The+Change+of+Heart


 * The Big Questions: How does this chapter fit the novel as a whole / Why is it important / What should a good reader take away from this chapter?**

The main action in this chapter, the huge storm, was very symbolic and provided foreshadowing for the rest of the novel. Namely, though, it foreshadowed Johnson's death. To elaborate, the storm trapped the closest friends in the novel (Joe Robert, Johnson, and Jess) in a state of panic and fear as it threatened to tear apart their crops. Jess even says, "We felt helpless, as if we stood by a friend's deathbed"(p.71) which is clearly similar to their situation later in the book. Specifically, Johnson's death had this very same effect on Joe Robert and Jess, as evidenced in "The Telegram". The way that Jess described his family's struggle with the telegram was similar to the helplessness that they felt during the storm. Jess says that the telegraph and their inability to remove it caused his family "so much pain and fear" (p. 95), which are the similar to the emotions that Joe Robert and Jess felt as they stood at the edge of the storm in "The Change of Heart", knowing it would destroy their farm. Furthermore, during this chapter Jess recounts that something strange happened to Johnson during the storm. He says that Johnson "was some part of the storm now, or a further element the storm was trying to become, an extension of itself both human and inhuman. Johnson was another kind of presence than a man"(p.71). This passage serves as strong foreshadowing to Johnson's death because it describes him separating from Joe Robert and Jess, leaving his human self behind, and becoming something more than a man. Curiously though, when Jess finally asks Johnson about that night, Johnson acts as though it never happened. After Jess asks him if he remembers what went on during the storm, Johnson says, "Sure, I remember. How'm I going to forget that? We're just lucky it didn't ruin the whole crop and put us plumb out of business" (p.72). So, Johnson either remembers nothing about his experience in the barn or is choosing to deny it ever happened. This chapter has too many Johnson-centric occurrences and symbolic events to be ignored, which is why it is so important to the novel. A good reader should recognize these parts of the book as foreshadowing and be able to relate them to "The Telegram" (after having read both "The Change of Heart" and "The Telegram"). (Woodham)

**Important Quotes (and commentary)**
 * "'I'm as good as the next man,' [Joe Robert] said. 'Who's to say God favors that Canary over me? God might take a notion to talk to me any minute now.'"
 * This is important foreshadowing for the next part of the chapter."
 * "You wouldn't know how to hear. . .You got a good heart, Joe Robert, nobody's got a better. But you ain't come to serious manhood yet. You ain't ready for any meeting with your Lord. You are too flibberty and not contrite." (p. 68)
 * Joe Robert was talking to his mother about people's claims of visions of God, when he begins to wonder aloud about why God has never appeared to him in a vision. She tells him that he has never had a vision, and is not ready to have one. Her statement about how he still has not reached manhood, describes him perfectly and provides good insight on how other characters view his actions. He argues with her like a child, jokes like a child, and acts like a child in basically everything he does. (M Usey)
 * "My grandmother was not privy to the mind of God, and her information about this subject was faulty. I came to find out over the years that much of her wisdom was unsound. . ." (p.68)
 * This shows that Jess finds out many years later that some of the things his grandmother said were not completely true. At first when I read this passage, I skipped over the meaning. Only later did I discover that Jess revealed a huge void in the things his grandmother said and did. While some of her wisdom may not have been very trustworthy, it did seem like she knew a little more than the other characters. For example, when Joe Robert and Jess disturb Uncle Gurton and cause his beard to grow magically long and spill out of the windows into the yard, grandmother is waiting angrily outside for them. When she asks them what they have been up to, they reply that they just wanted to see Uncle Gurton's beard. "She clucked her tongue. 'Well, do you think you've seen enough of it?" It is obvious that the grandmother knew about the magical powers of Uncle Gurton's beard, and it makes me wonder what other things she knew. (M Usey)

**Moments of astonishingly good writing**


 * "Mr. Cambell;s face turned scarlet and the edges of his lips white. But he wasn't going to say anything; he fortified himself, clenched like a fist, like a rock in the wind, not to be swayed, not to be angered. We could see that he was going to resist in silence, and silent resistance must have been torture for him, so counter to his nature that this present situation would be his hell, and not any burning pit."
 * I thought this paragraph showed great imagery of Mr. Cambell's anger when he was fighting with Canary. (Sanders)
 * After reading this, I realized that Mr. Campbell is very similar to Jesus, which is ironic because Canary continuously tells him he is un-Godly and going to hell. Jesus was constantly told by the people of his time that he was going against God and Mr. Campbell was told the same by the people of the small mountain town (mainly Canary). Both Jesus and Mr. Campbell took their tormenting in silence, refusing to resort to violence or mean words to fight back. While their actions were very different (Jesus was harassed for showing love and compassion to all, and Mr. Campbell was just always getting drunk), they both possess the uncommon trait of being able to resist fighting back. (M Usey)
 * "It was hard to take in. I thought of Uncle Luden lying snug in bed, snoring through his whiskey and of Johnson ranging out out in the black downpour. Everybody's gone and lost their minds, I thought, unless it's some kind of rusty they didn't let me in on. That was the likeliest explanation, and I began to reflect bitterly once more how they never let me know nothing."
 * I like this paragragh because it flows nicely and it give good detail about jess and his way of thinking. (Rollins)