Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Reckoning & Religion in Lee Smith’s Saving Grace
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Growing up is never easy, but those who grow up in isolated areas such as the hollers of the Appalachians often face exacerbated complications. Poverty, prejudice, rugged living conditions, and superstitions prevail. Due to the cultural and ethnic diversity within the Appalachian Mountains, determining one’s sense of self becomes a tenuous journey for the youth. In Lee Smith’s Saving Grace, the protagonist, Florida Grace, has a hard road to hoe; growing up penniless in a family that ignores her needs is challenging enough. More troubling, she is coming to terms with a religion that leaves her hungry, hopeless, and bitter. As the daughter of a fire-and-brimstone, poison-snake handling preacher who believes in following God yet, in the process, lets his entire family go to hell, she struggles when she cannot love the God her father serves. Amidst the healing, speaking in tongues, raising the dead, and surviving multiple bites from poisonous snakes, growing Grace finds her heart hardened against the God who leads her father. The death-defying acts her parents take part in terrify her. His shenanigans both embarrass her and bring her shame: “Daddy did all of this, I understood, because Jesus required it of him” (Smith 24). She hates Jesus. She hates the retribution that comes from rejecting the religion. Though she manages to escape from home, she cannot escape her past, her upbringing—even the religion that she has learned to hate. The mountains beckon to her. Grace finds that no matter how traumatic the experiences of one’s youth, the misty mountains of the Appalachian always call the wanderer back home. (Smith, Lee. Saving Grace. New York: Putnam, 1995. Print.)
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Virginia Payne Dow is currently a Ph.D. student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She finished her doctoral course work in Literature and Criticism and is currently working on her dissertation, focusing on transatlantic studies. Dow teaches English full-time as Assistant Professor at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Reckoning & Religion in Lee Smith’s Saving Grace
Growing up is never easy, but those who grow up in isolated areas such as the hollers of the Appalachians often face exacerbated complications. Poverty, prejudice, rugged living conditions, and superstitions prevail. Due to the cultural and ethnic diversity within the Appalachian Mountains, determining one’s sense of self becomes a tenuous journey for the youth. In Lee Smith’s Saving Grace, the protagonist, Florida Grace, has a hard road to hoe; growing up penniless in a family that ignores her needs is challenging enough. More troubling, she is coming to terms with a religion that leaves her hungry, hopeless, and bitter. As the daughter of a fire-and-brimstone, poison-snake handling preacher who believes in following God yet, in the process, lets his entire family go to hell, she struggles when she cannot love the God her father serves. Amidst the healing, speaking in tongues, raising the dead, and surviving multiple bites from poisonous snakes, growing Grace finds her heart hardened against the God who leads her father. The death-defying acts her parents take part in terrify her. His shenanigans both embarrass her and bring her shame: “Daddy did all of this, I understood, because Jesus required it of him” (Smith 24). She hates Jesus. She hates the retribution that comes from rejecting the religion. Though she manages to escape from home, she cannot escape her past, her upbringing—even the religion that she has learned to hate. The mountains beckon to her. Grace finds that no matter how traumatic the experiences of one’s youth, the misty mountains of the Appalachian always call the wanderer back home. (Smith, Lee. Saving Grace. New York: Putnam, 1995. Print.)
