How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
His father, finding him exhausted, vomiting on the river bank: "You think that river is some mud puddle you can wade right into without a thought?" And then, his father beating him with his belt: "A boat wouldn't go into that water not knowing how the currents run. (Whack!) I'm not saying you can't swim it (Whack!), as good a swimmer as you are. (Whack!) But you have to study it, you have to practice. You have to know you're ready. (Whack-whack-whack!) I'll even give you a prize, anything that won't cost me to spend some money. (Wham!)" (1.28)
If you can read past the violence in this scene, it's worth examining exactly why Jones is beating M.C. He wants M.C. to respect the river—to "study it" and "to practice" before M.C. goes jumping into the Ohio. Whether the whole deal deserves a beating, we'll leave up to you. But M.C. definitely does learn the Ohio enough to swim it eventually…
Quote #2
"Vines are thick," he had told Ben. "You get your daddy and your uncles to cut them and make a weave."
He told Ben that wood posts had to go in solid ground on each side of the ravine. He told how to soak the vines, then loop them at the top and bottom of each post, and how to weave the vines so they'd stay tight. How to tie them.
I figured it, M.C. thought, admiring the simple lattice weave of the bridge. (1.45-47)
M.C. isn't just a guy who likes to blend in with nature—he also knows how to work with nature to engineer man-made necessities, like this bridge he gets Ben to convince the Killburns to make. It shows M.C.'s resourcefulness, which comes from his respect and knowledge of nature. Think of his bridge as a model for eco-friendly building.
Quote #3
"Nothing's any good this year," Ben replied. "My daddy says it will get worse with mining going on everywhere."
"What does mining have to do with your mama's vegetables?" M.C. asked.
Ben was silent a moment, as if he didn't want to talk about it.
Reluctantly, he said, "Well, Daddy and Uncle Joe went for miles north and east following the coal seam, looking for mining cuts. They didn't go to Sarah's Mountain because of what your daddy might do. But wherever else, they lay hands on cuts…" (1.93-96)
There are other story lines going on in this novel, but this is really the main one, the one that's most important to M.C. and Ben's lives. Strip-mining is ruining Sarah's Mountain and nothing is stopping the process, not even the Killburns' magic.