13 The Farm in the Clearing


  1. Allegory is defined as a story that represents abstract ideas or moral qualities. As such, an allegory has both a literal level and a symbolic level of meaning. Assume that the story about the farm in this chapter is an allegory representing Reconstruction, which is the process that occurred after the Civil War to reorganize the Southern states and reestablish them in the Union. What might each of the following characters in the story represent?
    • the one-legged man
    • the union soldier with the yellow stripes
    • Granpa
    • the Regulators
    • the old black man
    • the private
  1. What political statement might Carter by making with this allegory? Hint: In the last paragraph the body of the sergeant is clutching a handful of black dirt.
  2. What is this chapter, about Granpa’s youth, called?