Mudbound - Hillary Jordan

Mudbound, Hillary Jordan

Mudbound is a novel that explicitly addresses many controversial issues such as infidelity, war, sexuality and racism. But for me the most important topic is much more implicit, and is given through the name of the farm, "Mudbound", Also used as the title of the novel, it describes perfectly the problem faced by every single character. In their own way, they are all trapped in situations they have to deal with whether they like it or not. The fact that they all take a hold on themselves and make such sacrifices made me decide to gain insight into each protagonist's perspective and try to understand what keep them from leaving this place.

henry:

To begin with, we should talk about the character whom started everything by his desire to move to Mudbound, Henry. His case really differs from the others because it is not a physical but a mental "emprisonment". Henry is a prisoner of his own dream, and unlike the other characters, he is not aware of being trapped in this farm. That is to say that he does not see anything else than Mudbound, he is so obsessed with all the work that needs to be done there that he does not even see that his own wife is not happy in this environment. Living there makes him become withdrawnn on himself and act differently from the man Laura fell in love with in the first place. I wouldn't say he is selfish because he does not do it on purpose but the fact that he has a one-track mind to live there still hurts the love of his life as Laura says, "I would see him standing at the edge of the fields with his hands in his pockets, looking out over the land with fierce pride of possession, and think, He's never looked at me like that, not once". (95)

But like all the other protagonists, she "has" to stay...

laura :

Since Laura is always unashamedly complaining about how much she hates living there, she is obvisouly the character who suffers the most with being stuck in Mudbound. As she had always lived in a city, she hated the simple idea of moving to a farm but did it because she knew it was her husband's dream. Moreover, since she was supposed to live in a house with the girls while Henry would be working on the farm, the disappointmen was even bigger when she realized she would have to stay at Mudbound for a while before she could go back to a more civilized lifestyle. But she never said a word to him about it, she kept all her thoughts for herself the whole time, which makes it even harder to live a place she hates where she can't express her feelings for fear that it would hurt her family, as she moans, "For the children's sakes, and for the sake of my marriage, I hid my feelings, maintaining a desperate cheerfulness". (95) This is why until Jamie comes back, the only presence of an other women in her house helps Laura taking a hold on herself, especially since Florence has the same problems and even more than her...

florence:

Not only Florence lives at Mudbound, but she also has to work at the McAllans' house. Having to deal with someone as racist as Pappy is everyday makes it particularly hard for her to work in such an environment. Since the first time she met him she knew she could not trust this old man as she said, "There was something bout them eyes of his, gave me the willies whenever they was on me". (86) On top of that, when her husband gets hurt and cannot work anymore she has to replace him and work everyday in the fields. No woman would like to do such a thing but she does it without ever complaining because she knows that is in the best interest of her family to do so. All she has to do is work and pray for ronsel to come back as soon as possible to help in the farm. Even though Florence does not like Mudbound and the people living in this area at all, she is stuck there because she wants to help her husband reaching his goals..

Hap :

Since he enjoys the farm life, living at Mudbound is not something painful for Hap, but this is not exactly what he yearns for. Despite slavery no longer exists in the form he knew, Hap and his family are not free and still have lower living conditions than white people. What makes me say that he is trapped too is the fact that he is just a sharecropper and the value of his work is determined by Henry. It is even more explicit after an accident unables him to work and the fact that he lost a