Conflict And Conflicts In Storming Heaven By Denise Giardina

In the midst of a war, how people interact with others from different cultures or within their own, may be their making or breaking point. In the book Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina and in the movie Matewan, it is clear to see how the miners have conflicts with the coal company, the scabs, and with themselves, and how the miners unite within themselves and with the others. Each of these interactions, both bad and good, impact the fight for the miner’s basic human rights against the company men. The first three-quarters of the book are filled with conflict as people try to figure out what is going on, how to deal with their problems, and who their friends are. The miners realize that they need to stand up and do something to protect themselves …show more content…
Since the company people, like Davidson’s wife, were raised with a large amount of money and a quality education, they notice how the miners live and degraded them for it. The problem with this is that the miners do not have money and cannot afford an education, because the same people who are degrading them are their bosses and they keep treating them horribly, stealing their land, and forcing them into debt. Which causes the miners to be constrained to their life style. Plus, the miners may not have had a fancy education, but they were very knowledgeable in other areas like the land and how to work it. An example from the movie Matewan is when Griggs told Bridey Mae “You are the best-looking …show more content…
In the book, Miles was notorious for this. When speaking about education, he said it was “To prepare mountain youth to take their place in the modern world” (Giardina 60). In this one statement, he belittled his own kind for being uneducated, slow, and underdeveloped. Not only did he hurt them with his words, he also worked with the business going against them to steal their land in a way that Lloyd called “legal, but sinful as hell” (Giardina 105). To further the discussion of being betrayed by a friend, in the movie, C.E. Lively was a spy and convinced Bridey Mae to lie about being attacked to coax the miners into turning on each other. This scandal ran deep because not only did he go against his companions, but he turned the rest of the miners against Joe Kenehan and manipulated them into killing Joe. These inside battles created distractions and steered them away from their goals and fight against the coal companies. It created weaknesses, so that as Joe Kenehan said “The tiniest spark at the wrong time could be the end of [them]”