How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Two years ago bulldozers had come to make a cut at the top of Sarah's Mountain. They began uprooting trees and pushing subsoil in a huge pile to get at the coal. As the pile grew enormous, so had M.C.'s fear of it. (1.100)
Nothing says change quite like bulldozers cutting a mountaintop down for some coal. It's like industrialization has finally come to the Higgins (even though it's the 1960s).
Quote #2
"Oh," M.C. said, and then: "Are her greens any good this year?"
"Nothing's any good this year," Ben replied. "My daddy says it will get worse with mining going on everywhere." (1.92-93)
The fact that the Killburns' greens are going bad is another way to see the change strip-mining brings. It's also a deeper way of understanding that change since the mining alters even the quality of food the Killburns eat. They may more or less be organic farmers, but what good is it all when the strip-mining ruins the very water and soil used for farming?
Quote #3
"Anyhow, here's the part you're waiting for: He had on some of the prettiest boots I ever did see. A real baby-soft leather, man, and shining like two black stars."
"And the hat was leather, too?" M.C. asked.
"The hat was suede," Ben said. "And the jacket was suede, too. And the pants must of cost more than thirty dollars." They sat above the stream in awed silence, with great, still trees leaning near. (1.115-118)
That's James Lewis the boys are talking about. Everything about him does seem to signal change, but the irony is that James Lewis doesn't really bring change at all. He's all about not changing anything, and his recordings are about preserving the folk songs of the Appalachians. Nothing else.