God's Little Acre
First edition
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| Author | Erskine Caldwell |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
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Publication date
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1933 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| OCLC | 30624122 |
| 813/.52 20 | |
| LC Class | PS3505.A322 G6 1995 |
God's Little Acre is a 1933 novel by Erskine Caldwell about a dysfunctional farming family in Georgia obsessed with sex and wealth. The novel's sexual themes were so controversial that the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice asked a New York state court to censor it. The novel was made into a film of the same name in 1958. Though controversial, the novel became an international best seller with over 10 million copies sold. The novel is Caldwell's most popular novel, though Caldwell's reputation is often tied to Tobacco Road (novel) which was listed in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels.
Ty Ty Walden is a widower who owns a small farm in Georgia, just across the border from South Carolina. His daughter, Rosamund, is married to Will Thompson, a worker in a cotton textile mill. Another daughter, whom everyone in the novel refers to as Darling Jill, is unmarried. His son, Buck Walden, is married to the beautiful Griselda. Buck and Griselda live on the farm with Ty Ty, and along with Ty Ty's other (unmarried) son, Shaw.
Ty Ty is obsessed with finding gold on his land. Ty Ty, Buck, and Shaw spend their entire time digging holes on the farm. Ty Ty has promised to donate any profits generated by a 1-acre (4,000 m2) parcel of the farm to the church, but is terrified that gold will be found on "God's acre". So he keeps moving the acre around. Only two African American hired hands, Uncle Felix and Black Sam, do any farming on the property, and the Waldens largely live off loans and what little income Felix and Sam generate.
Another important character is Pluto Swint, an obese and lazy farmer seeking election as county sheriff. Pluto sexually desires and wants to marry Darling Jill, who constantly humiliates him. The novel is told from a third-person perspective.
The novel is set in the early 1930s. The local union of mill workers was locked out by management 18 months ago after they protested against a wage cut. Extensive poverty now afflicts the towns of Scottsville and Clark's Mill and the Horse Creek Valley (where the Waldens live). Will fantasizes about entering the mill and turning on the power again to bring employment back to the townspeople.
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