Ecology of a Cracker Childhood

Ray relates a series of anecdotes connected to the Altamaha River, a large river which runs near Baxley. When Ray is a three-month-old, her parents take her on a boat trip along the Altamaha River. The boat capsizes and Ray falls into the water, but her father quickly swims and saves her. On another occasion, Ray’s father brings the family to visit some friends who live on a houseboat in the river. Ray’s brother Steve falls in the water, and Daddy again quickly jumps into the water and saves Steve. Ray sees these anecdotes as illustrative of her father’s intense desire to protect his children. Ray believes that such a desire is motivated by Daddy’s intense fear of “losing one of [his children]” leading Daddy to guard Ray and her siblings “exactly like a warden” (227). Daddy rarely leaves the children alone, and he teaches them how to use a gun so that they may protect themselves if there is ever an intruder.

During the summer before Ray leaves for college, she goes on a rafting trip with her Daddy and Steve along the Altamaha. For years, Daddy has dreamed of rafting the entire Altamaha river “as the early raftsmen had done, on a boat without a motor” (231).