Growing Up

Baker’s father, Benny, is drafted in 1918 but discharged for physical disability. He has diabetes. Insulin is discovered in 1921, but medicine does not reach Benny’s “backcountry America” (4) until much later. Serious illnesses are treated with prayer, folk remedies, and witch-doctoring. People routinely die of preventable diseases. Baker says death is common and not treated with disgust, as it is in the modern world.

Benny has bouts of sobriety but cannot stay away from alcohol, though it makes him ill, which infuriates Lucy. Baker recalls Benny returning home drunk with a gift for Doris. Lucy screams at him, throws the toy into the yard, and says she would leave him if she could. Benny quietly accepts her abuse. Baker also remembers happy moments, such as lying between his parents on a warm summer night when he is four. When he struggles with reading, Lucy is frustrated, but Benny patiently encourages him.

Baker describes the countryside and its people as remaining unchanged for generations. Roaming the fields as a child, he learns to interpret sounds—a creaking porch swing means a breeze is blowing, a swishing horsetail means horseflies are out in force. Men do backbreaking work in the fields, and women do the same at home, without the benefit of electricity, gas, plumbing, or central heating.