A Land More Kind Than Home Analysis

In Wiley Cash’s, A Land More Kind than Home, Julie Hall is the mother of Christopher and Jess Hall and the wife of Ben Hall. She is a young woman who used to be beautiful, use to love her husband, and use to be a good mother. But can those same statements hold true at the end of the novel? No, Julie is none of those things anymore. She is anything but. A mother is someone who loves unconditionally and always puts her children before her own selfish agenda. A good wife is a woman who loves and respects her husband. They are equals on the journey of life together. Julie Hall, according to Adelaide Lyle, was once a loving and devoted wife. But, “If somebody would have wanted to, after Christopher was born, they could’ve just stood by and watched Julie and Ben grow apart from each other real slow. It was like a tree had sprung up between them, a tree that was just too thick to throw their arms around. Julie had always been a strong Christian woman, and she got herself believing that her little boy’s being touched was a gift from God. But Ben wasn’t no mystic about it… (Cash 215)” This was only made worse by the arrival of …show more content…
This also happened to be the day after Ben had discovered from Jess that Julie was an adulterer. It was the last straw and Ben killed Chambliss where he sat in his car and then blew half of Julie’s hand off before Clem shot Ben for fear of him shooting Jess. After Ben’s death and Julie’s recovery she also left Jess with Ben’s father, Jimmy, a drunk in recovery whom Jess had only known since the night of Christopher’s murder. In no way would Jess have had a more stable childhood growing up with a mother like Julie who put her own selfish needs in front of her families, but what can be said for a woman who would leave her son after he has witnessed so much death and tragedy? Nothing good and she deserves nothing more than