?
The question is not applicable in the story.

17. Do you find Jungian archetypes, such as shadow, persona, or anima, growth, and individuation?
The only symbolism in the story is that of the house painting which represents the extreme changes in the life of the Chandler family.
With regards to the growth, the plot was revealed starting with the description of the place and the farm life, and then suddenly, little by little suspense was added in the story until it was already the climax. After the climax, the story still run in a fast face and didn’t lose its spice that creates the reader’s anticipation with what might happen next stronger and even better.

VI. Sociological
18. What is the relationship between the work and the society it presents or grew out of? Does it address particular social issues either directly of indirectly-such as race, sex, class, religion, or politics?
There is a little discrimination between the rich and the poor, between those living in rural Arkansas and those from the North. Those from the North thought of the people of Black Oak to be so backward while the people of Black Oak thought of them as somebody who have bad attitudes, they even termed them Yankees which is offensive somehow.
Many believe that being a farmer is a very low and odd kind of job so one should pursue a different career in the North. Gossips too are very popular that it is one of the reasons why people go to church regularly. Luke said that the kids like him really don’t care about the preaching but came about spreading news and gossips.
Grisham was also honest in saying what really happened inside the Church. There are several faults by the preacher and the religion itself that was shown in the story. There are some contradictions with what they taught. One of those was expressed by Luke: “If outlaws like the Siscos could make it heaven, then the pressure was off the rest of us.” He said it after their Sunday school teacher prayed for God to receive the poor boy which is weird because everyone knew that Jerry Sisco went to Hell. They were also for most of the time confused with the Reverend’s sermon.

19. Does the sexual identity of the main character affect the relationships and ultimately the events in the story?
The story was told from the point of view of a little boy. Several events and incidents happen because of the curiosity that is common to most of the little boys. Such as being a witness to several crimes, watching Tally as she take a bath or while Libby was giving birth to a new baby.

20. Finally, does the story, poem, or play lend itself to one of the various interpretative techniques more than the others?
The tone of the novel is a suspense-drama. The author is very careful with the exposition of events especially with the sensitive details having it told by a 7 year-old. The heavy part was there and was clearly felt. The author told the story in a very heart-pounding and thrilling way especially in Luke’s encountering several secrets but still, he was able to keep the boy’s innocence as a child. (I have listed all of Luke’s secrets and I counted twenty-one). He was really good and careful in his handling of Luke’s character. There’s just some part wherein the narration is a little too exhaustively, thorough and mature to be coming from a 7 year-old boy. Anyway, those lapses by the author are forgivable.
Furthermore, what affects me more about Luke was the effect to him of being a witness to Hank’s savage death! In several instances, it is showed clearly that he wanted his nightmare of Hank erased from his memory. There were times where in he fainted and cried without a clear reason. He was most of the time out of his mind as if he is in another world that his parents and grand parents became worried. He also wished it would rain though the picking hasn’t finished yet so Cowboy would be out. He was also afraid of the river because Hank’s body was there. In this part, I really felt nervous for I too feared that somebody would found Hank’s body floating by the river. And if it happened, what would Cowboy do? That thing really scared me.
Overall, the novel is really one of the best Grisham has ever written. In a rank of 1 to 10, I’ll give it a 9!
A Painted HouseA Painted House