Mudbound Annotation:
Novel Summary: In this book two families lives are changed by the events of one night Laura thought that she would never get married, but soon finds herself as a wife and mother living on a farm. Dealing with the mud a rough father-in-law, and a drunken brother-in-law haunted by what he has seen and done in the war. At the same time Florence is fighting racism on herself and her family. They both end up dealing with these problems in their own lives. After their marriage, they start a family in Memphis with two daughters, they are happy together until WW2 causes Laura’s brothers to be killed . After the war ends, Henry’s brother-in-law kills himself because of this Henry decides they need to move he buys a farm in Mississippi so they can help look after his sister. Laura doesn’t want to move if she left Memphis it would mean leaving her family she also doesn’t want to live on a farm either but Henry tells her that he bought a rental house in Marietta so she doesn’t have to live on the farm. When they get to memphis the rental house is a scam and they have to live on the farm without water or electricity. What makes this change more difficult is that Henry brings his father to live with them and he doesn’t get along with everyone. When Henry and Laura arrive at the farm they buy a tractor and tell everyone else to get off the farm as they dont need help anymore. Laura becomes friends with Florence Jackson but this creates tension because Henry’s father doesn’t think of black as equal. When Florence husband Hap breaks his leg Florence has to work and leave Laura. Henry’s other brother James stays with them at the same time Florence’s son returns from World War 2. Jamie has PTSD and drinks to calm his nerves from the war he becomes more and more depressed and becomes friends with Ronsel. Together they drink a lot. When Pappy Henrys father sees Ronsel in the front seat of the farm truck he gets angry. He finds out that Ronsel was a father to a white child and decides that he will put together a lynch mob to punish Ronsel. Jamie tries to stop them but they end up forcing him to choose a punishment for Ronsel. Ronsel then gets his tongue cut out by the mob. Florence discovers this and seeks revenge, but Jamie ends up killing Pappy. There are lots of themes including racism which is all throughout the work and inequality as the whites didn’t find the blacks equal and they didn’t think of them as humans. The family theme is also in the book as there are lots of family ties in the book.

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The Marrow of Tradition:
This book is about Olivia Carteret who is having a child early the nurse tells Olivia how her family history of being servants. At the party the Carterests and Mr. Delamere talk about the the negro race and how they want to get rid of them. Dodie Carterest swallows a piece of a rattle and his breathing is affected as the family calls in a specialist the specialist invites one of his old students who is black into the house for the surgery on Dodie. Just as hes about to start the surgery Dodie coughs up the rattle from his throats. The Carterets are ready to lynch the student as they then decide to be patient and wait for the right time. Tom proposes to Clara and wants to marry her. Clara plays with Dodie and accidentally swings him out of the window but Olivia and Mammy are able to pick him back up out of the window. A few mornings later Dr. Miller helps Josh Green who has a broken arm. Josh tells him that Captain McBane killed his father during a Ku Klux Klan lynching and that he wants to kill McBane for that Miller warns Josh not to do anything but Green doesn’t listen. Mr. Ellis recongnizes Tom Delamere impersonating his uncles servant the real Sandy is accused of participating in the cakewalk and is kicked out of his church. While visiting her Aunt Polly Ochiltree Mrs Ochiltree begins to tell her about how she saved her money by scaring away Julia from her house. Julia was married to Olivias father when he died Polly stole the papers that might have proved the marriage. Julia and her child Janet were banned from the house. Tom and Mcbane play cards as Mcbane gets Tom drunk on purpose and ends up winning $1000 from him and the next day, Mcbane tells Tom that he can pay him back by workking at the Clarendon Club. Tom tries to play cards, but is caught cheating as he leaves and ends up borrowing $50 from Sandy. Later Sandy finishes his chores and decides to go out and spend the evening with a friend. He ends up meeting Josh Green who takes him drinking as he returns home he thought that he saw a ghost. Sandy then goes up to Toms room and asks him if he has seen anything strange. Tom tells him no and then pays him back his fifty dollars in coins. The next morning Polly Ochiltree is found dead and robbed. Olivia Carteret rushes over the house and finds the papers that her Aunt had mentioned. The black community is blamed as Sandy is taken in and accused of killing her the Major plans a lynching for Sandy. Tom Delamere finds out that his nephew is responsible for the murder as Delamere lies and tells everyone that Sandy was with him at the time of the murder. The Wellington riot begins at 3pm and white men begin stopping and beating any black man they see. Dr Miller hears of the riot and races into town to find his family and is stopped until Mr Ellis goes with him across town. As he searches the town he cant find his family anywhere among the dead bodies. After the riot ends Carteret returns home and finds that his own child has become ill and no doctor or medicine is available because of the riot. A young medical student tells Carteret that the child needs surgery and that Dr Miller is the only doctor in town that can perform the procedure. Carteret goes to Millers house and and begs him to help but Miller shows him the body of his own dead child killed in the riot and tells Carteret that ‘justice prevents him from helping’. Hearing this news Olivia Carteret runs to Millers house and yells at her sister. She shows an angry passion as she allows her husband to go to go help the kid.