Strange As This Weather Has Been Analysis

Ann Pancakes novel Strange as This Weather Has Been focuses on a hopelessness found with Appalachian strip mining. The quotes that seemed to convey her argument were spoken by both Lace and Bant. Both of these characters had a very deep connection to the land and felt strongly about its destruction. The first quote is from when Lace goes to Trout with Charlie; she explained “a big paintless boarded-up store still plastered with faded ads going clear back to the ‘50s. The collapsing houses, some help standing only by kudzu vines, and the concrete steps leading to concrete foundations with nothing on top” (306-7). Bant spoke both of the other two quotes. “And the land. Under me, dead, gone, buried, me thinking, crucified, dead, and buried, the

The story is focusing on a general loss of innocence not just of Lace but also Jimmy and each of their kids. It was very obvious that Lace and Jimmy grew up early after having their kids very early in life. The loss that stood out the most to me though was the one Bant experienced. How To Read Literature Like A Professor chapter seventeen explains “You just know that these sense mean something more than what’s going on in them. It’s true in life as well, where sex can be pleasure, sacrifice, submission, domination, enlightenment, the whole works” (158). Bant losing her virginity symbolized her loss of innocence. “Me forced up against the passenger door, the window handle in my back, the armrest, too, and he felt like a muscle between my legs” (324). She not only lost her virginity but also her hope in people. She had made a deal with R.L. to take her to see what was on top of the hill at the mine after they did it and he did not follow through. Corey’s loss of innocence was through the fourwheeler he had always dreamed about. His loss was not necessarily his death but rather the idea that he could get hurt and was invincible like he once though. Tommy watching Corey die was when he grew up. “Now Tommy is screaming in a way Dane has never heard before, deeper and louder than any little kid should be able to scream, moan in it, and Dane, still not moving strains his eyes into the surface of the pond, clouded and boiling-- and Dane’s insides finally go” (343). Dane was not helped by watching Corey’s death but he was already less innocent than the rest. He was constantly worried about the end of the world and he knew he was different and his own little brothers would slur gay names at