A Painted House

Having established in the opening section how these characters strictly adhere to traditional gender roles, Grisham in this section explores the sexism that results from adherence to these roles. When Gran and Luke’s mother go to the Latchers’ to help deliver Libby’s child, Pappy and Luke eat leftovers at home. When they place their dirty dishes in the sink, Luke notes that “Pappy would never consider washing them; that was work for the women” (159). This notion of “women’s work” creates a paradigm in which women are restricted in how they are allowed to contribute to society and, in turn, what their mobility in such a society can look like. It also suggests that the work women do must always be subordinated to the work done by the men in their lives. This mindset has dangerous outcomes for some of the women in the novel. Later in this section, after Hank lays out his plan to follow Samson and Delilah around the country, making his money by defeating Samson in the boxing ring, he tells a friend, “He’s the world’s greatest wrestler, straight from Egypt. Samson fears no man. Hell, I might even take his woman, too. She looked pretty good, didn’t she?” (228). Here, Hank suggests that by usurping Samson’s work, he also gains the right to be with Delilah, Samson’s partner. Hank’s behavior intersects with Navigating Patriarchal Violence in that he expects his violence to be rewarded with Delilah as a sort of trophy. Hank’s physical objectification of Delilah is fitting because this statement reveals that he sees Delilah as a possession of Samson’s—an object that Samson loses the right to “own” when his masculinity and capacity for violence are superseded by Hank’s. This language of possession and objectification offers a lens into how Black Oak views and treats the women who live there.

The troubling gender dynamics of Black Oak go hand in hand with repressive and often contradictory attitudes toward sex. Throughout this section of the novel, the prospect of sex—especially sex outside the bounds of Christian marriage—is ever-present: Hank boasts about “taking” Delilah; Libby gives birth out of wedlock; and Luke watches Cowboy and Tally surreptitiously meet in the fields. Despite its ubiquity, sex is treated as forbidden, a dark underbelly to life in Black Oak that is only ever broached in whispered gossip. This characterization of premarital sex as something that happens but must never be discussed might be attributed to Luke’s narration: He is young enough that he’s just beginning to make sense of what sex is and what roles it plays in the lives of adults. Luke’s visit to the carnival, though, suggests that this blinkered approach to sexuality is also part of the adults’ reality. Upon seeing a tent harboring sex workers, Luke says, “Never go to a girlie show in your hometown was the unwritten rule. Drive to Monette or Lake City, but don’t do it in Black Oak” (194). The way in which Ricky and the other men in town interact with these “girlie shows” embodies Black Oak’s attitude toward sex: It is highly desired but a source of shame; a routine aspect of life that is also met with punishment outside of Christian marriage. That both men and women are shamed by their community for sex outside of marriage seems at odds with the toxic masculinity the community accepts, but the standard for men is about appearances only: The “girlie shows” are acceptable for the men as long as they attend them outside their hometown.

This combination of repressive attitudes toward premarital sex and sexist treatment of women places Libby Latcher in a difficult position in this section of the book. When Libby reveals that Ricky is the father, the Chandlers deny that Ricky even knew Libby; the Latchers insist that only Ricky could be responsible. Mr. Latcher even insists that “Ricky had forced himself on her, that she didn’t want the baby” (184). Ricky Chandler is never outright accused of having raped Libby (and Libby reveals later that she consensually had sex with Ricky), but Mr. Latcher repeatedly insinuates that she might have been raped. The lack of direct language about rape/assault might represent Mr. Latcher’s attempt to make his case without upsetting Pappy. Mr. Latcher’s phrasing might also speak, though, to a lack of language available to discuss violence against women in a society that refuses to speak about sex and that views women as property.