38 pages • 1 hour read
Dennis CovingtonSalvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1995A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 4-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “Under the Brush Arbor”
In the spring of 1992, J.L. Dyal builds a brush arbor in a field behind his house in the Sand Mountain town of Section for himself, Carl Porter, and a man named Charles McGlocklin to lead services there. Carl invites Covington to attend these services, which had been commonplace in the rural South near the turn of the 18th century, with a sit-in in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, becoming the prototype for revivalism and a heavy influence on Pentecostalism. Covington brings two photographers, Jim Neel and Melissa Springer, to the service. Carl’s sermon centers on the topic of God’s love, while Charles’s focuses on their current need to “set [their] house in order” (83), and everyone responds with enthusiasm. That night, Covington witnesses Aline taking up the Spirit, which he finds intimate and moving. His participation on the tambourine causes everyone to begin to refer to him as Brother Dennis.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Jolo”
By the end of the summer, Covington has spent more time around the handlers and feels more comfortable around them; in fact, he and his two photographers, Jim and Melissa, begin to feel restless in Birmingham. As the brush arbor meetings will also be coming to a close due to changing weather conditions, the group is keen to travel with the congregation outside of Alabama. Carl invites Covington to Jolo, West Virginia, to visit a famous snake-handling church on Labor Day weekend as he, Charles McGlocklin, and their wives, Carolyn and Aline, are planning to do. After a 10-hour day of driving, the trio arrives at the church in time to see Bob Elkins’s sermon. Charles takes to the platform, establishing himself as a “Jesus Only” (102), and for that he is immediately accepted and seen as a successful front runner for Carl, who uplifts the mood in the room.
Gracie McAllister begins the snake handling, and before long, half a dozen parishioners are bringing snakes out of their boxes. Covington is compelled to the front of the church, where he witnesses several men handling snakes, including Carl and Charles, for up to 20 minutes, at which point, Covington feels an urge to testify. He, Jim, and Melissa admit afterward that they all felt something genuine and were exhilarated on that night. For the first time, Covington suggests the reality of the presence of the Holy Ghost.
On the second night, the crowd is large, and includes members of the press. Barbara Elkins is visible behind the pulpit while her husband, Bob, preaches. Visiting pastors take to the pulpit and the snake handling is more contained; however, Barbara stands and denounces the reporters, reminding them not to come forward to the front of the church or mingle with the church patrons, and Covington knows she is speaking directly to his actions on the previous night. Afterward, Carl absolves him and apologizes on behalf of Barbara. When Covington returns inside, he feels an urge to protect Aline, who is handling a large rattlesnake. However, Barbara’s statements remind him that his role is only meant to be that of an observer.
Chapters 4-5 Analysis
Despite Covington’s assessment that Charles McGlocklin may be insane, Charles turns out to be the most loyal and steadfast friend that Covington will take away from this experience. In fact, Charles’s own background—growing up poor on the bank of the Tennessee River, living in a houseboat at Clouds Cove with his drunk stepfather, and his own father imprisoned and serving a life sentence for killing his second wife—might excuse any proclivities for insanity. At age 12, Charles had already seen death and had been shot in the stomach. It is no wonder Charles became an End-Time Evangelist; at his worst, Charles considered killing himself but says that God’s voice spoke to him and told him to “set [his] house in order” (83). While repetition of this phrase during his sermons endears the snake handlers to Charles, the reader may also take it as a personal mantra for Charles McGlocklin and the changes he has made in the path of his own life.
With Covington’s trip north from Alabama up to West Virginia, he recognizes he will be reversing the route that the snake handlers’ ancestors took in their initial descent down the East Coast from Pennsylvania. Indeed, discrimination is a popular theme historically for the hill people, who have not only faced economic and educational injustice but also religious persecution, first in their home countries and then at the hands of the Quakers upon arrival in North America during the 18th century. Perceived as poor migrants, trapped by a Catholic majority, they were sent west into the mountains for their differences from the peaceful Eastern people. In fact, their garrulous demeanor and high regard for strength and cunning would have seemed wild and immoral to their neighbors to the east. Many of their personality traits would have indeed led them to thrive in these border regions much like the border regions of their homelands in Southern Scotland and Northern England. While one might see this as a cultural match between landscape and lifestyle, in truth, the isolation that this happy coincidence allowed has probably resulted in more negative consequences for the hill people than positive.
