| A Painted House is the story of a young boy living in Arkansas in 1952. The harvest comes and it's time to pick cotton. The Mexicans and the Hill People come to pick for money. One of the Hill People's name is Hank. He gets in a fight one Saturday behind a store. He kills one of the kids, but it was a three-on-one. Hank then goes to a carnival and decides to take a bet. A guy named Samson, the best wrestler all the way from Egypt, comes and says, "If you can stay in the ring with me for 60 seconds, I will give you ten times your bet." He throws a whole bunch of people out of the ring, until Hank comes. Hank bets him $25. He ends 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, gets a crush on a hill girl named Tally. He sees her naked bathing in the creek. Then, one day he sees Tally and Cowboy, one of the Mexicans, Hiding in the rows of cotton. He doesn't know what they're doing, but he thinks they're kissing. Then, one night he sees Mr. Spruill, the head hill person, tell Hank that he needs to hitchhike home because he was causing too many problems. Hank starts to leave. Then, Luke sees Cowboy walking outside. He gets suspicious and follows. He then witnesses Cowboy killing Hank with his switchblade and stealing his money. He then threw him into the creek. Then, there are terrible floods. Later, they figure out who was painting their house, Trot, the one-armed Hill person. Cowboy and Tally run up North forever. The floods hurt the cotton crop. There is a total waste of cotton. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book? - depressed Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's Kids growing up/acting up? Yes Kids: - struggling to earn a living to survive Poverty, surviving Yes Kind of living: - farm poverty Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - a kid Ethnicity/Nationality Main Adversary Identity: - natural phenomena Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 10 () United States Yes The US: - Deep South Farm/Ranch? Yes Farm/Ranch: - farm - lot of descript of crop raising Small town? Yes Small town people: - very gullible, like Gomer Pyle Writing Style Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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