Tobacco Road Essay Example

to even consider leaving the land, even if it means starvation. He hopefully burns the fields each spring, waiting for salvation to intervene and allow him to find the means to plant again. But many of his children have succumbed to reality, and have left the farm for the city and steady work. Jeeter’s love of the land contrasts with his daughter Pearl, one of the few remaining children left nearby, who hopes for a brighter future in this bleak landscape, but through different dreams.

She looks forward to the city, as a place where girls “were laughing and carefree. ” Jeeter can only look backwards to a world slipping away, unable or unwilling to evolve, while her hopes rest on leaving the sand ridge for Augusta and a better life. Both share hope for a better future in this bleak landscape, but with unique visions of how this can be achieved. While Caldwell’s characterization of the rural poor as individuals is dramatized, his depiction of the conditions they faced is not.

Through Jeeter’s experiences, the author suggests their situation was a “man-made calamity” which was “brought about by other people” (Caldwell 51). He recounts how the Lester land, passed down through generations, became less and less productive as cotton depleted the soil. Eventually, more and more of the property was sold to pay for taxes until it was finally foreclosed on, leaving the Lester family as tenant farmers. When the landlord moved to Augusta, Jeeter was left with no credit for purchasing materials for planting, and with no knowledge of more efficient, modern farming methods.

The book’s portrayal of the Lester

family boarders on dark humor, yet Caldwell intermingles this with forthright commentary concerning the prevailing economic realities of the time. Caldwell describes the loan companies as the “sharpest people” (Caldwell 90) that Jeeter had ever dealt with. The interest on the loans, compounding when Jeeter was unable to pay, left the tenant farmer with virtually nothing to show for his efforts at the end of the season, perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

Jeeter blames the rich folks of Augusta for his woes, claiming they are “bleeding us poor people to death” (Caldwell 92) and would merely sneer at his complaints before driving off in their fancy cars. In the end, Jeeter and his family met a fairly predictable fate, an early death which goes unmourned. Although the possibility for survival existed if Jeeter was willing to go to work in the city, he felt it was his right to remain tethered to land and work it, even if such gallant and noble sentiments resulted in death.

Viewed through the prism of current events, Caldwell’s work seems prophetic. The Lester family, as many families have in recent years, suffered at the hands of the unscrupulous and powerful, part of the loser class in a winner-take-all society. While it might be easy to laugh at the Lester’s for their backward ways, the novel serves as a potent reminder that without fair play and concern for those at America’s margins, we diminish ourselves. Caldwell holds up a mirror for us all, and when we see the Lester family as the reflection, perhaps it is time to assess our priorities as a nation.